Something bad happened on Christmas Eve, but, as it turns out, something tragic did not.

But this beingThis Is Us, there was a twist.

(More on that below.)

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Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

(He also insisted that William stay with him and not a nursing home for his final days.)

Hot librarian and intense artist, out!

And back in the past, there were some matters of the achy heart as well.

What would work for you right about now?

And hes thrilled to be alive, I assume?

He seems very happy to be alive.

He also seems to be taking great pleasure in teasing everybody about what happened to him.

So, Toby escaped the grim reaper, twice after the collapse and then the surgery.

How did this story line come about?

There was a lot of different talks of different things we could do.

So we went the opposite way by surprising everybody with, Everybody lives.

That was always in the plan the misdirect/head fake of Dr. K versus Toby.

Should we consider them officially engaged?

[Its] something we return to many times in the upcoming episodes.

This is obviously happening too fast, and shes also declared that shes having gastric bypass surgery.

Not only revisited, but plans will get changed.

But there are also reasons theyve broken up.

Toby has alluded to a history of depression in his life.

So theres a lot to explore, and quick decisions arent necessarily these twos best friend.

Yeah, theres a lot to come.

Were going to turn a lot of our attention to his relationship with his very sick father.

Hes having to give into something.

And it unsettles him a little bit.

How much more or howlittletime with William should we brace for?

We introduced this character as a very sick man without a lot of time left.

We learned more about Jack and his father (Peter Onorati), who is not a nice guy.

Its the latter of what youre describing.

The fantasy is that you get to go back and say, See?

I proved you wrong.

And thats not what this moment is.

Its one of my favorite things weve ever shot.

Even though theyre both sad and making sacrifices, it feels like the beautiful part of marriage to me.

Neither of these two wants the other to see how badly theyre hurting in this moment.

I think its a really beautiful moment.

Good intentions or not, which bridge has Kevin burned more badly the Sloane or Olivia one?

Theyre both burned pretty badly right now.

Hes just not good at being good, even though he is good.

And I love that so much about him.

To read Sterling K. Browns take on the first half of the season,click here.