Tonight on NBC their new honest & provocative dramedy series This Is Us airs with an all-new Tuesday, March 26, 2019, episode and we have your This Is Us recap below. On tonight’s This Is Us season 3 episode 17 called, “R & B,” as per the NBC synopsis, “A history of Beth and Randall through the ages.”
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This Is Us begins tonight with Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) Pearson ready to have a huge argument that has been building for months. She demands he closes the door, saying she doesn’t even recognize him because the man she married would have never spoken to her the way he did in her voicemail. Randall says it was a “misstep” and only said it because he was trying to hurt her feelings. Beth is furious because she has always had his back, but he feels their rhythm has been off for months; she says it’s only him because she isn’t giving up what she wants to accommodate his.
Randall vents about how he rushes around, desperate to make things happen because he wants Beth to have her own life. She bites back that he has realized she won’t stop teaching and this is something for the first time ever, it is her flight fancy and it is not about him. She is angry that they have been having the same fight since the day they met.
17 yr old Randall (Niles Fitch) literally bumps into 17-year-old Beth at college; only for him to apologize and her saying it is not a bother. Randall calls Kevin (Logan Shroyer), saying Beth is no ordinary girl, but Kevin tells him to simply ask her out; or he might end up a virgin forever. Kevin says New York sucks and Sofie is out so he tells Randall to use another phone to call her and Kevin will walk him through the conversation. Randall uses the really cheesy line Kevin gave him but then quickly admits who he is. Randall tells Beth he is taking her out for dinner tomorrow night, with her wondering if he is asking her out. She agrees to go out with him at 7 pm, but only once.
Randall and Beth sit at an extremely fancy restaurant where Randall is surprised she said yes because he was she got asked out a lot. She admits she used to dance but now she is studying architecture. She tells him he must have gotten bad intel on her but she mocks his wording and lack of knowledge when it comes to dance and music. She clearly didn’t ask anyone about him because she is surprised to learn he was raised by white people and he continues to explain how he was dropped off at a fire station the day he was born. And that is how Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) adopted him.
He gets quiet when he reveals his dad died earlier that year and isn’t used to saying it out loud yet. Beth reveals her father died a year ago as well, but he was sick for a long time. The waiter arrives with their drinks, asking for them to pay for their meals upfront. Randall tells her it is fine, as they probably both look a little young to be there. She takes the flowers and checks, upset that he would actually pay up front.
She tells Randall at the front door that he is a very nice guy and the school wants them to be together since they are about the only 2 black people there. She finally admits her favorite kind of date is ginger beer and nachos. Beth tells Randall to stop telling her everything because it is too much. He says his jacket is the most expensive thing he owns and wanted to look his best for her. His dorm room is full of flowers because he didn’t know what she liked, but once again she says he is a nice guy but to never call her again. Randall returns to his dorm, smiling as his roommate asks how it went; he says it was great and he is going to marry her!
Randall and Beth are in their first apartment, where he is attempting to dance sexy for her. He pulls out an engagement ring, she tells him he needs to stop proposing as she needs to work. She tells him that he definitely it for her, as she doesn’t want to spend another 7 years breaking in a new boyfriend; but her answer is “not yet!” They begin to kiss, but Beth protests going to his mom’s for Sunday dinner and could go mini golfing instead. Randall misunderstands and invites Rebecca, who suggests this is fun but next time they could go bowling. Beth tells Rebecca she has a single professor but Rebecca tells her that she is fine; she just wants her kids to find the right one. Beth doesn’t think it is normal that Randall tells his mother every time he proposes to her. Beth tells Randall she loves him and hasn’t figured out her life yet, but she doesn’t want her life to be consumed by her husband’s. Randall needs a minute after he tells her she will never have to worry about him proposing again.
Rebecca sits with Beth as Randall is gone. She tells Beth she is glad Randall will end up with her as marriage is complicated, but she doesn’t have to worry about losing herself with him because he would never let it happen. She tells Beth a story about staying at the family cabin one summer but after he calmed down he explained how he saw a big open sky and felt really small because he didn’t know where he fits in the universe. Rebecca also reveals 7 years ago, Randall called her, revealing he no longer had that fear.
Beth runs to the car, telling Randall they are going somewhere without his mom. They arrive at the restaurant where she orders nachos and ginger beer; refusing to tell Randall what is going on. She eats her food and drinks her drink telling him she is ready and to ask her. He has the ring with him, but she makes him promise they will not lose each other and will be two full people and a team. Randall gets on his knee in front of all the patrons, as Beth cries, even though they have done this so many times. Randall cries as he explains she is the love of his life, his reason, his joy, and everything but doesn’t want to do life without her. She says she doesn’t want to live without him either and says “Yes!”
