Warning! Spoilers ahead for This Is Us season 6.
The divorce of Kate and Toby on This Is Us turned out to be for the better, but it also created a brand new plot hole within the show. NBC's family drama is in the last stretch of its final season, which means that it's starting to wrap up several loose plot ends. That includes ending the marriage of Kate and Toby, played by Chrissy Metz and Chris Sullivan.
For a while, This Is Us had been hinting at Kate and Toby's split. Even before they started to build a family, the couple seemed to already be operating on borrowed time. But it was not until the This Is Us season 5 finale that the divorce was explicitly confirmed when the show revealed Kate to be marrying Phillip (Chris Greene) in the near future. Since then, This Is Us season 6 has been setting up Kate and Toby's breakup. Ultimately, the demands of Toby's job and Kate's increasing frustrations about their long-distance setup just became too much for them.
This Is Us season 6, episode 12, "Katoby," depicts Kate and Toby getting divorced. Kate initiates the decision, but Toby isn't on board with it. That is until the mini-flash-forward to Kate's second wedding day, when Toby calls to essentially tell her that he has come to with their split. Despite this heartbreaking development, This Is Us was still able to make it look like it was all for the better with Toby eventually seeing it years after the fact. This, however, contradicts the first round of This Is Us flash-forwards that centered on Rebecca (Mandy Moore) nearing her demise. Aside from giving the first glimpse of the Pearson patriarch on her deathbed, the snippet also revealed a visibly despondent Toby not wearing his wedding ring, hinting that by then, he was still struggling with coming to with the end of his marriage. In fact, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) even had to convince Toby to the Pearsons as they say goodbye to Rebecca, further backing this idea up.
A further look into the future reveals that Kate and Toby will eventually find a way to be civil, if not also friendly, with each other as they both grown-up Jack (Blake Stadnik). But in of what's known about the This Is Us timeline, there's a disconnect in Toby's outlook on the divorce between the day of Kate's second wedding and just before Rebecca's death. It's possible that something else happens that leads to Toby's struggles, but if he truly has made peace with his split with Kate by wishing her and Phillip the best, it's curious why he wouldn't want to the Pearsons to say goodbye to Rebecca. Since starting a relationship with Kate, he has essentially become a member of the Pearson clan. He has forged his own relationships with Randall, Kevin (Justin Hartley), and even Miguel (Jon Huertas). He also shared some great moments with Rebecca, as well. At the very least, he shouldn't have been that hesitant to the Pearson clan during that difficult time.
Considering This Is Us' non-linear storytelling, it's curious if the show will continue to feature Toby in its remaining episodes. Now that it's been revealed how his relationship with Kate ends, perhaps the show might shift its focus to developing her story with Phillip instead. Otherwise, the family drama could also just solely focus on Rebecca's death leading to the finale.
This Is Us season 6 airs Tuesdays on NBC