‘This Is Us’: Kate & Toby’s Bickering Causes Trauma in ‘Saturday in the Park’ (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 11 of This Is Us, “Saturday in the Park.”]

This Is Us is in its final stretch as less than half of the final season remains on the horizon and things are getting dramatic for the Pearsons once more in the latest episode, “Saturday in the Park.”

While most of the episode revolves around present-day issues, there’s also time spent on past events for the show’s central family. Below, we’re breaking down all of the pivotal moments, so beware of major spoilers ahead.

Kate & Toby on the Precipice

The installment opens from baby Jack’s perspective as he overhears Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan) arguing about her desire to chase after a higher position at her work. But when baby Jack attempts to get out of his crib and knocks something over, the noise distracts them and they come rushing in to check on their son. When they mention it’s Saturday, Jack gets excited because Saturdays are for the park.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

As a family, they head towards a nearby park and Kate sings a song along with Jack reminding him about his surroundings to help him be comfortable and confident about where he’s going. Once they get to the park, Toby and Kate allow baby Jack to drop his cane and make a run for the swing set where they push him and they all laugh and are happy, but that happiness is fleeting.

On another Saturday, it’s a little chaotic as they prepare to host Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Miguel’s (Jon Huertas) anniversary party. While Kate doesn’t want her mom helping in the kitchen, Rebecca turns to the table and talks about a replica doll, which is a wedding tradition in Miguel’s culture. Rebecca appreciates the doll, but Kate’s creeped out by it.

When Kevin (Justin Hartley) enters the room, Rebecca and Miguel clear out. As Kevin begins to make a comment about Toby, Kate says he’s avoiding her by pretending he doesn’t know how to use the smoker outside. Kevin asks if they’ve been fighting again and Kate admits they still are. In an attempt to cheer her up, Kevin picks up the doll off of the table and begins imitating Rebecca.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

As she laughs, Toby walks in the door and asks what’s so funny and Kevin says he’s just trying to cheer Kate up. The comment tips Toby off as he wonders why Kate needs cheering up. Kevin tries recovering the situation but fails as he also mentions he’ll be moving out soon enough as he closed a deal on a new house for himself.

Just as Toby’s telling Kate he’s upset that she’s telling people about their fights, Jack walks in and asks to go to the park because it’s Saturday. Kate takes this opportunity to leave the room and greets Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) as they walk into the house. Their girls decided to stay home rather than make the long journey west for a single party.

Caught up in emotions, Kate hugs Randall close and Beth takes that as a sign to give them a minute alone. She asks Randall if he can take Kevin out to distract and ease tensions that are already strong between her and Toby, and he agrees to do as she asks. Before anyone can do anything though, Beth calls their attention to a leak in the kitchen, a result of a neglected problem Toby had told Kate he’d take care of in the past.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

While Randall takes Kevin out and the brothers talk about the tensions between Kate and Toby, as Randall didn’t realize things had gotten that bad between them. In order to kill some time, they go to Madison’s (Caitlin Thompson) to pick up the twins, but it’s too early as she already has plans with the babies, but she reassures Kevin she’ll drop them off at Kate’s later.

In the meantime, he asks Madison if he can introduce Randall to her boyfriend Elijah (Adam Korson) who is in the bedroom. She reluctantly agrees as she exits the house. When Kevin goes back to the room though, he finds Elijah near Madison’s jewelry, but before Kevin can get the wrong idea, thinking the man is stealing, he was actually measuring a ring as he hopes to propose to Madison. Kevin seems taken aback by this news but is cordial about it.

Meanwhile, back at the house chaos ensues as Kate and Toby try to get a handle on the situation, but with everyone underfoot trying to help, it’s a little too much for everyone to manage. As the moment unravels, Toby heads to the backyard, Kate calls a plumber, and Rebecca takes Jack to his room. In the backyard, Beth tries giving Toby a pep talk about making long-distance work, but he points out that she ultimately moved for Randall and that’s the difference in their situation.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Inside, Rebecca talks with baby Jack who shows her all of his shoes and mentions how the red boots he wears are for the park to splash in puddles. When he asks if Rebecca’s sad, she admits that she’s feeling old today he says he’s sad because his mom and dad fight a lot. When baby Jack goes out to Toby, the leak inside gets way worse, and Toby puts Jack in his room but doesn’t make sure the gate that shuts him in locks.

