This Is Us Recap: "The Most Disappointed Man" review and highlights

This Is Us has its weakest episode of the season with “The Most Disappointed Man”. Keep in mind, this week isn’t “bad,” but the storylines stumble a bit with due to a lot of necessary plot contrivances.

As per usual, Randall has a terrific hour in both the past and the present which highlights all the best parts of This Is Us. Sadly, Kate and Kevin continue to try to make the best out of what they’re given this week but it seems like both characters are floundering a little bit.

Let’s start out off with the best part of the night: Randall’s and Deja’s mandatory visit to her mother in prison.

“The Most Disappointed Man,” isn’t exactly the right title for his story just because it’s Deja left feeling heartbroken when her mom opts out of the visit. It leads to a tense confrontation between Randall and the social worker, which is cleared up quickly, but poor Deja dejectedly admits she had been saving up all of her allowance to give to her mother while she was in prison.

Dejectedly, the two leave but back at the house Beth shows off her protective streak. She wants Deja as far away from that woman as possible, shocking Randall with her passionate desire to keep their foster daughter safe. He ends up going back to the prison to have a tense confrontation with Deja’s mom, where he makes it clear that his family will be watching out for her from here on out. Yet, by the end he has a change of heart and allows her to call Deja at the house later that night while he reminisces on his own birth father.

William’s presence is still felt.

The title of the episode applies to a guest starring William, who is arrested in the past timeline for his heroin use. He calls himself “The Most Disappointed Man,” when he recounts the judge of the hardships he’s faced before asking to be put in jail.

It’s a direct parallel to another court case in the past: Rebecca and Jack officially adopting baby Randall. The happy couple gets a judge who refuses to grant them the adoption because he believes that a baby of color doesn’t belong with a white family. However, Rebecca doesn’t give up that easily and she sends the judge a family photo where she makes her resolve clear.

He eventually transfers their case because he can no longer be impartial over something he feels so strongly about. That decision, of course, leads to Randall growing up with the Pearson’s and many years later ending up on William’s door step. In that moment, he inadvertently stops his birth father from succumbing to heroin once again, bringing the show full circle.

Kevin is spiraling.

However, Kevin is clearly spiraling down a dark hole with his opioid addiction. In “The Most Disappointed Man,” he considers skipping out on a visit to Sophie for the third time but decides against it when she yells at him over the phone. Intent on making things better, he stops at a jewelry store to buy three different engagement rings before hopping on his flight over there.

He falls asleep at the hospital waiting where he has a nightmare about what his future life could be as a father: neglecting his family and being a disappointment to them. He rushes over to Sophie’s where he delivers a speech about being an empty shell before ending with, “When I dream of our future together, Sophie, it’s a nightmare for me,” which understandably earns him a door slammed in his face.

It’s sad watching him sink farther into his addiction but also shocking that girlfriend wouldn’t notice the immediate red flags. Yes, they live in different states, but Sophie is a trained medical professional. With the current opioid crisis rocking the country, it seems unlikely that she wouldn’t notice the physical signs the moment he showed up on her doorstep.

Kate, like Sophie, seems oblivious to Kevin’s drug problem.

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Kate also doesn’t notice how deep her brother is suffering when he stops by her apartment early in “The Disappointed Man”. She’s so excited to share her news of the baby that both her and Toby overlook the warning signs.

However, that’s because she’s currently dealing with wedding jitters and she’s so focused on that rather than her brother’s current state. After suggesting they get married at the courthouse right away, Toby realizes that something is a little off. He has a deeply uncomfortable chat with Jack’s urn on the mantle and decides to do a big romantic proposal so Kate can kick off the massive wedding she wants. Of course, she says yes and the two start their endeavor towards a big wedding event.

“The Disappointed Man,” is an episode that is just biding time until the big conclusion. It isn’t very happy and leans heavily into the drama. The episode didn’t evoke a lot of the real emotions because it hinges on so many well-timed coincidences that it loses some of the realism.

Next: This Is Us Recap” The 20’s”

Hopefully next week, the show starts to offer up some hopeful stories once again because it looks like all of the Pearson’s are heading towards heartbreak.

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This Is Us Recap: “The Most Disappointed Man”

By Kelly Shanaphy | Nov 8, 2017