‘This Is Us’ Season 3 Finale ‘Her’ Recap: Finding The Door

Leaving us on a high note, This Is Us ends another chapter in the lives of the Pearson family. Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Nicky’s (Griffin Dunne) story was told. Then the focus was shifted to the current lives of the big three Kate (Chrissy Metz), Randall (Sterling K Brown), and Kevin (Justin Hartley). And with the finale episode, titled “Her,” we got to see a bittersweet and touching conclusion to the turmoil, the tension, and the hopes of the last few episodes. Not only that, but there’s also a discernible look at how the show will move forward in the next season. The mystery woman from Tess and Randall’s foreboding clips is revealed, and so is the state of every relationship in the show from this episode here on out. 

In “Her,” the siblings’ storylines are given more focus than ever before. Kate and Toby (Chris Sullivan) have just barely passed the crisis with their son. But now, Kate has to adjust to grandma Rebecca (Mandy Moore) always hovering nearby to take care of baby Jack. Meanwhile, Kevin has not let go of his dream to have kids with Zoe (Melanie Liburd). And he’s still hoping for her to change her mind someday. Unlike him, Randall is at the verge of giving up his dream to save his marriage with Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson). But, after the most heartbreaking argument in the history of this show in the last episode, it seems that he isn’t the only one willing to sacrifice something.

Morning Talks

Good coffee can always put the good in mornings. But when someone’s making a baby joke to someone who doesn’t want to have kids, it kind of puts a damper on that goodness. The feeling carries through when Rebecca greets Kate with a decaf cup of coffee instead of her usual at the hospital. And that’s just the first tick Kate gets with her mother.

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Later on, Jack’s doctor comes by and releases him from the ventilator to find him breathing perfectly fine on his own. However, she explains that Jack’s breathing still isn’t normal. Sometimes, he might forget. So the simple solution to this is to give him a gentle tap to shock him a little and remind him. After this, Rebecca immediately starts firing questions which result in Kate missing her chance to ask her own questions. As the doctor leaves, she gives Toby a look full of the building frustration she has for her mom.

Meanwhile, Randall comes home that morning. Though the tension between him and Beth is obvious, they try to keep it together for the girls’ sake. They do bond, however, over the news that Deja (Lyric Ross) has joined the debate team. And with cooler heads and regrets dripping from each other, they agree to talk again at the end of the day. Beth even recalls the time the entire family went on an escape room adventure. And though the girls hated it and all three went into total meltdown near the end of it, Beth and Randall found the door. This time though, she can’t see the door.

Mothers and Mother Figures

On the drive to Deja’s debate meet, she calls out Randall on his fight with Beth. And contrary to his hopes, Deja reveals that Tess (Eris Baker) feels the tension between them too. Back at home, Zoe and Kevin arrive for their nanny fun shift with the kids. Beth indirectly asks Kevin about his soberness but, before he can even assure her anything, she’s flown out the door without so much as hearing a word. Soon, the kids start calling for attention and Kevin longingly watches as Zoe hauls them upstairs.

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Later on, Kevin checks up on Tess only to find her still a bit distraught. It only takes a little of uncle Kevin’s convincing before Tess cracks. And surprisingly, Kevin gives a Randall-worthy kind of speech to a kid who’s trying to figure out her identity and sexuality. “I don’t think we figure out who we are all at once. I think it happens over a long period of time, just like piece by piece,” he says. And he’s not entirely wrong.

Back at the hospital, Kate reaches her limit as Rebecca pesters her with tons of questions that reach her ears as criticisms, so she puts Jack back in his baby box. But, as soon as she lets go, the monitors start beeping. Kate immediately calls for the nurse but, when she turns back, Rebecca has solved the problem with a little tap. This apparently was the last straw for Kate, and she unleashes her frustrations on her mother. Hurt, Rebecca goes home.

Randall Gets Randall-ed

When Randall and Deja arrive at a rough looking neighborhood, Randall starts getting suspicious. Deja soon reveals that there isn’t any debate meet. She’s just doing the same thing Randall did to her when he took her to see William’s apartment when he was convincing her about the adoption papers.

