Chris Koch

Thankfully, KiwiCo gets it. Their new summer adventure series brings six weeks of curated hands-on science and art projects delivered right to your door.

You guys, we got a bubble making kit where you sort of like, you put together the little net that you're going to scoop the bubble solution through. And they're like the most gigantic, gorgeous, sort of almost, they're huge. They're like balloons.

And we have had so much fun in the backyard running around making bubbles with the boys and our dog Marshmallow who jumps up and like tries to eat all of the bubbles. It's hilarious. Hilarious. We're having so much fun making these bubbles.

On today's episode of That Was Us, we are diving into Season 3, Episode 5, Toby. As Kate and Toby receive good news about their pregnancy, Toby's mental health continues to spiral. Meanwhile, Randall struggles to connect with the community during his campaign for city councilman, and Kevin meets a Vietnam vet who once knew Jack.

It's creative, educational, and gives parents a much-needed break from planning.

Oh, Matt comes back around with your dad.

So you shoot what you shoot and then they sort of... Would you know oftentimes when you were shooting, like, yeah, this is probably not going to make it in my cut?

Wow. I'm like, let me think back. I can remember some of those.

Got it.

You gotta put those puzzle pieces together.

It's her friend Donnie.

I mean, that is the typical, I think, response.

Yeah, there's catharsis in being able to put pen to paper and pour your feelings out.

Also, I think there is a deep association with music and her father in that time and not going to school and not sending in her tape. There's a very tricky relationship with music in general that she's still fighting to sort of overcome.

Yeah, just thinking about that moment makes me emotional. You see Toby hugging Kate, and he is emotional, and you're like, oh, wow, this obviously means so much, but we also understand that... this person has been suffering tremendously and everything that's wrapped up in, he can go back on his medication.

He's in so much abject pain, you know, that like just the confluence of like both of those things coexisting is really palpable. And it's just, you just feel it as an audience member.

Everything he must have been holding in for these weeks.

I was just about to say the Birthday Party.

Yeah.

Crew members, yeah.

Jumping into our show, you jumped into like three different birthday parties.

Of all days, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, there is sort of this earned trust as an actor with your crew. And this crew became our family. And we were all so comfortable with one another and so familiar. It's like we were on this journey together. And I agree. Yeah. I had never done television, let alone like this long before. And so it's like, I think you sort of set yourself up for these moments.

You have this certain expectation of like, okay, I'm going to, I know the set. I'm going to show up. I know what it looks like. I know where my chair is going to be. And then you arrive and somehow everything is different than you imagined.

Because they were, like, finishing the last episode or something and moving on to this episode.

Use it. Work with what you got. Should we jump to the past? Because there is a past storyline.

There is a past storyline with Rebecca and I guess it being prom day. Yeah.

And the boys getting ready for prom. We realize that they are not going to, Rebecca's really excited to take pictures and see the boys with, you know, their prom dates with Sophie and Allison, Randall's prom date. But they're going to go to Allison's house. And Kate, we realize, is not going to prom. She's staying home with mom. She doesn't want to go.

Correct. And we also see Miguel. I guess he was like passing this piano at like a thrift store or a yard sale or something.

Buys this piano for the Pearsons to bring it over to this rental, this apartment that they're living in post-fire.

Yeah, he's sort of taking on the responsibilities of Jack, of like what you would expect sort of the best friend to do for the family.

He brings over the piano. He's like, I'll take a look at the fridge.

Yeah.

In high school.

And walking and saying, Lucy, I'm home.

There was.

Like linking up.

You don't go to Outback Steakhouse before?

And I believe John did as well. I think John definitely spent a fair amount of time in the writer's room and talked about his life and was able to bring his experience into the character as well.

It's too eerie.

It was like he was trying to fill in for Jack and have his big Jack Pearson moment, and Randall was like, let me stop you there.

Been over served, yeah.

I believe so. I think this is like a real turning point.

More That Was Us after this short break.

better help connects you with a licensed therapist online so you can get support from the comfort of your own space with over 35 000 therapists you can find someone who fits your needs and switch anytime and with an app store rating of 4.9 out of 5 rating from over 1.7 million reviews it's clear people are finding real value in the experience

What everyone's been waiting for. Finally.

They're going to Baltimore.

She's complicated. She's complicated. What is it? How did she couch it? She chews men alive?

That's so funny.

Like, this is not for me. I don't get it.

Fancy lady.

I knew.

Yeah, yeah.

You had no idea the significance of the silk pillowcase.

Yes, his haircut.

They're like, we are a family. They are sisters.

The most incredible photographer.

Chris Koch.

Yeah.

