I think the tiny actor playing Jack has been in the last few episodes showing us Jack. I noticed back then that it was likely a visually impaired child. And I think they just needed him to be suddenly completely articulate in order for the storyline to work. My grandson is not quite four, obviously older than Jack in this episode, and doesn't often articulate things quite that clearly and perfectly. Kids' thoughts and words tend to meander a little more than this kid's. But hey... it mostly worked.
Note to self: Never accept an invitation to a Pearson party... unless you like train wrecks.
I agree that the younger Pearsons should have punished their kids. They could have expressed appreciation for their kids sticking up for each other, but what they did to the babysitter was downright dangerous for all of them. And it's not like she had been abusive. But of course, what do we expect when a drunk mom gets to lay down the law?
I too loved the camera work showing us Jack's perspective throughout the episode.
The stitches stuff was a bit of PTSD for me. I had stitches seven times in my head as a kid growing up. It's a scary thing. Then, when I was very pregnant with Yoda's little brother, my two-year-old Yoda fell at his grandparents' house and needed stitches on his chin. Taking him to the hospital was worse than when I myself got stitches. They even had to ask me to leave the room because I was so upset and not handling it well. (Yoda, on the other hand, chattered away with the doctor and nurse while he was strapped onto the "papoose board" to keep him still. They told him those black stitches were his "boo-boo whiskers.")
While watching that part, I had to remind myself that grown-up Jack is FINE so all would turn out okay in that whole scene.
Ya know, I wasn't buying much of the tension between Kate and Toby up until this episode. They brought out how many little annoyances can add up in a relationship if you don't deal with them along the way. And the part in the yard where the Pearson Three are sitting next to each other and Toby sees them and makes a comment about how this is always how it is (the three of them sticking together against *whoever* is opposite them--and this time it's him) *really* hit home. You can almost see Toby making a break with them emotionally, like he knows he's outnumbered and always will be.
That, after all, is the ongoing undercurrent of this show: how this family's pieces and parts stick together no matter what happens to any of them individually. I'm seeing how smoothly they're starting to tie individual storylines together to form a workable series ending.