Should We Be Worried About This Is Us’ Randall and Beth?

Yes, This Is Us told us who the mysterious “her” and “she” is in the flashforwards, and the show also dropped a bombshell about a character long-thought dead, but there’s something else we’re even more worried about now: Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson).

In the fall finale, “The Beginning Is the End is the Beginning,” Randall found out he basically has no chance of winning his election for city councilman. Beth asked him to drop out of the race, going back to the conversation they had when he decided to run. However, Randall refused to drop out. To the couch he went.

In the flashforwards, viewers didn’t see Randall and Beth together, but Beth was getting ready to go see Rebecca (Mandy Moore ) with him and Tess (Iantha Richardson). The way they talked about each other in the flashforwards seemed a little frosty, but that could have to do with the nature of their trip to see Rebecca (who may be dead or alive, TBD).

What’s ahead for the fan-favorite couple? A trip through time.

“Actually, when we come back for the second half, we’re going to be moving through the years with them in a really fun way and seeing some little snapshots of different, difficult moments of their relationship. But this is definitely a really scary one. I think that it’s very rare that they’ve been at this crossroads where Randall really wants something that he’s just not willing to compromise on,” executive producer Elizabeth Berger told THR. “I think this is a couple that almost always considers both of their needs and moves forward together with every decision. So this is a particularly difficult and scary moment in their marriage for both of them, because they can’t seem to come to an agreement on this.”

On the This Is Us after show, Kelechi Watson and Brown dug into their characters’ motivations in the fight.

“That was something else,” Kelechi Watson said.

Brown said Randall is thinking he’s come so far in the campaign, “let me not leave something unfinished.” “From Randall’s perspective, if I start it, I finish it,” he said.

“And my perspective is, ‘OK, you started the marathon, but the baby’s in the hospital…and you’re like, ‘I need to finish the race,'” Kelechi Watson said.

In an interview with TVLine, Kelechi Watson reiterated the turbulent time ahead for Randall and Beth.

“Well, it’s a rocky road ahead. It’s going to be a bit more of a turbulent time in their marriage, but all of that is part of the reality of it. We all felt pretty strongly, if you’re going to show a marriage even when it’s going really well, you really have to show the cracks, and the hills and the valleys. You have to be transparent about those things, and I’m willing to go there. There’s a lot that has been building up, I feel, over the past few seasons in their marriage. And this season, especially, things come to a head,” she said. “So we can expect to see more rocky times ahead for them, yeah.”

This Is Us returns Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 9 p.m. on NBC.

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