I’m so tired of people saying that if Kevin and Madison get together he will be settling. He barely knows her AND she barely knows him. They’re BOTH strangers to one another. People can get to know each other better, become friends and fall in love (breaking news, this is how it works in real life most of the time!). People see everything in black and white and forget This Is Us is always exploring the grey areas. And there are interviews where TPTB and Justin said that he would have to let life take him to his happy ending, that it wouldn’t be something we saw it coming until it was in front of us. That sounds a lot like Madison. And Madison’s entire composition matches a lot of Kevin’s: they are/were not very close to (some of) their relatives, have always dreamed of being married and having their own family, look superficial at first but are actually very profound and have had huge struggles through their lives, they have battled addiction and bulimia... It’s like they wrote her very carefully to mirror Kevin.
And a great love story isn’t based on having a superstar singing a private concert to you or being with someone for over a decade. It’s based on feelings, trust and experiences. Actually, I’m VERY hopeful his wife ends up being Madison. We have a lot to explore with her character as an individual (HAVING A PREGNANT WOMAN WITH AN EATING DISORDER HISTORY IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!), a new ‘member’ of the family and a potentional partner to Kevin. Kevin either dives in in a relationship or has one night stands. I want him to be with someone he has a DEEP CONNECTION WITH BEFORE he takes it to the next level for a change. Someone he can open up to, talk, share, be friends with first until he slowly realizes he is in love. Because guess what? It’s not because he’s already had a ‘big’ love story before that he can’t have another one. AND IT’S POSSIBLE TO WRITE A COUPLE THAT HAS CHEMISTRY, LOVE, PASSION, TRUST AND PARTNERSHIP ALTOGETHER. It’s not because they don’t have that right now that they can’t ever have it. Justin himself said so, so it’s not wise to rule Madison out yet. And This Is Us is all about people’s lives connecting in a way. She is already Kate’s best friend. Now she’s the mother of (some of?) Kevin’s children. That means she will be the mother of Kate’s and Randall’s nephew and niece and Rebecca’s grandchildren. She’s already connected to their lives FOREVER. And you know, I love This Is Us, I trust the writers, but time is running out to make Kevin have children with a woman and marry someone else. If his wife is Sophie or Cassidy, they will have to explore Madison’s pregnancy and how Sophie/Cassidy broke up with her fiancé/husband and got (back) together with Kevin. Because I don’t assume they will run straight to the next chapel and get married. A new character who’s not in a romantic relationship would be less hard, but harder than making it Madison because there’s also a lot of characters on the show already, so I don’t know if they would be able to write it in a convicing and satisfying way. I am a little biased, not gonna lie, I love Madison, I love to see a woman that has battled eating disorders and never thought she would be a mother seeing her dream come true. But I also think that creatively she is the best choice as well.
And personally, I don’t even see the ‘greatness’ of Kevin and Sophie’s love story. He’s let her down too many times. I don’t think that’s a good example to show people, I doubt Kevin would root for a relationship like that if it were his daughter’s. And I’ve read a lot of interviews before the reveal to try to find some clues and I’ve read stuff Justin said that made the odds of them getting back together even lower to me (I will do a post about my research and chances of each contender in the future). So, that’s how I feel about all of this.