Kate and Kevin exchange words, revealing Randall is rewriting his vows. Beth storms into the room, ordering Randall to close his eyes, as Kate makes fun of Kevin’s goatee. Beth thinks they should co-write the wedding vows since they are better together; take turns and speak from the heart. They hold hands, back-to-back with Randall saying that every part of him belongs to her and her heart is like nothing he has ever known. He is his best version of him when he is with her. He wants to be the man she deserves and promises to spend the rest of his life, earning her love as she will be the only thing he will ever need.
Beth thinks the single most extraordinary thing she has ever done was fall in love with him. She has never been loved so passionately nor protected so fiercely. When she looks in his eyes, she sees her own and sees eternity, no matter what comes their way she will always choose him. Together, they smile in the bathroom as Beth says its time to get married. The ceremony is romantic and perfect, just the way they deserved.
Randall and Beth are now parents. Beth comes in at 3 AM, saying she will do it because he is using the wrong wipes because the baby doesn’t like the scent. They bicker as they are both exhausted, him complaining he works 72 hour weeks. They realize they don’t even remember what they were fighting over and Randall goes to the kitchen to make some nice, greasy, cheesy nachos. The worst thing that Beth feels would happen to their daughter is that she can’t dance. Randall’s fear is that she will get covered in tattoos.
Beth feels the last 3 months with the baby isn’t enough; Randall suggests they can make it a way to work. She knows that she will be the one who has to sacrifice something; it’s never Randall. Beth talks about the nachos as Randall laughs that it is 4 am and she is giving him a lesson on nachos. She loves that he made the nachos but both of them are the same type of person; Randall sees that she is saying all he does is leave her with the crumbs.
William Hill (Ron Cephas Jones) sits with Kevin and Randall when Beth walks in. Kevin makes her a plate of pancakes, complaining that he is living in the basement and the WiFi is sub-par. She laughs that strange new fathers go upstairs and unintelligent tv stars go to the basement. She is off for a conference for the night, giving instructions to Randall before she leaves.
Randall drives with William, as they are on their way to pick up his daughter, Annie. William is texting, was invited to a concert but doesn’t want to spend the night at Jesse’s place as it is freezing in there. William calls Randall “Uncle Phil” from Fresh Prince, then asks him to stop at a convenience store to get syrup.
Randall runs into Beth, learning she didn’t go to Hershey but only wanted 24 hours to herself. She adores William and tolerates Kevin, but it is a lot for her. She just wanted that time to be a woman who sleeps in a big ass hotel bed, watching movies, or sit in a jacuzzi and use her iPad. When Randall asks her why she never asked, she says she has told him. Randall doesn’t want to feel like she needs to run away from him, but she says there are a lot of men living in their house and she feels broken. Randall tells her to go have her 24 hours; they laugh at the movies she plans on watching. She says she doesn’t want to watch it without him and is coming home. Randall doesn’t mind her having her day but she says she is sure, reminding him to grab Kevin some lavender scented toilet paper as that is what he needs.
Back to current day, Beth is tired of having this same fight. She doesn’t want to be swallowed up by him and them sweet talk her into doing whatever he wants as he has turned her into his mother. She wants him to admit that he believes his job is more important than hers; words that resonate an argument he watched his parents have about Rebecca’s singing. Beth reminds him of their promise to never get lost in each other, but she did and he let her. She says she finally has something she has needed for longer than she knew and she is not going to bend and their lives don’t work unless she is the one doing the bending.
Randall sits down beside her, but she doesn’t want to hear the right speech to her right now. Randall shakes his head, saying he doesn’t except that as he isn’t going to live this bs. He wants to know in what universe was she this wallflower that was steamrolled by him. He says this is her MO and she needs to stop self-projecting and that she had her awakening 20 years too late. He would have never stopped her, but she asks when could she possibly do that between one of his many panic attacks.
She quickly apologizes, but Randall opens the door and says he is going to Philly as he doesn’t want to be in the same house as her right now; which is good news for her because he is all out of speeches. Randall takes off his jacket and lays down on the couch in his campaign office; recalling the night there were dozens of flowers around his dorm room the night he went out with Beth. Meanwhile, Beth looks at the check he wrote for their first dinner date. Adult Beth lays on the couch in the bedroom, staring at her empty bed.
THE END
