https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu7SCGhnzT8
Every week, This Is Us is an emotional powerhouse and tonight at 9p on NBC, it delivers a very powerful episode.
Rebecca (Mandy Moore) realizes that her son, prepubescent Kevin (Parker Bates), has a fever when they go to the video store (it was store people went to to rent movies before there were streaming sites like Netflix), so she takes him and the other triplets to the doctor. Turns out that Kate (Mackenzie Hancsicsak) and him have Chickenpox. When Rebecca (Elizabeth Perkins) calls her mom to find out if she had the itchy condition when she was a kid, her mother takes that as invite to come over and help. The one thing Rebecca does not want or need especially after Jack (Milo Ventimilgia) gets the Chickenpox too. Tonight we learn why the two women do not get along and Rebecca finally has it out with her mom in a very powerful scene. A scene acted so brilliantly by Moore, it reconfirms my feelings towards her as one of the greatest actresses of her generation.
Since tonight’s episode is not a standalone, we will also get stories from the present day about the other characters as well. We learn more about Kevin (Justin Hartley) than we ever knew. Last week, he hurt his knee while filming a movie with Sylvester Stallone and this week it starts with Brian Grazer wanting to see what his injury he looks like. It is bad, so the producer tell his actor he has to have someone look at it. Therefore, Kevin goes to the doctor and she tells him he needs a procedure to fix it causing him to be off his feet for a while. The production says they will wait for him, but for how long. He is nervous that he will lose the biggest role of his career and will risk his knee to get back to work. When Toby (Chris Sullivan) confronts him about this, Kevin explains why this is all so important to him. Be prepared to have the tissues ready because it is going to be a heartbreaking moment. Kevin’s biggest one so far and about time, he had his episode.
Toby is not only dealing with Kevin, he is also dealing with his sister Kate (Chrissy Metz). She is determined to lose weight for her big Bar Mitzvah singing debut. She will do anything to fit into her dress, and Toby is worried about her. Does he have a reason to be?
Finally, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and his wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) are dealing with a new problem with their foster child. Deja (Lyric Ross) has not washed her hair in two weeks and it is smells disgusting. When another girl tells Deja that on a family outing, Beth kindly explains to her that they need to do something about it. As Beth combs out Deja’s hair, she learns a secret about the girl and shares it with Randall. Randall talks to Deja about it, and she is not happy that Beth shared the information with Randall. What will the ramifications be over this disclosure?
Like I said, tonight’s episode bring the powerful along with the emotional. What I did not tell you is that you MUST watch the episode all the way through because the finale few seconds will bring a surprise that no one saw coming and we will all be talking about it tomorrow. It is as big of a shock as when we found out that the Pearson house burned down and that is probably how Jack died. But I have said too much!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention, that tonight’s remarkable episode was directed by Thirtysomething’s Ken Olin, who masterfully put together an hour of television that tugs at our heartstrings.