He was the squad leader of Alpha Company, the third squad. He was the squad sergeant.

And Robinson's wife.

In the kitchen. Well, no, they just, she's sort of... they just have this conversation about what it's like to be black and dating this white movie star. What did she say?

But it was sweet because you could see these two women sort of commiserating with each other about, you know, like she mentions the silk pillowcase. She mentions the racist gas station attendant. And I believe she's urged, like, by Robinson's wife, like, is he worth it to have this conversation? And she's like, I don't know. He might be.

You see her sort of really kind of ruminating and caught between a rock and a hard place.

And that, I think, opened the door for her to be like, okay, you want to know why it's important? Let me explain to you.

Yeah. Like following like a tennis match.

This story ends with Robinson meeting them at the hotel the next morning and basically saying like, you know, sometimes the answers are so dark, you're better off not having them. But if you want to know more about your dad, here you go. And he leaves this packet, which includes a picture of Jack with a Vietnamese woman wearing the necklace that Jack gave to Kevin. That's right.

And this just, we're all sort of like, this is another piece of the puzzle of like, who is this woman? What's the significance of this necklace? And I think it unlocks something in Kevin in regards to, there's so much more to this story than I realized. And I don't know where it's taking me, but it might be leading me towards having to make a trip to Vietnam. It's something that will- Good call.

discuss in the next episode. But that's sort of where that story ends.

And the kindness of Robinson to sort of like, he opened this door. I mean, he told Kevin more or less, like, your dad saved my life in October of 1971. Like, I wouldn't have been here to tell this story. And he was a really guarded man. Like, there was a lot that he didn't want to share with the world, but...

You know, he has to sort of make this choice to give the permission, I guess, for Kevin to move forward, learning more about his father.

Charles Robinson.

But sorry, to jump into Randall and Beth.

I'm like... Candidate Pearson?

The fine print.

That was funny when you're like, oh, I like the script.

Mission accomplished.

Did for them, yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I need a new tactic.

I concur. Actor friendly, for sure.

Nope, that's next episode as well.

I think Deja's in the next episode too. I know it's hard because they really fit so well together.

You're like, am I losing it?

Her boss was so effusive and talked so highly of her. And that just, you see, throws her off. It's this reminder of like... how deeply wounded she is, how deeply hurt she is by being fired. She was with, like you were with the company for 12 years. Like we don't often see that. And he spoke so highly of you.

And it just sets off this chain of, she starts to like really lose her footing and she never recovers, right?

And then she just couldn't recover either. It's like she was trying to mask how emotional she felt. And she couldn't, like, she kept, like, kind of stuttering and trying to find the way to... It's a horrible feeling. Yeah. And then she finally just has to excuse herself. And you think, oh, gosh, she definitely is not getting this job.

Come back with our favorite segment of the show.

And it's just this powerful reflection on mental health and fatherhood and how this show can ripple into real life, so... Let's read it.

I was watching this episode with my incredible wife. We watched the whole show together. After that episode, it took me only one or two days to mention to her that I was feeling a bit like Toby. And she was the one who pushed me to talk to a psychiatrist. The doctor told me right away that I had depression. After I started taking the meds, I talked to some friends about it.

It came to me as a shock that about half of my close friends had already been... or were going through a similar situation. I come from a privileged background in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and even though this topic should be widely discussed in my friend's group, it was actually very disregarded.

I also believe it because we are all white, privileged men, and we never talk about our feelings with each other.

There they are.

Sweet.

Nice smile.

Yeah, you really could. You could be family.

You could be related.

He had caught his breath.

Yeah. That reflection.

It's really powerful stuff, the ability that this show does have to open those doors for so many people.

Yeah, let us know when that happens, because I would love to purchase one as well.

We need, like, a coffee table book from you, too.

I mean that.

But you have some episodes of Only Murderers coming out too in the next season.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. We've talked about this.

Have you seen this guy in the shower?

More. 40-something.

And Kate mentioning that she talked to the doctor and they're going to... try to figure out his correct dosage of medication or something.

But I do think that it is illuminating seeing the manifestation of where his humor kind of...

Is he up that high? No. He doesn't have the energy.

comes from like there is that light to him but also it to me felt like this is his way of sort of trying to brighten yeah his mom's day as well like she's sad she's overwhelmed and it's it becomes you know a tool in his toolbox like further down the road i mean you are the levity of our show a lot of funny people are have a history i was gonna say yeah

He doesn't have the energy, but he did.

The viability of these embryos.

With the little sombreros on.

Yeah.

No.

I think it all sort of kind of came about at the same time.

This kind of gave her that confidence of, like, you know what?