‘This Is Us’ Finally Gets Rid of Marc, But the Impression He Leaves on Kate Is Forever
On Feb. 18, This Is Us Season 4 delivered one of the most impactful episodes of the series thus far. The episode, titled “The Cabin,” delved into the Pearson’s past, present, and future. Of course, this idea isn’t exactly a new concept, as the NBC drama focuses on the Pearson family puzzle. But this time, This Is Us fans finally received some solid answers about what’s going on in each timeline, including the conclusion of teen Kate (Hannah Zeile) and her boyfriend, Marc (Austin Abrams).
[Spoiler alert: This Is Us Season 4, Episode 14.]
Randall, Kevin, and Rebecca save Kate from Marc in ‘This Is Us’ Season 4
At the end of the Kate-centric episode of This Is Us Season 4, Marc abandons his girlfriend after getting into an argument in the car. They are on their way to the cabin, so he leaves her stranded in the middle of nowhere, cold and alone.
Luckily, Kate manages to find a gas station and calls Rebecca (Mandy Moore). Then just as Kate is about to tell her mom what happened, Marc comes around and apologizes. Kate hangs up, but it’s too late. The alarm sounds and Mama Bear Pearson decides to round up the family to save Kate.
In “The Cabin,” Rebecca drives up with Kevin (Logan Shroyer) and Randall (Niles Fitch) in the middle of a winter storm. She is determined but thwarted by blocked roads. Nevertheless, the three make it to the cabin by morning.
When Rebecca, Kevin, and Randall arrive, everything seems normal with Marc and Kate. But it only lasts for a moment. As time goes by, the Pearson family puts the pieces together, and something isn’t right.
Kevin asks why it’s freezing in the cabin. Then Randall finds a broken window, which Kate claims they didn’t notice. Randall finds this suspicious because there’s no glass on the inside. He also wonders why Kate is wearing gloves and asks his sister to take them off. She resists at first, but eventually removes them, unveiling a massive gash on her hand.
The Pearson family presses on the couple to explain. Kate lies and says they locked themselves out — they don’t buy it. Then Marc reveals they got into another argument. He admits to locking Kate out “for a minute” and claims his girlfriend “freaked out” and broke the window to get back in.
Randall asks Kate how long she was locked out. Kate looks away and she is about to burst into tears. She looks at Rebecca. The Pearsons understand it was longer than just a minute.
Kevin and Randall are furious. They almost beat up Marc, but Rebecca stops them. Even so, she is just as angry.
“You get the hell out of my house,” Rebecca spews at Marc, who doesn’t move. Then the Pearson matriarch repeats herself, emphasizing her fury. “Get the hell out of my house. Today is the last day you’re ever gonna see my daughter, Marc. You have to minutes. Get your stuff and get out of here.”
The toxic boyfriend leaves. Kate folds into Rebecca’s arms. “He said he loved me,” Kate says, sobbing.
‘This Is Us’ co-showrunners explain Kate and Marc in ‘The Cabin’
When speaking with Entertainment Weekly after “The Cabin” aired on NBC, This Is Us co-showrunners Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker discussed Marc’s exit and break up with Kate. The duo confirmed Marc left Kate outside for “at least an hour” and maybe longer.
“I mean, you can’t be outside that long in a sweater without freezing,” Aptaker said. “She’s not freezing to death, it’s not the end of Titanic, but I mean, she’s out there long enough to do something pretty extreme and smash a window to get back in.”
But even so, the incident caused Kate to realize Marc isn’t the guy for her. So when Rebecca, Kevin, and Randall came to save her, Kate only felt relief, despite defending her boyfriend in the previous episode.
“I think at that point she was just relieved,” Aptaker said of the moment Rebecca kicked Marc out of the cabin. “A larger part of her has realized she’s in over her head than the part of her that thinks she loves him, and she’s just so grateful that she has a way out.”
How Kate’s relationship with Marc affects her in the future
Still speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Aptaker hinted Marc will no longer have a presence in Kate’s life — at least for now.
“For the time being, that’s the last we’ll see of Marc,” the showrunner said of the Feb. 18 episode.
That said, there are aspects of Marc’s verbal abuse that will impact Kate’s life from here on out. On Feb. 11, Aptaker spoke with Entertainment Weekly and touched on the scars Marc leaves on Kate.
“There’s so many things going on inside of Kate. But a first love is so formative and so shapes the way that you see yourself,” Aptaker said. “And I think that the way that Marc speaks to her and treats her has a big impact on her self-esteem and self-worth for a while going forward.”
Now, it seems the present-day Kate (Chrissy Metz) is starting to see those same feelings resurface as things start to go wrong with Toby (Chris Sullivan). On Feb. 11, Zeile told The Wrap:
Kate always had self-doubt and always had insecurity and I think that Marc definitely fostered them. And now we can kind of see in her marriage the insecurity that she’s having now that Toby is getting into shape, and he’s in a CrossFit group and he’s texting another woman, you can see her kind of starting to spiral in her head and feel probably similar feelings to what she felt in her first relationship.
As This Is Us continues to fill out the puzzle pieces of the Pearson family, fans look towards teenage Kate to flesh out who she becomes in the present day. But, for the time being, viewers can finally let out a sigh of relief. Marc is gone and Kate can begin to recover.
Read more: ‘This Is Us’ Fans Want to Know How Travel Really Works in the Show’s Universe
