The good news: in this week’s edition We are, Little Jack doesn’t fall into the blazing smoker in the backyard like I (and maybe you) feared.
The bad news: The does it incur an injury it involves a lot of screaming, crying, and a trip to the emergency room for stitches. And it’s hard to see how her parents’ marriage will recover from the incident and everything surrounding it.
Read on for the highlights of “Saturday in the Park.”
A SCREAM BECOMES A FLOOD | The episode begins with little Jack in bed, listening to his parents fight over Kate to show up for her new job at school. They immediately drop the argument when they realize Jack is awake, making happy faces as the three of them head to the park. Along the way, Kate sings helpful alternate lyrics to Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park,” which help Jack navigate his neighborhood. And while he’s on the swings and Kate and Toby push him around and laugh, all is (temporarily) fine with the Damon family. (Side note: Um, where’s Hailey?)
But happiness is just a patch, as we learn as we watch everyone get ready for Miguel and Rebecca’s 10th anniversary barbecue at Toby and Kate’s house. Things are very tense between Kate and Toby, and everyone knows what’s going on. When Randall and Beth arrive, Kate hugs her brother and begins to cry. After she calms down, he asks her to take Kevin, who will soon be moving into his own house but meanwhile is driving Toby crazy, and get him out of the house for a while so they can all cool off. .
And then the kitchen ceiling, which you’ll remember Toby dealt with a while back, starts leaking again. Miguel is going to cut off the water to the house. Kate and Toby start yelling at each other. And Rebecca, who is frustrated that no one is letting her do anything important, takes Jack into her room to put on his shoes.
In the boy’s room, Jack tells him that he wears his rain boots to the park on Saturdays. (This will become important information later.) He also says that he is sad because “mom and dad get so mad”. My gosh, this kid is such a good little actor! Meanwhile, Beth brings Toby a coconut drink in the backyard and tells him that the long distance was hard for her and Randall too, but they made it. “I think the difference is that you moved in for him, Beth,” says Toby, standing next to the smoker. She says that she did it for herself, because of her work… and because of her marriage, she ends it, and she can’t deny it.
MADISON KEEPS GOING | Kevin and Randall go to pick up the twins, but since they arrive two hours early, Madison is about to take the kids to music class. So the boys stay to talk to Elijah. When Kevin searches the house for him, he finds him rummaging through Madison’s jewelry box and holding a ring sizer: Yes, she wants to propose.
The news makes Kevin feel “not right,” so Randall informs him that they’re going to ride around until any thoughts of grand romantic gestures are gone from his brain.
In the end, when he finds out that Madison is excited about the prospect of marrying Elijah (she’s pretty sure he’s going to ask her soon), Kevin realizes that he’s happy for her. And she assures him that her relationship as parents of the twins will last a long time and that she will be there for him as long as he needs her.
NOT THE PLANNED ANNIVERSARY JACK | Let’s pause here for a moment and go to the flashback, which is when the Big Three were 6 years old. It’s Jack and Rebecca’s anniversary, and they’re going out for a fancy dinner while a babysitter stays with the kids. Rebecca warms to the idea of dressing up and enjoying fancy cocktails; Jack is more interested in the anniversary sex they will have when they get home and the kids are asleep.
Unfortunately, Rebecca only drinks three silly-named drinks before the babysitter calls the restaurant: when the kids didn’t like her calling Kate “Chatty Kathy,” they locked the babysitter in the bathroom. Mom and Dad Pearson run home; she is drunk and silly, he is not happy with the children’s behavior. But when Kevin and Randall explain that they were just defending Kate, all is pretty much forgiven.
Later, when Rebecca is sober and the children are asleep between her and Jack in her bed, she is content. “This is a seminal moment, Jack,” she whispers, citing how her children ganged up on someone who hurt one of them. “Couldn’t ask for a better gift.”
A CALL VERY CLOSE | Okay, back to the Damon house, which is literally and figuratively falling apart. The leak goes through the bedroom ceiling, sending everyone running there to minimize the damage. In the chaos, Toby puts Jack in his room, but he is not careful to make sure the door lock is fully closed, something Kate had reprimanded him for earlier in the episode. And when the plumber arrives, Kate doesn’t close the front door behind him, which will also be a huge mistake, in a moment.
Little Jack puts on his wellies, grabs his cane, and heads to the park while all the adults are busy. He’s singing “Saturday in the Park” to himself as he goes along, and he’s doing a great job, but it’s still just luck that he can cross a two-lane highway without something terrible happening.
Back at the house, everyone realizes that Jack is gone and terror takes over the place. Kate, Toby, Miguel, Rebecca and Beth frantically search the place and contact the neighbors. Eventually, Rebecca realizes that Jack traded in his sneakers for his rain boots, and yells that he’s probably headed for the park. As Kate calls the police, Rebecca runs after her grandson.
She arrives just after Jack has fallen and leaves him with a cut hairline, which his future wife Lucy referenced in a trailer earlier this season. Rebecca picks the boy up and comforts him, breathing her own grateful sighs of relief that he’s okay.
KATE AND TOBY DO NOT ASK FOR WORDS | After a visit to the ER, Kate and Toby take their son home and put him to bed. Then they go out and fight. She yells at him for not hearing the door click. He replies that she left the door open. Then the plot turns into larger issues of how each of them thinks about Jack’s blindness. “All you’ve seen was the limitations of him,” says Kate, adding that Toby began to withdraw from the family when it became clear that Jack’s condition was not reversible. Furious, Toby claims Kate can’t see. none limitations on your child, and that is irresponsible.
“I’m the only parent in this family, period,” Kate spits out. That’s how you want it. This is how you NEED it!” Toby throws back.
At this point, Kevin and Randall returned from the hospital and became involved in the proceedings in the front yard. Kevin motions for his brother-in-law to step back “and watch how he talks to you.” Randall also tells Toby to stop what he’s doing. Toby takes a look at The Big Three and laughs bitterly. “There it is. This is perfect, as it always has been,” he says.
THE CONSEQUENCES | Toby walks in, sits by Jack’s bed and cries as HAIM’s “Hallelujah” plays on the soundtrack. Outside, Kate tells Kevin and Randall that Jack said the reason he went to the park was “because that’s where Mommy and Daddy are happy.” OOF. “I don’t know if Toby and I are going to make it,” Kate confesses, crying, as her brothers hold her hand.
Now is your turn. What do you think of the episode? Sound in the comments!
Reference-tvline.com