‘This Is Us’: Kevin’s Apology Tour, Rebecca’s Senior Moments & More From ‘Sorry’ (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 4, Episode 8 of This Is Us, “Sorry.”]
Season 4 of NBC’s beloved family drama This Is Us continues its stride into the holiday season as the Pearsons gear up for Thanksgiving while carrying on with their daily lives.
In the latest installment titled “Sorry,” Kevin (Justin Hartley) struggles with the word uttered by so many over their lives while Rebecca (Mandy Moore) goes through some “senior moments” that would concern anyone. Below, we’re breaking down everything that happened, but beware of major spoilers.
Kevin’s Fallout
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
After we saw him wind up in bed with Cassidy (Jennifer Morrison), Kevin is shown moping in bed as he lays there recalling the moments when she left his trailer. Their humor had disappeared and Kevin’s guilt for getting involved with a woman he had been trying to help repair her marriage set in. He says sorry and she leaves.
Back in the present, Nicky (Griffin Dunne) confronts Kevin about the situation and tells him Cassidy hasn’t been at AA for the last week because of them sleeping together. “What’s wrong with you?” Nicky asks his nephew about his behavior. The reprimanding causes Kevin to see Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) in Nicky’s place, making the words cut even deeper.
Later on Nicky goes to apologize, noting that it’s his hearing day, but when he doesn’t get a response from Kevin and notes that his RV is in shambles, Nicky discovers the troubled actor isn’t there. He picks up the phone to call Cassidy and asks her to help him find Kevin, noting that he’s never called her for anything in the past, and so she agrees.
Later we see Kevin in a bar, but before we can get too worried, we hear him order “another club soda.” But when he gets involved in a conversation between two patrons, goading them for a fight, it has the desired result for the self-destructive Pearson as the talk turns into punches.
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
When Cassidy and Nicky find Kevin on the side of the road, they coax him into the car and return to the trailers. Nicky gets upset when Kevin asks why he should get dressed up, noting Kevin forgot about the hearing and saying that him being a character witness won’t look good for Nicky since Kevin’s face is in rough shape.
“I’m sorry is like a magic word when you’re a kid, it doesn’t matter what you did. You say sorry and it all goes away. You grow up and it just doesn’t work anymore, does it?” Kevin asks Cassidy before they get out of the car and she works makeup magic on him.
This leads Cassidy to open up about her past and her father, who had been a military man. When Kevin asks why she never mentioned him, she jokes that not everyone needs to talk about their dead dads, but does tell Kevin she had remained in the military to find what her father had gotten out of it and in the process destroyed her family.
She uses this sad information to reassure Kevin that he’s not responsible for ruining her marriage — she was. She even tells him on Wednesdays she’d follow her husband and son to a local diner but never had the courage to try and join them inside, afraid she’d be turned away, and she can’t do it anymore.
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
Next it’s time to take on the hearing, as Nicky fidgets around, Kevin helps straighten his tie and it’s time for deliberation. When Nicky is asked if he is remorseful, he says no, because if he hadn’t thrown a chair through a window, he wouldn’t have gotten help, stopped drinking, had a relationship with his nephew and realized he wasn’t broken, but that he had just been sick. He ends up with a warning and is cleared of charges as long as he stays in treatment.
Later on, Kevin drives them to the diner and tells Cassidy now is her opportunity to fix things with her family. She agrees and tells him that one thing she did find when she was in the military was friendship, and that was lacking when she came home — until now — and she hopes that Kevin finds his happy ending. We then see her go into the diner where her family invites her to sit. When Kevin and Nicky return to the trailer park, Kevin invites his uncle for Thanksgiving and he agrees.
“You’re a good kid,” Nicky tells him, morphing into Jack once again, and the kind words cut deep, but in the best way.
Concerning Rebecca
(Credit: Mitchell Haddad/NBC)
Rebecca heads to Philly in this episode to visit Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and the family for Thanksgiving, and while Miguel (Jon Huertas) is visiting his kids in New York, the mother and son share the day together — some “R & R time,” as Randall refers to it. Their story is intercut with a plot from the past in which Randall (Niles Fitch) helps his mother on the weekends and assists with her getting a job.
