This Is Us Season 4 has been chock full of surprises, and only two episodes have aired.
In the latest episode, fans learned that Toby, played by Chirs Sullivan, had chosen working out as a way to handle baby Jack’s blindness. The new father was seen hitting the gym hard at the end of the show, in a CrossFit style workout.
In the preview for the next episode, a significantly slimmer and muscular Toby is revealed, to his wife Kate and fans. The shocked look on Kate’s face is a dead giveaway she is clueless to her husband’s new fitness routine.
I love where Toby's motivation comes from! #ThisIsUs https://t.co/IWg7qq6jan
— Dhruv joshi (@wickedhruv) October 2, 2019
Toby has been keeping his gym workouts a secret, as viewers watched him tell his wife he was going to the store. Even when Kevin, played by Justin Hartley, remarked the new father looked slimmer, Tobias blamed it on learning how to be a new father to a child with a disability.
The secretiveness, coupled with Kate subconsciously overeating to deal with Jack’s medical issues, is going to spell trouble. They have always been on different pages when it comes to food and eating, but now, they are not even in the same book.
Chrissy Metz, who plays Kate, recently spoke to People magazine, sharing that there could be trouble on the horizon for the new parents.
I know it was really difficult at first but Kate and Toby raised a completely independent man who could live on his own and became an actual singer. So RESPECT. #ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/pxhM7BdxqV
— #Still_Woke ?? (@RuqiyyahS) October 2, 2019
She shared, in part, that “there’s a bit of trust that’s broken in him keeping this weight loss and working out a secret.”
This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker gave more insight to Entertainment Weekly. Toby, in his eyes, is trying to protect Kate, who is not in a place where she can go on a strict weight-loss plan. Not only is she a new mom that is breastfeeding, but she is learning how to communicate with her baby, who can’t see.
“Certainly Kate is aware that he’s smaller, but she doesn’t know the extent he’s going to [in order] to lose the weight,” Aptaker explained.
Toby has found his stress outlet, which is excellent, especially since he did have a heart attack in Season 1. Even though he has the best intentions of not hurting Kate, she will be for two reasons.
https://youtu.be/oP5nzCTQCcE
One is the secret-keeping and the other is that Toby has lost weight, and Kate has not. The second probably won’t be a conscious choice. Kate has struggled with overeating and her weight all of her life, so she might become subconsciously resentful.
Toby’s dramatic weight loss may mark trouble for his already strained marriage to Kate. It will undoubtedly make for one exciting story this season.
Fans already think the couple splits up based on a flashforward scene from the Season 3 finale. Perhaps Toby’s weight loss is the beginning of the end.
Do you think Kate and Toby will hit a rough patch after his weight loss?
This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.