When it comes to shouldering the burden of her dad's tragic death, Kate has blamed herself since day one. But in "That'll Be the Day," Kate leaves her cards on the table when it comes to the family dog. After catching Toby on Petfinder, Toby confirms that Kate is, in fact, really touchy on the subject by saying, "I know that dogs are a really sensitive issue for you."
Boom. Exactly what we didn't want to hear.
Pair that with the fact that the Pearson family dog follows her everywhere and she can be heard saying, "It's all my fault," in the Super Bowl episode preview, and we have a recipe for disaster. It also may be telling that we see Jack going into a door that's totally on fire in the promo. After all, why would he go back into a burning building unless he forgot something — like the dog?
But that might not be the only reason Kate constantly beats herself up. Once the Crock-Pot starts to go ablaze, the house is eerily quiet and no one hears the fire alarm go off until the entire Pearson home is engulfed in flames. While it's totally plausible that Rebecca and Jack simply forgot the replacement batteries at the mall, it's also possible Kate could have taken them out to use in her recorder or to smoke in the house to lose weight without her parents noticing. And honestly, the camera lingers on her recorder a little too long after Jack videotapes her singing, which is definitely suspicious.
