Co-executive producer Julia Brownell, who penned Heart and Soul, offers insights into the episodes big moments.
What was the biggest challenge in writing it?
Rebecca slaps young Kate, and Randall makes a move with Malik.
Jon Huertas as Miguel, Mandy Moore as Rebecca, Sterling K. Brown as Randall.NBC (2); Ron Batzdorff/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Which of the two stories sparked more debate in the writers' room?
Definitely the slap, because the thing with Randall is it’s a matter of language.
But the slap really left a lot of debate in the room.
A lot of us are parents now.
What were the discussions about that scene with Mandy and Hannah?
You know, they were both really game.
Now she’s offering up a radical solution to this problem.
It’s a good question.
I think Randall is fumbling here.
When Randall has something in his head, he can’t let it go.
I will say that this is an issue that the writer’s room is very divided on.
Some people are like, “Deja’s absolutely right.
She’s 16, 17 years old.
She’s old enough to make this decision.”
And some people are like, “Absolutely not.
Randall is the parent.”
So that’s been really interesting for us to discuss.
I think this will blow up for Randall.
So I think it’s going to blow up in his face.
We’re finally starting to dig in to the origins of Miguel and Rebecca’s relationship.
Miguel seems interested in helping Rebecca find love and is encouraging of her during the speed date.
Fair to say that Kate may not respond well to “stupid” Miguel getting closer to dating Rebecca?
Present-day Kate regrets that she didn’t take more advantage of her time with her mother in the past.
And the tricky thing about Alzheimer’s is you just never know how much time.
We know that we have 13 episodes after this one.
Is Toby especially conflicted by this long-distance arrangement because he really wants to be in San Francisco?
The delicate thing about making a split like this on TV is we care about both these people.
They’re both good people.
It’s not working right now.
So we want to see them both trying really hard to make it work.
There are members of the family involved that you might not expect.
He is going to take what she said to heart.
How does Kevin find happiness?
And I think that this is a definite step on his way to finding the person he’s with.
And that putting it out in the open will help him a lot as he moves forward.
But I wouldn’t end the door on Cassidy just yet.
But was it his place to mention her eating issues, even if he thought he was being helpful?
Because he doesn’t know what she has shared with Elijah.
I don’t think there was any kind of sabotage there.
I think he meant it in an entirely kind way.
I do think our Pearsons sometimes open their mouths when they shouldn’t.
Are we going to pick back up at the cabin with Nicky and Edie?
Look, if it was my choice, I’d have an entire episode about that.
In the cabin, actually.
There’s a very memorable character that you’ve seen only once before.
From Beth’s past.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
