After a divisive season premiere, This Is Us got back to its roots tonight with an entire hour focused on the Pearsons past and present—and a return to the neighborhood pool.
In the early ’90s, we see Rebecca and Jack struggle with the idea that their preteen kids are growing up and branching out on their own. Back in present day, Beth and Randall are dealing with Deja wanting more independence and Tess opting for a whole new look. Meanwhile, Toby and Kate work with a specialist to help baby Jack—who is blind—feel comfortable and safe in his home while they secretly (and not so secretly) try to manage the stress of raising a child with special needs.
As for Kevin, he bonds with baby Jack; Kate urges him to take a movie role in Chicago because focusing on his sobriety and working will make him a better uncle to Jack. What Kate doesn’t know is that Kevin has been helping their uncle Nicky with bail money. She also doesn’t know that her husband is lying about what he’s doing when he leaves the apartment, saying he’s going to the grocery store when he’s really at the gym, but that’s a bigger story that could have long-lasting implications.
The episode left a lot of questions unanswered—this is This Is Us, after all—so we asked executive producer and co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker to fill us in on what’s ahead for the Pearson clan. Turns out, there’s some cause for concern.
Glamour: Jennifer Morrison wasn’t in this week’s episode. My theory is that Cassidy could be Nicky’s daughter, or she’ll eventually become the mother of Kevin’s son.
Isaac Aptaker: Let’s hope not both! [Laughs.] We will start getting those answers next week. We will revisit Cassidy and what that dynamic is. She’ll be in Nicky’s world in this next episode in some way.
On tonight’s episode, we see Tess get a major haircut. Eris Baker [who plays Tess] actually chopped her hair for the storyline….
She brought in photos of Zoë Kravitz as inspiration from when Zoë had short hair and nailed it. She sent us a lot of photos from Zoë’s Instagram page.
How will this new haircut shape Tess’s story for this upcoming season, in terms of her personal growth?
She’s been coming out to her immediate family in past episodes. Now she’s living in a brand-new city and starting at a brand-new school. She’s trying to figure out how she wants to be perceived, how she wants to portray herself to the world, and she’s decided that she feels most comfortable with this haircut. But then, at the end of the episode, as she’s getting ready for school and packing her book bag the night before, the reality sets in. She looks in the mirror and has a bit of self-doubt of whether it was too bold of a choice. She’s wondering if this is who she really wants to be on her first day of school. Eris is so great because it’s a complicated story.