Deja points to the white house in front of them and introduces Mr. and Mrs. Johnson’s house, one of her former foster homes. In her 8-month stay there, she and the other kids often went hungry because their foster parents were too busy spending the care fund on lottery tickets. One night, Mr. Johnson forgot to even buy the kids the one can of soup they split among themselves every night. So, Deja stole one of his tickets in hopes of winning. But, nobody ever won at that house, unlike Randall who won the lottery twice as she points out. The first time was his adoption and the second time was when he met Beth. And he owes it to the world to get his act together.

Later on, Randall calls up Jae Won. He asks what he needs to do in the case that he wants to resign. And though Randall already fears the worst, Jae Won gives him the complete details of the process. Before he could talk Randall out of the mere idea of it, Randall hangs up.

Back at Zoe and Kevin’s end, Kevin hasn’t given up on trying to convince Zoe that she’s going to be a great mom. He compares her to his mom who at first didn’t want any kids. But, when she did have kids, she loved it. And Kevin hopes the same for Zoe. Unfortunately, before Zoe could continue the conversation, little Annie (Faithe Herman) calls her over to the kitchen.

Making Ends Meet

Later on, when they get home, Kevin and Zoe finally settle their differences. And neither of them has changed their wants. Kevin still wants kids. Zoe still doesn’t want kids. And as much as they love each other, it seems that they both know where it’s all going to end.

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Meanwhile, Kate comes home to find Rebecca staying put in the apartment. Rebecca initiates the apologies but, Kate takes over. She admits that this mean behavior is just from the fact that she’s insecure and thinks she’ll never live up to how great a mom Rebecca was to them. She also apologizes in advance for all the upcoming fits in the coming year or two as well. And as the two end up laughing, it seems that the argument was for nothing at all.

Randall and Beth are coming around too. As soon as Beth steps through the door, Randall tells her that he’s resigning. But, Beth tells him no. She found the door. Instead, they’re moving to Philly where she’ll be putting up her own dance school. They’ll have to move somewhere smaller. But, they’ll make it work. Because as Beth said, they can’t work apart. But together, they set the world on fire.

What The Future Holds

In a flashback sequence, Rebecca gets into a car accident. Though she wasn’t hurt considerably, the doctor ordered an overnight stay in the hospital. Jack was hesitant to leave her there but, Rebecca urges him to take the kids home. And the three fret over whether their mother has brain damage or not. Jack tries to assure them she’s fine and tries to make them an unsuccessful dinner. But soon enough, the whole family charges back to the hospital not bearing to be apart any longer.

It turns out, this whole sequence was just a build-up to the jump to the future of the finale. Randall and Tess meet up with Beth at Kevin’s gigantic and fabulous house. And Toby later follows mentioning that Jack and the others were in tow. Then, a kid passes by, and Randall indirectly introduces Kevin’s son. In the final minutes, Randall gears up to meet his mom. On entering her room, he sees an aged and spaced out Rebecca lying on the bed; then he introduces himself as her son. As he looks to the side, he greets a man we didn’t expect to see so soon. He says hi to uncle Nicky.

‘This Is Us’ Season 3 Overall Verdict

This was the clarity the last two seasons have been holding back on. Jack’s history has been told. Toby and Kate have moved on to family life. Kevin and Zoe have settled their differences though it was one of the saddest partings of the show. And Randall and Beth have found their door. As these events found their conclusions, they firmly laid the solid footings for the next half of the show. The writing and pace brilliantly connected past, present, and future. And it just made the whole season more jam-packed for it.

“Her” was a soothing yet heartwrenching conclusion. The unfolding of events wasn’t too rushed. In fact, they seem to be a long time coming. But, that window of clarity at the few minutes in the end really nailed a number and put almost everything we thought would happen upside down. The assurance and the surprise at the same time was a good combination to keep us on our toes for what’s next. But, it seems like we’re far from getting some calm after that.