This Is Us

Previously on This Is Us...

Could-could you please just tell us what she has?

It appears you have what we doctors call

- mild cognitive impairment. - I'm sorry

to keep asking you to keep this to yourself.

I get it.

- Hey. - I missed you, babe.

Oh, Beth and I just saw Practical Magic.

Oh, I've been dying to see that.

But we're not 12-year-old girls.

- You ready? - Mm-hmm.

When I look at our son,

it just makes me sad.

I booked us a few days away

with Jack at a retreat for families with...

blind children.

I thought it sounded like a great thing

to do for our family.

He is reaching for the light. The doctor said

that he-he might do that. He might start

to see light and shadows.

Dad?

We have a problem.

Oh, coming in for a landing on her first big girl bed.

Okay, now...

what is the problem?

I want a Mommy story.

Well, Mommy's asleep, baby.

How 'bout... how 'bout if Daddy tells you a story?

No.

Okay. Um...

How 'bout you tell me a story?

I don't know how.

That's okay. I can help.

Yeah. Yeah, scoot over.

- Okay. - There you go.

Now,

every good story has a hero who wants something.

And... he

or she...

- She. - She.

She has to go on an adventure to get it.

So, I want you to close your eyes, okay?

Close your eyes, and I want you to picture a hero.

Someone you can really root for.

Who do you see?

A girl.

A girl. Great.

And where is this girl?

In a forest.

She's in a forest? Maybe it's, like, a magical forest?

Yeah.

Okay.

Does she meet a prince?

- Yeah. - Okay. She meets a prince.

But it's not one of those fancy princes

with the poofy sleeves.

Right? He's-he's, like, a...

regular-type prince, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

So, Little Girl

asks the prince if he can help her find

this thing that she really, really wants.

Do you know what it is she really wants, Katie girl?

It's a surprise.

It's a surprise. Okay.

Guess I'll just have to wait till the end,

huh?

Hey, uh...

- Hey, babe, want to call it soon? - Mm-hmm.

I really want to wake up early for the retreat.

Also, there's a speaker talking about braille children's books

- I don't want to miss. - Yeah. I'm-I'm...

Yeah. I'm just... I'm reading about this-this girl

in Minnesota who has ROP like Jack.

And they tried this-this gene therapy on her,

and she got some of her sight back.

Like, 30%.

If my son could see 30% of me,

I would be ecstatic.

The-the right 30%.

Like-like, from-from here to here.

Babe, um...

I'm really glad that you're so excited.

But before you go down this rabbit hole,

um...

I just...

This kind of therapy is not gonna work for Jack.

With this little girl,

I mean, she has an inherited disease.

She doesn't have a detached or damaged retina like Jack does.

- Okay. Yeah. - Y...

So, earlier tonight,

when you said that his blindness makes you sad...

Kate, I am fully aware of the awfulness of what I said.

All right? I'm doing my best.

Right now, I would just like to have one night

filled with hope, all right?

I want to research this girl in Minnesota

who got a little bit of her sight back,

and then I want to dream about watching Star Wars

and Rick and Morty with my son, okay?

- Okay. - Okay.

I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm-I'm... excited,

and I am not ready to let go of that feeling just yet.

- Okay. - Okay.

Hi.

Come here.

It's Patti Smith's Babel.

I just saw it in the window of a used bookstore last week,

and I immediately thought of you.

Marc.

Mm?

God, this is so nice.

You-you really didn't have to do that.

Yeah, I did.

You make me smile every day, so I wanted to make you smile.

'Cause I'm in love with you.

I'm in love with you, too.

Um...

Hmm?

My brothers are coming in

for my mom's birthday dinner on Saturday.

- Mm. - And I know that Kevin's wedding dinner

was kind of weird. But I was really hoping you would join.

I don't know. Your brothers stress me out.

I feel like I picked up on some vibes.

- No. They like you, okay? - Huh?

They're just being overprotective

'cause you're older.

- That's all. - Mm.

All right, you want me to go?

- Mm-hmm. - I will go.

- Thank you. - Okay?

Okay.

You sure you want that?

No, well, I just know how hard you've been working

on your diet, so I'm just trying to be supportive. That's all.

'Cause you know I think you look amazing.

Maybe.

Hey.

You guys know who sings that one song from Pulp Fiction?

I mean, there's a lot of songs in Pulp Fiction.

Uh, the one Uma Thurman's dancing to.

Mm. "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon".

Yeah, man. That's, uh... that's Urge Overkill.

They're a, uh, Chicago alt-rock band,

and Tarantino just randomly found their album in Holland.

It wasn't even, like, written by them though.

It's actually a Neil Diamond cover.

My dad loved Diamond, so, uh,

it's embedded in my brain.

Um...

Yeah, man. If you just come on,

I'll, uh, show you where to find it.

Oh, hey. Um, don't forget your bathing suit,

because, uh, this place has, like, three pools.

Great.

You know, I-I know it seems like a lot.

But I've been chatting with all the parents

on the Facebook group, and they seem really cool.

And I think it's gonna be good, you know,

for us to be around other families with kids

with blindness.

Yeah, of course. Of course.

Sorry, there's just a lot going on at work this week.

It's gonna be hard to miss a couple of days.

And...

... are you sure this isn't too much

this early, you know?

He seems...

I don't know. He's only ten months old.

Toby, do you not want to go?

Hi, Mom.

Hi, Bug.

You guys on your way to the retreat?

Are you excited?

Was Toby surprised?

Yeah, he was really surprised.

- Ha. - Um...

But, uh, he has a really big project at work right now,

so, um, he's not gonna be able to go.

- Kate... - Oh, no. That's too bad.

Yeah. You know, I-I sprung it

on him last-minute, so...

Why don't I join you?

Really?

You want to come?

I'm there.

I've actually been wanting a...

a good catch-up session, just the two of us.

Okay, um, let me go pack.

I'm already making a mental checklist

of everything that I need.

This is gonna be so fun. Okay,

I'll see you in a second, sweetheart.

Okay. Bye.

She's gonna go?

Yeah, she's gonna go.