‘This Is Us’: Randall’s Golf Game, Kevin’s Rash Decision & More From ‘The Club’ (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 4, Episode 6 of This Is Us, “The Club.”]
The Pearson saga continued in this week’s latest episode of This Is Us, and “The Club” featured some resolutions, exciting victories and shocking developments.
Below, we’re breaking down every timeline covered in the episode but beware of major spoilers ahead.
Hot for Each Other
(Credit: NBC)
The episode starts out pretty saucy for This Is Us as the show revisits and highlights sexy moments between Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan). “Promise me, we’ll always be hot for each other,” Kate prompts Toby during one of the cuts to which he answers, “easiest promise I’ll ever make.” The scene quickly changes to the present though and as Toby attempts to make time with his wife, she quickly turns him down.
Their next scene includes some bickering and Kate questions what’s got them on each others nerves. Toby’s answer? A lack of intimacy. The conversation takes place as Toby’s setting some clothes aside for donation, and that’s when Kate asks why he’d throw his favorite pants away. He tells her they’re too big now, but she still doesn’t understand why he won’t get rid of them and so he reluctantly keeps them. As their exchange continues, he begs her for a night away so they can save their “sex life,” and Kate agrees to follow his plan.
When they arrive at a hotel, their special getaway includes rose petals and lingerie but it the evening goes south when it’s clear Toby can’t perform. Kate takes her husband’s lack of excitement as a sign of disinterest in her. He finally admits after a session of watching TCM movies that it was her comment about the pants that has him too stressed to perform, he tells her that he thinks she doesn’t believe in him and wants him to gain the weight back.
Later when they return home after their unsuccessful getaway, Kate apologizes for making Toby feel that way and cuts up what she believes are the offending pants. The gesture turns into something more and by the end of the episode the couple are back on track.
Do You See Yourself There?
(Credit: NBC)
Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) storyline in the past begins with the newer couple in bed. When Rebecca asks for a ride to her parents he’s reluctant considering her father Dave (Tim Matheson) had been extremely territorial during their first meeting. Rebecca wins though and he agrees to bring her, but when her father greets them in the driveway he earns a golf invite that Rebecca urges him to take.
So, Jack ends up at the club where Dave picks out suitable attire for the golf course and Jack embarks on one hellish day dealing with snide remarks and comments from the man who invited him. Jack feels uncomfortable when one of Dave’s friends offers him a job, but takes a business card to satisfy the request. Meanwhile, Jack’s golf game is terrible and he keeps accidentally hitting his balls into the pond.
The lack of success leads Jack to hit up the bar cart which follows the men from hole to hole. When it comes time to settle their bets in the club after their game, Jack is offered a job once again, but he denies it. Dave confronts him when they’re alone going to the car and asks why he would give up that opportunity before launching into a scenario in which he tells Jack that he envisions Rebecca’s wedding to take place at this club and that he pictures a lot of things for his daughter, “do you see yourself there?” he asks the young man.
When they arrive back at the Malone home, Jack tells Dave that he’s going to marry Rebecca, they’re going to have a good life, a beautiful home and kids before posing the same question, “do you see yourself there?” When they exit the vehicle things appear to be getting heated and just as Jack stumbles partly due to his — alcohol consumption on the course — Rebecca exits the house and greets them. The tension is interrupted by her presence and she escorts Jack to the car as she tells her father she’s bringing him home, and he becomes the undeclared winner.
Kevin’s Rash Decision
(Credit: NBC)
Kevin’s (Justin Hartley) story continued as he sat outside his new RV with Uncle Nicky (Griffin Dunne). Antsy as ever, Kevin shows Nicky how he’s stalking Zoe (Melanie Liburd) online, but when Nicky accidentally likes an old post, Kevin freaks out. Looking for something to do, Nicky suggests a meeting but Kev opts for the gym.
While there he runs into Cassidy (Jennifer Morrison) who has no new updates on the husband front, but notes Kevin’s intrigue when one woman brings him a protein shake that includes her phone number. Kevin says romances begun within the first year of sobriety are doomed to fail, and eventually lands on the topic of Zoe. He asks Cassidy what she thinks about the new man she’s supposedly pictured with, but when he doesn’t get the answer he wants which is that Zoe’s moving on, Cassidy asks what happened.
Kevin tells her that Zoe didn’t want kids and Cassidy looks genuinely surprised, but the topic doesn’t go much further. Later on we see that Kevin broke his no-romance rule and called the shake girl for a date, while out he looks to find things in common, but the basic questions don’t glean many answers. Just when the woman suggests they see where things can go, they’re arriving at Kevin’s trailer and Cassidy is sitting outside.
Ditching the other girl, he asks Cassidy what’s wrong, and she admits that she tried to talk to her husband but that things turned ugly and they ended up fighting. But Kevin musters up some encouraging words, telling her she’s not unlovable but that she’s just human. The remark leads her to lean in for a kiss before breaking apart and heading for the door. A cut in between scenes makes it seem like that’s the end because the next time we see Kevin, he exits his room to find Nicky in his RV’s kitchen and the uncle says they should have gone for a hike — why might you ask? Well when Kevin reenters his room, Cassidy is in his bed under the covers. So yeah, that happened.
Randall’s Game
(Credit: NBC)
Randall (Sterling K. Brown) has two major timelines in this episode consisting of young Randall (Lonnie Chavis) and our present-day Pearson. The present day version is trying to win over his fellow councilmen and attempts to do so by offering them access to a special golf club where he has an in. Meanwhile in the past, Randall is heavily influenced by his teacher, Mr. Lawrence (Brandon Scott), asking Jack to come meet him and revealing interest in learning to golf like Tiger Woods.
When at the course in the present, Randall struggles with the game and you begin to think he took after Jack. But the councilmen who at first give him a hard time offer tips and he seems to improve. Their approval and acceptance of him shows that Randall had endeared them with his persistence.
Meanwhile, in the past, Randall is upset when he can’t get the hang of things, but when Jack says they’re not going to quit, Randall questions his father. He asks if they’re not quitters, why did his dad let him quit karate at the Dojo which included many black families. The comment takes Jack by surprise and later at home he tells Rebecca about the situation and questions himself.
Jack decides to go to Mr. Lawrence and check-in on Randall through him, thanking the teacher for his interest in Randall, asking Mr. Lawrence to make him and Rebecca aware if Randall has big questions like he did on the golf course and invites the man to dinner at their house. But before the timeline for this episode runs out, we return to the golf course in a scene that had been cut where Jack tells his son he promises to listen better, but that he wants Randall to keep trying because he thinks he could be great at golf.
(Credit: NBC)
“A lot of important relationships happen on the golf course… sometimes you’ll have to play up to the competition, sometimes you’ll have to play down, but play the game,” Jack tells his son.
He’s not wrong, young Randall aces the game and in the present timeline we see Randall hit some balls on the course solo, once the councilmen have left. He’s a regular Tiger Woods himself as the adult Pearson celebrates his success. Flashes show that Randall practiced many times through the years and in one final turn to the camera Randall says, “this one’s for you, pop,” before aiming for the nearby pond. Cue major tears.
This Is Us, Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC
