This Is Us Review: Saturday in the Park (Season 6 Episode 11)

This Is Us enjoys crafting suspenseful “end-all” episodes. It spends weeks leading up to the affair building suspense around one event, whether a sibling spat or a tense waiting room.

This Is Us Season 6 Episode 11, “Saturday in the Park,” looks to add to the score by gifting us the day Kate and Toby’s marriage breaks beyond repair.

And despite wanting nothing more than to see these two miserable people move on from each other, this episode is wrong to treat the occasion as a “Super-Bowl Sunday” sized event and not the raw unravelling of a relationship that it is.

Let’s talk about what worked with this episode first.

Drunk Rebecca works! She is a stroke of storytelling genius, and witnessing Jack have to parent both the toddler Big Three and take care of his wife is quite delightful. However, it’s him listing the fruity drink names off to the kids that sell this brief segway.

But present-day Rebecca truly knocks this story out of the park.

In what could be her last moments of absolute clarity, the heroic mother figures out what no one else could and dashes off to the park to save her grandson. This thread between Rebecca and Jack Jr. is enthralling, and that big payoff scene as she runs to his aid is well earned.

It also plays into the bigger narrative regarding Rebecca Pearson being the glue of this family. This push will undoubtedly make her final day of reign an emotional one as we say goodbye to the talented Mandy Moore, who kills it in every timeline.

The moments we spend with Jack Jr. from his perspective are fantastic.

It’s great to see the series playing with points of view in ways that fit its signature style. Jack’s hazy, outlined perception of his surroundings is visited at the right moments to convey how disorienting his world can be.

I also generally enjoy getting to know young Jack to better understand his future self.

Several more underrated things. Beth just existing as her nonproblematic, lovely self. She also reps that outsider’s group chat by checking on Toby when the rest of the family are sticking together inside, and that’s some full-circle payoff.

And those powerful implications of a simple leak are impressive! Toby and Kate neglecting their marriage reflect beautifully in Toby’s minor kitchen pipe repair, which has turned into an indoor waterpark. It’s good to see that plumping storyline pay off.

That said, this episode loses us in its theatrics.

This Is Us hasn’t always relied on these gimmick episodes to wow, but it often comes at the cost of the characters when the show has.

People become blatant plot tools, and the grand showdowns fall flat because these emotional moments rarely call for boxing matches; they are supposed to be a real, savage fight between two people pushed to the brink.

That honesty fell short with Kevin and Randall’s fight on the same damn lawn, but it might as well be nonexistent with Kate and Toby’s underwhelming and melodramatic shouting match.

Realistically, these two are hurting and are eager to lash out. But we have already been treated to stellar fights during Kate’s solo episode that tease the cracks in their relationship quite well. So clear groundwork has already been laid in this instance.

And yet somehow, the fight skips over the critical points and straight to “you never loved our child because he’s blind” and “there’s only one parent in this house,” as if the actual logistics of their disagreement aren’t juicy enough to sell this fight.

The lawn brawl is also incredibly one-sided, with Kate quickly ensuring that Toby is the narrative’s villain even when it has been clear that these two are each other’s downfall for some time.

Regardless of how messy and human that selfishness is, it leaves the end of the relationship unbalanced and unsatisfying. It is also difficult to support either character when there’s no tangible penance. Just a blame game that adds nothing to an already sunk marriage.

The final fight between Kate and Toby has one goal: to cause irrefutable damage at all costs. Regardless of if these over-the-top disagreements align with the fallout. The show gets its drama but without any valuable character development or epiphanies in the process.

So congrats, This Is Us. You gave us one hell of a fight, but at the cost of the valuable work this season has done to craft a poignant breaking point.

This makes the best scene of the episode bittersweet.

What a lovely, heartwarming moment This Is Us crafts by having the Big Three bond during their first night alone with the babysitter. That sibling companionship is a valuable tool and not one we always get to see in such a sweet capacity.

From a story standpoint, it does not justify Kevin and Randall’s involvement in the fight between Katoby. This marriage-ending spat does not need to include the entire family, so it is a poor time to show how protective the Big Three are.

Kate holds her own in the disagreement and takes most of the swings. However, the two brothers stepping in and threatening Toby paints Kate as a victim in a conversation she wanted to have with her husband — a long-overdue discussion. It sours the emotional work this episode puts into their bond.

Kevin and Randall’s involvement in the final scene is a bizarre choice for an episode that is more than difficult to love at times.

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

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