In the past, we see Randall helping his mother with the dishwasher and she worries about the money situation, but tells Randall to not concern himself. Before they can continue, Mark (Austin Abrams) shows up at the door, Kate (Hannah Zeile) greets him, and he says hello to Rebecca and Randall, calling Kate’s brother “Randy.”
When they talk about going to the movies, Randall notes that he and Beth (Rachel Hilson) just saw Practical Magic and Kate seemed interested until Mark said they “aren’t 12-year-old girls.” When the couple takes their leave, Randall asks what Kate sees in him, but Rebecca just says she’s glad to see Kate happy. Considering what was hinted at in previous episodes, the happiness is some kind of facade which has yet to be revealed.
Randall then offers to help Rebecca with a resume, and we see him accompany her to a job interview. She’s the oldest one there though, and even though she felt confident, her lack of software knowledge lead the employer to ask for more applicants. Randall takes the opportunity to drift into his office and inform him about Rebecca’s situation, promising to teach her any software she needs. Later on we learn she got the job, but we know it’s because he helped.
(Credit: Mitchell Haddad/NBC)
In the present, Rebecca joins Randall at his office, and she exclaims how excited she is to spend time with her “congressman” son, but Randall corrects her, saying he’s a councilman. The mix-up is one of many as she insists on taking photos of everything, greeting Randall’s coworkers with hugs. When they sit down for sandwiches, he asks her how L.A. is, but instead of being able to answer, she wants to show him pictures of baby Jack and proceeds to freak out when she can’t find them.
The agitation is strong considering the small stakes, and when they find the photos we can see the concern growing in Randall’s eyes. When they return home, now with Miguel in tow, Beth (Suasn Kelechi Watson) asks how the day was and Randall mentions the phone incident. The remark causes Miguel to reveal that her new phone was purchased because she lost her previous one. The pieces are beginning to fall into place for Randall and the viewers — all of her mix-ups and outbursts are signs of Alzheimer’s or dementia.
When Randall attempts to broach the mix-ups with her, she says Miguel calls them her senior moments. He asks if she’s seen a doctor lately and this causes her to lash out, reminding him that she’s the parent. He says he’s just worried about her, but he begins to make a snide remark about her being the parent, suggesting that he did a lot to support her. This leaves the episode on a cold note as she asks him to leave and she shuts the door.
Kate’s Fib
(Credit: Mitchell Haddad/NBC)
Meanwhile, at Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby’s (Chris Sullivan), the parents are trying to get baby Jack to eat solid foods, but he doesn’t care for banana. When Toby has to leave for work, he begs Kate to wait to try the food again when he gets back, and so she heads out to meet Gregory (Timothy Omundson) for their walk.
When he isn’t on the sidewalk, she goes up to his door and he says it’s a bad day for him, physically. So she helps him inside. When he needs help cutting an avocado, Gregory offers up a spoonful to Jack, which he chows down on. So, later when Toby returns home, Kate leaves a bowl of ripe avocados out and he takes the bait, suggesting they try the California produce. When Jack accepts the spoonful, Toby is ecstatic, but Kate’s face falls a bit knowing that it’s not Jack’s first bite of solid food.
Deja Gets Pushed
(Credit: Mitchell Haddad/NBC)
During a supervised movie date at home, Beth overhears Deja (Lyric Ross) get upset about something Malik (Asante Blackk) says. When she storms out and up the stairs, she tells Beth to have him leave. But instead of doing that right away, Beth asks Malik why he pushed for Deja to do something. He reveals that Deja wants to see her biological mother. He worries aloud that he messed up in pushing for her to tell Beth and Randall, and says that Deja feels like she’s asked to see her mother but been ignored.
When Beth broaches the topic with Deja, she gets upset that Malik told and says she doesn’t want Beth and Randall to think she’s ungrateful. Beth tells her they’ll pick a day to meet with her mom, and Deja asks if she can invite her to Thanksgiving, to which she agrees. Beth then tells Deja that Malik is still downstairs and she gives the young couple “30 seconds” alone for them to share a kiss. This storyline definitely sets up the next installment, which no doubt will cover the Pearson’s latest Thanksgiving gathering, and we couldn’t be more thankful.
This Is Us, Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC
