I hope you take comfort in knowing just how loved Randall is.)
Meanwhile, in the present day, Randalls siblings were chopping through their own issues.
No, youre not hallucinating.
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC
That really isThis Is Uscreator/sensei Dan Fogelman, and hes here to take you inside The Trip.
Dont be a full metal jackass keep reading.
What kind of discussions did you guys have about how Randall should process that hurt?
DAN FOGELMAN:It was a long process.
This episode was in formative stages for maybe our longest time in the [writers] room.
Ill never get to act with Milo.
It requires a bigger journey than that.
But then he still warns her that hes holding onto that hurt and that all is not forgiven.
This is going to take time.
What can you hint about their next interaction at Christmas?
Its aslowthaw between them.
And we see the first step tonight, and then youll see the next steps next week.
Do you remember other discussions and different ways you guys have talked about how to overcome that?
Weve played with some stuff in the dream space, and we will continue to.
But I really liked it.
So, in the dream space, we might see more of these combinations.
Theres varying ways to do it.
Its a different version of Rebecca.
So its another thing youd like to see possible.
Thats a big part of this story too.
Why did she keep it from him?
How would he react to this revelation if he were alive today?
So I think she knows what the outcome would be the second she told Jack.
She met this guy as a drug addict who had left a baby on a fire station doorstep.
And I will take your child and make him my own, but you cant come back for him.
I need to know that you wont.
And its all terrifying.
I think people are complicated, and I dont think its all that cut and dry.
Williams excitement set off those alarm bells and caused her to flee.
What do you think would have happened if she would have let him in?
I think its the sliding door unopened, and well never completely know.
Randalls perspective as a grown man is, That would have healed me so much.
So his perspective is that it might have changed an awful lot.
Hes 9 years old.
I dont know what the reality would have been; I think thats Rebeccas point.
She loves him too much.
So do you think any of her paranoia is justified?
Sounds like you would say a little.
The scene with Rebecca in the cabin where Jack tells Randall to look through the scene.
What are we to read into her anxiety?
But it also hints that Rebecca may be a little unbalanced.
Is some of this unprocessed grief from losing the other baby?
But I think theres a melancholy there that some could read as a moderate or slight depression.
I think losing a baby has taken a toll thats not often discussed.
My dad was working and not worrying about it.
My sister and I were young.
And then some of it maybe is self-imposed.
But for Rebecca, shes got a lot on her plate, and I think its taking a toll.
And she is in some way the less romantic hero.
The mom who worries and the mom who takes care of the less fun stuff sometimes.
I think thats what those locks are.
NEXT: Should Randall have been left outside high on mushrooms with power tools and a ladder?
And should they have left him outside high on mushrooms with power tools and a ladder?
Its a fair point.
And I was like, I dont have any other footage.
Thats what we did!
Theyve taken away his car keys, and theyre keeping an eye on him.
And the guy who gives him the mushrooms says its all harmless stuff and hell be fine.
But, yeah, they do kind of just leave him out there to trip his balls off.
Then we see the interest in Sloane after her Epcot confession, and they ended up in bed.
Did we just see the formation of a romantic triangle?
It is a little bit, yeah.
Its where were heading.
Clearly, Olivia had this breakthrough with Kevin last week, and then shes just acting soterriblythis entire episode.
And Olivias not done either, so its fair to say theres more to come on both those fronts.
How much doubt will that place in Kate in her plan to get gastric bypass?
Yeah, I think so.
Thats been Olivias calling card since the beginning.
She is without filter.
She thinks shes a truth-sayer.
Whether shes actually getting to truth or shes just full of s remains to be seen.
And then you do it, and now what?
I think thats a big part of Kates story and journey here that gets expressed by the weirdest person.
Where did the dojo idea come from?
And can you stop making Jack into Superdad every week?
Its just too much to bear.
The dojo came from one of our writers; Aurin Squire found it in a video online.
And we found it to be this really powerful thing that we always wanted to do in this episode.
Milo did so many push-ups that day.
Weve now seen pot brownies and mushroom smoothies.
What is the next trippy edible experience for the Pearsons?
