In an episode befitting of the emotional rollercoaster on which “This Is Us” can take viewers, Kevin and Sophie’s on-again, off-again romance added a new chapter on Tuesday as they wound up together and may have caused viewers to shed more than just a few tears.
The episode took place at Kate’s wedding to Phillip where viewers had previously been teased about whether Kevin had shacked up with Sophie, Cassidy or the wedding singer the night before the ceremony.
Sophie and Kevin reconnected and caught up, with Sophie informing him that she’d gotten divorced and Kevin saying he was focused on his kids. Sparks soon flew and they ended up getting intimate back in his hotel room before she said she should go because she felt he was too focused on who they were in the past.
She told him about a joke she had with her ex-husband about how they’d pretend to fast-forward when Kevin was on TV, but there came a moment she couldn’t play along anymore.
“I realized I’m never going to be able to fast-forward through you,” she said. “That’s the kind of hold you’ve had over me, Kevin. That’s how much I have carried you with me.”
“And I’ve carried you with me, Soph. I have,” he replied.
“We have decades of history between us,” she said.
“Why is that a bad thing?” he asked.
“Because I can’t go backwards,” she said shortly before leaving the room.
Kevin then had conversations with the wedding singer and Nicky, while he pondered his situation. Kevin and Cassidy also had a heart-to-heart talk when they agreed they’re not meant for each other.
“You’re not my person and I’m not yours and you know that,” she said.
At the reception the next day, Rebecca, thinking that Kevin and Sophie were married and in their 20s, told Sophie that Kevin was an idiot. This came after Rebecca was confused about what was happening in the present when she said hello to Sophie the day before.
“He isn’t ready for you. He will be, but it’s going to take a while and I don’t know if you can wait around for that,” she said.
“But when the timing is right, he’s going to be so great,” she added.
Kevin, meanwhile, talked to Randall about his feelings for Sophie and how he was afraid he may mess it up again.
“You and Sophie together, now that makes more sense than most things,” Randall said. “You’re not going to screw it up this time. I know it.”
Kevin approached Sophie, who said she had prayed for years that he would grow up.
“Now here you are, 20 years later, and you’re finally the man that I always knew you possibly could be,” she said while saying they are finally at the right place at the right time. She said she freaked out the night before because she didn't want them to fall back into the old versions of themselves.
“I need you to love me for the woman that I am now, not the woman that I was because you’re not the man that you were. And I want to fall in love with the man that you’ve become,” she told him.
He then took out a Valentine's Day card he wrote her when they were kids.
“I’ve always carried you with me, Soph,” he said before they kissed and everyone in the room applauded.
Alexandra Breckenridge, who plays Sophie, says it only makes sense Sophie and Kevin ended up together.
“And I was just really, really happy with the episode and how the characters come together and that they get to explore this rekindling of their feelings for each other in this beautiful place,” she told People. “It’s really romantic and it was just very satisfying. I’m really happy with it.”
She also said she was among the many people rooting for the couple to patch up their past and build a future.
“I think we were all hoping that we would be able to make it happen,” she said. “I mean, through the characters, the way that they built up their relationship, starting from such a young age ... I don’t want to say soulmates, because I don’t know if that applies, but I think that they have this magnetic pull toward each other. And they have that kind of love at first sight thing that’s never left either of them.”