This Is Us Review: Vegas, Baby (Season 2 Episode 16)

After a series of difficult, heart-wrenching episodes, This Is Us Season 2 Episode 16, “Vegas, Baby” slows down with a lighter episode that struggles to feel organic.

In all honesty “Vegas, Baby” is an odd one.

Some storylines feel out-of-place, like Beth and Randall’s fight and the sudden tension between Kate and Beth. But others feel like a nice continuation, like Kevin’s struggle to remain sober.

One of the big focuses of the episode is Deja’s return. As Randall and Beth feared, Deja’s situations has worsened. The heat has been cut from her home, and she arrives at the Pearson’s doorstep for cash.

It felt like the show had finished Deja’s storyline last year, with the painful reality of a foster child returning to her birth parent. This is something that happens very often in the real world, and the show’s commentary on how fostering can lead to attachments that are then stripped away was really powerful to me.

I’m not sure what Deja’s future is with the family, but it’s looking more and more likely that she’ll find a home with them again, and perhaps more permanently this time since by the end Randall and Beth find her and her mother sleeping out of a car.

Deja’s situation puts Randall on edge for the rest of the episode, even when he and Beth go to Las Vegas to celebrate Kate and Toby’s bachelorette and and bachelor parties.

Randall finding it hard to let loose and quit his worrying leads to a big fight between him and Beth, who wants to take the night out and leave all the stress behind. I didn’t buy the fact that Randall wouldn’t give Beth a night to have fun with Kate at the party.

It almost felt like the fight was forced just so we can learn about Kate’s feelings towards Beth, and feeling like she lost her brother to him, something she doesn’t resent Beth for, but hurts still the same.

It’s a very interesting idea, but it was introduced in such a clunky. out-of-the-blue way, that I couldn’t really get behind it. We’ve never seen Randall and Kate’s relationship be that close, and this is a scene that could have used more showing rather than telling (Those flashbacks could have been sprinkled in episodes ago.)

Brother and sister-in-law relationships is a theme in “Vegas, Baby” because all poor Toby wants is to spend time with Randall and Kevin, who are understandably too distracted with their own issues to realize.

But of course, given that this show still is This Is Us, the three guys share a touching moment at the end where the brothers welcome Toby into their family.

Kevin is making the most of it this trip despite his temptations to give in to alcohol. He momentarily panics about being cut from the Ron Howard movie he worked on, only to be reassured that he wasn’t. I guess the main takeaway is that Kevin overcomes his desire to drink, even before he is given the good news. So, progress.

Meanwhile, Jack and Rebecca celebrate their wedding anniversary. This plot-line doesn’t add much to the story, or reveal much of anything other than the fact that Kate and Randall were close as kids, or that Sophie’s parents got divorced, prompting Kevin to ensure that doesn’t happen to his own parents.

These Jack and Rebecca scenes are sweet, especially the kids trying to give their parents a special night. Kevin’s little breakdown is so cute and innocent and feels totally in character. Despite the fact that these scenes are so low-stake, they’re probably my favorite.

“Vegas, Baby” is mostly a low-key episode that demonstrates the weaknesses of the present-day storyline as a whole. With the past having very little consequence, and without it backing up the events of the present, the rest of the episode falls flat. 

What did you think of this episode of This Is Us? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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