The New Jersey thing made sense. They wouldn’t be next door neighbors with his family if they lived near the cabin, but it would be an easy day trip to visit. Philadelphia, for instance, shares a border with New Jersey, so they could be less than a 2 hour drive from the cabin to his family.
Such a heartbreakingly beautiful episode. The juxtaposition of young Rebecca caring for her kids and old Rebecca tore me up. Four out of five of my dad’s sisters had very bad dementia/Alzheimer’s and seeing them decline was tough. This mirrored that so well. Unfortunately, a very real experience for many families. Mandy Moore’s acting was great I also loved Kate having Randall and Kevin touch Rebecca in such intimate ways and really seeing the parts of her that were still there.
The decision was not surprising, given that we knew Rebecca dies at Kevin’s house. I was glad that Kate stood up to her brothers, but also was open to Kevin’s idea. Of course it did work out rather nicely that they could all leave LA so easily. Definitely TV reality.
Hard to imagine Kate won’t be there next week. It is interesting that she still turned to Toby for Pearson advice.
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I think it was really smart to have a bit of Toby in there. We know he’s still an active part of the family because we see him get the call about Rebecca dying, but maybe they also realized that people weren’t going to buy the abrupt (to the viewer) marriage to Phil. He still doesn’t get the whole Pearson thing, huh? I thought Beth might throw hands when he criticized her and Sophie’s banter.
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I don’t see the distance to the cabin as being unlikely for the Pearsons. Our drive is 2 1/2 hours from southern Maine to the western Maine mountains, but I would say the majority of the cabin owners in our 43-lot association drive up from Massachusetts. At least five hours IF traffic isn’t bad. Some come from Rhode Island and Connecticut. These are not wealthy people.
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This was a very hard episode for me to watch, having lost my mom so recently and with my firstborn seriously ill in the hospital. But I couldn’t not watch it! So well done.
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I can’t keep up with the timeline on this show. How much time do you think lapses between this episode and the next, presumably when she dies? Kevin looks so different but maybe it’s just because he’s done shooting so isn’t shaving or dying the gray. Is it three weeks or three years?
Paging @skieurope, who always seems to have the timeline down.
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Rebecca dies in 2034, about 6 years after Miguel. An interview in a recent Entertainment Weekly describes making Mandy look 84, and it’s established that Rebecca was born in 1950. Plus both Kevin and Randall look several years older in the previews.
Miguel dying around 2028 is based on being after Kate’s marriage in the 12 months prior to 8/31/2026 when she is 45, plus subsequent to Kevin’s remarriage which was at least a year later with at least one intervening Thanksgiving and Christmas.
That had to have been a really rough 6 years for the family
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I think it’s definitely years - Randall looked much older as well. And the girls are grown.
Was interesting to see them show the ineptness of men to care for children/aging parents. Jack slept while Rebecca got up with the babies. Jack freaked out when Kevin pooped his crib while Rebecca just said lets clean it up. And Randall and Kevin were present with Rebecca but it was Kate actually tending to her needs. I think all of that tends to be true. Though without question there are exceptions (and I am confident people will chime in with stories of dads waking of up as often or more than mom and sons who took care of aging parents whilst daughters did little/nothing).
It is tough to watch Rebecca is her final stages. More difficult now to me with a father going through the same thing now than it would have been say 5 years ago. Realistic portrayal. Though to me the unrealistic part of it all (beyond the time travel and geography issues which to me are minor and easy to ignore based on it being TV) is the fact that Kevin can build a compound large enough to house multiple family units and they can all move there to take care of Rebecca. For most people, that is not realistic. Even though who can work from home need to actually work and would not have time to take care of an aging parent on a day-to-day basis. And the funds are not there to build the house they have or to have around the clock care or have parent(s) move to a senior facility.
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I find it a little odd the role that Madison/her husband have played in these last couple of episodes. I mean I know she is the mother of Kevin’s kids but it just seems awkward that they are there sort of hanging out in the background during this very personal, critical time.
If I’m being critical, it seemed odd that it was just dawning on them 7 days after Miguel’s death of “what are we going to do with Rebecca/Rebecca’s care?” In a way I was like why are they being so critical of Randall taking Rebecca home - I mean it wouldn’t be ideal for his family life/career but at least he lived on the same coast/region! Were they going to put Rebecca through an airport/plan coast to coast trip to get her settled - Kate even mentioned she might find a facility in LA for Rebecca - wow, what a jolt that would be for Rebecca!
I actually thought that it was going to be Nicky and his wife who would become her caretaker while the big 3 went back to their lives.
Finally, are we so sure we won’t see Kate next episode?
And one more thing (final, final thing of this post! Haha) there has always been the rumors of Kate somewhere in the series losing lots of weight and being a “new” Kate. Oodles of fake stories over the years. I’ve even seen them this year often. I was always a bit bothered by this theory…but it would appear that it was always just “fake news”.
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Kate didn’t need to come up with the best solution. Rebecca chose her to be the final say in any decisions. And that’s what she did.
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I think they weren’t receptive to Randall’s idea because it was a bad idea. lol Plus, there are the residual feelings already discussed that Randall always swoops in to save the day. Kevin is tired of being second banana, and Kate is tired of being walked over and has struggled to find her voice.
Kate and her weight. Maybe they aren’t showing her because they want us to believe there will be some big reveal in the future times. I wonder whether they would CGI her?
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CGI??? Not sure what that is.
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I agree. Randall and Kevin needed Kate’s “I have the final say” to get to the ultimate solution that they all agreed on. Randall was prepared to move Rebecca to Philly no matter what he had to do to make that happen. Without Kate being able to say that wasn’t going to happen, Randall likely would not have given up. And Kevin would have fought that.
In terms of Kate, wasn’t she still the same weight in the flash forward at Jack’s concert (Toby and Kate both there)?
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I hope they don’t do that. It would seem like a weird “save” at the very end.
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Agree. And it would be kind of body-shaming, like Kate has to lose weight in order to be her best self.
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I’ve heard one theory. What do y’all think of the idea that in the next six years Randall is running for/becomes president? It would be following the Obama track, right down to the white mother.
Given that she’s seen at the same weight at Jack’s concert post-Rebecca’s death, that’s not gonna happen . And it would be wrong on so many levels.
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I mean, I’d vote for him… 
Beth can be my Michelle ANYDAY…
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