I adore This Is Us, but not so much the romantic pairing of Kevin (Justin Hartley) and his co-star, Olivia (Janet Montgomery). Kevin's interest in Olivia felt unbelievably cliché: her smug, superior attitude attracted the insecure Kevin, who wanted to break through her cold shell to the real person underneath. The most surprising point in their budding relationship was when Kevin realized Olivia might not be worth cracking at all — and that Sloane (Milana Vayntrub), the overlooked playwright, may be worth getting to know better.
Now that Kevin and Sloane have entered a flirtationship — one sparked by sleeping together following Olivia's dismissal in episode 9 — it seems clear that Sloane is far better suited for him than Olivia ever was. But is Olivia totally out of the running for Kevin's love interest? Hartley teased to TV Guide that someone could get in the way of Sloane and Kevin's relationship.
"It gets a little bit complicated, as does any relationship that you have with somewhere where you're sleeping with each other, but also working together," Hartley says of Sloane and Kevin's work-meets-pleasure relationship. "They're doing this play and they're working together all day, while they're trying to have this relationship. There might be other players involved, too. Things get complicated pretty quickly."
Could one of these "players" be Olivia? It seems possible. Though Olivia, the lead in the production, went MIA on Kevin and Sloane, the show must go on — this time, with Sloane as the lead. I can't imagine Olivia taking too kindly to Sloane succeeding in her part and it might be just the thing that brings her back to the city. Then again, perhaps Olivia's heart has melted a bit since Kevin called her out for not experiencing real human emotions — could she return to make amends with Kevin, only to find Sloane comfortably in her place?
Fans will have to wait until January 10 to catch up with Kevin, but my fingers are crossed that he'll be able to make it work with Sloane, no matter what other "players" show up at his doorstep.
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