As Kate lets the plumber in she leaves the door unlocked and from there baby Jack leaves the chaos behind unnoticed and exits the home. When Toby notices he’s gone, everyone searches frantically for the baby who singing his song and manages to get to the park safely. By the time Rebecca notices Jack’s red boots are missing, it’s a little too late. Rushing to the park, she finds he’s fallen after dropping his cane and trying to run to the swings, he goes the wrong way and takes a tumble, cutting his forehead in the process.

Meanwhile, on the road, Kevin tells Randall about what he saw and how he doesn’t love the idea of Madison getting engaged to someone she’s only known for six months. Randall talks his brother off the edge and stops him from doing anything rash like telling Madison he loves her or something. The boys join Rebecca at the hospital as she’s left to fill out paperwork as Toby and Kate stay by Jack’s side while he’s seen by a doctor.

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It’s a horrifying ordeal as baby Jack cries and screams getting stitches and Kate and a tearful Toby have to watch helplessly from the sidelines. Their car ride home afterward is silent as Jack is put down to sleep and Rebecca reassures Kate that he’ll be okay. When Toby mentions he thought the gate was locked, Kate directs him outside where they engage in a big fight.

When Kate mentions how she’d told Toby repeatedly to make sure the gate was locked, he defends himself by pointing out that she left the front door unlocked and blames her for teaching Jack how to open it at all. That sets Kate off because she accuses Toby of only ever seeing Jack’s limitations instead of trying to uplift him and his blindness. It’s then that Kevin and Randall pull up out front and they get involved, defending their sister. Kate tells Toby she’s the only parent in this situation and he accuses her of liking it that way.

Clearly seeing that things need to simmer down, Kevin stops by Madison’s to see his babies and thanks her for letting him visit. She mentions that she thinks Elijah’s going to propose and instead of acting as if he knows already, Kevin congratulates her as she gushes about happy she is. He mentions that he’ll be removing her as his emergency contact and says he thought about it during his visit to the hospital earlier. Despite her impending engagement, Madison assures Kevin that she can remain his emergency contact for as long as he needs, after all, she’s the mother of his children.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Returning to Kate’s, Kevin and Randall comfort her in the backyard as Toby locks the front door of the home. Kate tells her siblings that she was sad because Jack said he went to the park because it’s the place where his mom and dad are happy, leading her to cry. As Kate mentions that she’s not sure if she and Toby will make it, Rebecca pats Toby on the shoulder as he goes to give baby Jack a kiss.

Once he’s alone, Toby breaks down crying, feeling the reality of the day’s scary situation sinking in.

An Anniversary Gone Awry

In the show’s solo flashback sequence, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) feeds the Big 3 — played by Isabella Rose Landau (Kate), Kaz Womack (Kevin), and Ca’Ron Jaden Coleman (Randall) — a heavy meal of warm milk, turkey, and mashed potatoes to make them sleepy before he and Rebecca head out for an anniversary dinner. Once the bell rings, Rebecca and Jack bid their sitter adieu and gear up for a special night that includes some steamy plans back home after dinner, hence Jack’s efforts to make the kids sleepy.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

While out at dinner, Rebecca enjoys some boozy beverages and gets fairly buzzed. Back home, the Big 3 won’t go to sleep and grow more defiant when the sitter isn’t nice to Kate. This leads the sitter to call Jack and Rebecca who have to cut their night out short to release the babysitter from a room the Big 3 locked her into.

Jack tries bribing her with money to not tell other sitters about her poor experience. Sitting down as a family, Jack wants the kids to explain and they all admit blame, but Kevin says the sitter wasn’t nice to Kate and so he and Randall were just defending her. This moves Rebecca who tells Jack he may not see it now, but this is crucial for their sibling bond moving forward, which is reflected in their present-day interactions. Proud they banned together, Rebecca tells Jack this is her favorite anniversary yet and promises to make up for the special night they had planned for another day.

Will there be happier times ahead for the Pearsons following this latest episode’s climax? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to see what else is in store for the family as Season 6 continues on NBC.

This Is Us, Season 6, Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC