Finally, some redemption for Miguel! I knew he had too much respect for his best friend to be putting the moves on Jack’s wife back in the day. I loved his explanation of it to Kevin, that in his mind, Jack and Rebecca were one so he couldn’t even imagine having feelings for her then. 

I, for one, was thankful to be out of group therapy with the Pearsons! How about you guys?

And I was thrilled to watch another piece of dear William’s story unfold. I know, I always call him “dear William.” But he is so dear.

We meet up with the Big Three a couple of weeks after the group therapy session, and all three of them are doing their own thing and moving forward in their own ways. Still, the past is unshakable, and in going backward maybe they can understand better how to move forward.

RECAP:

1. Flashback: As the mother of a 13-year-old girl, it pierced me when Rebecca got so excited about being invited to the mall with teenage Kate. It turns out that the entire family tags along, and the guys meet up with a depressed Miguel as they mall crawl. See, the Pearsons are just like us, except better looking and more verbal!

2. Randall gets a call from William’s old friend: Come and get this box of your dad’s stuff. A life, reduced to a medium-sized cardboard box! Yet really, as Randall follows the clues on this breadcrumb path, his dad’s life actually expands and Randall understands William better. But first he has to find out who “Lady Day” is…

3. Kate returns to her weight loss group, where the reed-thin Madison voices concerns over her “fat wrists.” Poor girl has some issues–let’s put it that way. Kate agrees when Madison offers to take her wedding dress shopping, but the expedition becomes more about Madison and her evident Bulimia than Kate. But Kate is there for her…”best friend”? I loved Kate’s face when Madison called herself that! But hey, at least Kate has one friend that isn’t her boyfriend or her brothers.

4. Kevin decides to move in with his mom (and Miguel) after getting out of rehab, for the support, and also because he wants to get closer to his mom after learning that she felt abandoned by him after Jack’s death. What he doesn’t want is step-daddy Miguel stepping on his toes while he’s there. Of course, the two of them manage to be at loggerheads almost immediately.

5. On a grocery store outing, there is a confrontation in the cereal aisle. Kevin asks Miguel why he came to the store with him and his mom. Miguel says it’s to protect her–from Kevin! WINCE. Well, Kevin has been a bit hard on his mother lately, not that he isn’t without good reason.

6. Randall has a new obsession: following the clues in William’s box–specifically the poem about ‘Lady Day’–to find out more about the father he didn’t know as well as he would have liked. Beth is done with Randall’s obsessions and his “head in the clouds” mindset since he left work. “Can you please get a job?” she asks. Beth works as some kind of housing advocate, as far as I can tell, a skill set which dovetails perfectly with Randall’s flashbulb of an idea: Why don’t he and Beth buy William’s poorly heated, poorly maintained building and help change the lives of the residents?

7. Meanwhile, William’s cat, Clooney, pads his way through the episode, first in flashback and then in the current day. In fact, the episode was called “Clooney,” which I love! Clooney is a survivor, and I predict we’ll see more of him when his alpha brother Randall buys the building. Awwwww!

8. Kevin sees firsthand the love that exists between Rebecca and Miguel. He asks Miguel a question which has been burning in his heart for years: “Did you love my mother before my father died?” The answer, so wise and gracious and right, will pave the way for a new relationship between Kevin and Jack’s best friend. Hopefully!

9. Flashback: Randall gets up the nerve to ask the red-haired girl at the mall out on a date. Yeah, we’ll be seeing more of her, both in flashback and–I predict–in their current lives. 

10. WHY DID YOU FORGET THE SMOKE ALARM BATTERIES AT THE MALL??? In the words of Nancy Kerrigan, WHY? WHY? WHY? They couldn’t have made it plainer: There’s going to be a fire, soon, and Jack will die in it! Or will he???

Six episodes left, two before the Olympic break!

Favorite scene? Favorite line? Performance of the week for you?