Tonight’s This Is Us showed the Pearson Three in a brand-new decade, but spoiler alert: They’re still the same hot messes. Just younger! And with less facial hair! Here’s what happened…
First, we start off with the three in their younger years: Halloween is approaching, and Rebecca is busy making costumes for her ungrateful kids. Well, except Randall. Randall’s not ungrateful. Kate, on other hand, straight-up says she doesn’t want to be a veterinarian after Rebecca spent God knows how long making the costume. She now wants to go as Sandy from Grease, and Jack volunteers Rebecca to make her costume at the last minute.
Naturally, Rebecca’s pissed about this and tells Jack he has to stop saying yes to everything Kate wants. Jack retorts by saying Rebecca is just as easy on Randall. They go back and forth for a few more annoying seconds before Rebecca says Jack is setting Kate up to be miserable in her 20s—which leads us to…
The Pearson kids! In their 20s! Well, their late 20s, which are far less reckless and irresponsible than your early 20s. It’s October 2008, which puts the Pearson Three at 28, if my my math is correct.
20s Kate
Kate has instantly-iconic bangs and is working as a waitress in a restaurant. She’s insanely thirsty for a bearded, plaid-clad patron with a nice smile. Kate asks him if he’s trick-or-treating tonight, which is weird because he’s a grown-ass man. He says he’s going to a bar with friends for Halloween; she has class, so she can’t join him. It’s clear he wants her to, though—or so it seems.
As luck would have it, Kate’s class is canceled that night, so she decides to surprise Plaid Guy at the bar. But things turn awkward: He jumps up from his table immediately and runs over to her before she can meet his friends. He says he’s “just about to leave” the bar and asks if they can go some place more quiet. She agrees, but not before noticing Plaid Guy’s friends smirking in her direction. Oh no.
They go back to Kate’s place, have sex, and Plaid Guy quickly gets out of bed and says he has to leave. It turns out he’s married, which is why he panicked when she came to the bar. Kate says she knew this and slept with him hoping things would “feel right” afterwards. But they didn’t. Plaid Guy sucks and should never return.
20s Randall
Beth is pregnant, and her due date is the next day. Randall has no facial hair and is pissed about a ceiling fan in his nursery not working (in other words, the same but less hair). It seems like Randall had one of his panic attacks a few months ago, because he keeps saying how he doesn’t want Beth to worry about him. But that’s a little hard not to do when he’s having a full-blown conniption over an effing fan.
Rebecca comes to town for Beth’s delivery. She expresses concern that Randall might have another panic attack, which he overhears. It’s sad, sure, but I can’t stop looking at Rebecca’ middle-part wig.
They have a long chat about Randall’s episode from two months before. Rebecca then awkwardly pivots and asks Beth to help her set up a Facebook account because, remember, Facebook was the thing in 2008.
Randall opens up to a random store clerk about the mental breakdown he had. The root of his anxiety is the fact Beth has a baby on the way; he’s completely petrified about being a father, and the store clerk offers some warm but generic advice about how babies have all the answers. It’s sweet—not counting the fact Randall made a racially insensitive remark about the store clerk’s turban. (What the hell was that?)
Surprise, surprise: Beth goes into labor literally right after this. An ambulance can’t get to the house in time, so Randall, after assuring Beth he won’t have another panic attack, delivers the baby on their living room floor. Rebecca says it’s one of the happiest moments of her life, but it’s also somewhat sad because Jack isn’t there. Insert obligatory Randall-and-Beth feels.
Rebecca uploads a photo of Beth and Randall’s newborn to her Facebook account and almost immediately receives a message from Miguel. Yes, that Miguel—the Miguel Rebecca eventually marries. Now we know how their whirlwind romance began: He slid into her DMs.
20s Kevin
Kevin’s washing hair at a salon and permanently “waiting for pilot season to start.” His roommate just booked a Kevin Spacey movie—which is a problematic thing to be excited about, given recent events—and invites our Kevin to a private party with the director and cast. Kevin’s clearly jealous and upset but agrees to go anyway.
I’m immediately over this party. It’s full of pretentious Hollywood cardboard cut-outs drinking and cackling at nothing. Kevin’s roommate introduces him to the director of the Spacey film, who gives him a terse, snub-ish hello and moves on. Rude. Doesn’t he know he’s talking to the future Manny?!
Actually, wait, Kevin’s the one who’s rude here. He backs the Spacey director into a corner and implies he’s a better fit for the role his roommate snagged. He says the character is written as an “all-American handsome” guy and that his roommate is a “character” actor (read: ugly). What a snake! I hate Kevin in every decade! The director walks away and says he’ll never hire Kevin for a project after this encounter. Thank God! Relegate his (fine) behind to The Manny!
Kevin and Kate have an emotional heart to heart after Beth gives birth where they essentially admit to failing their 20s. It’s endearing and relatable and one of the best scenes between Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley in This Is Us history. It ends with Kate moving to Los Angeles to live with Kevin.
This episode wasn’t just during the kids’ 20s, though. Here’s what happened during the super flashbacks:
The ’90s:
Rebecca and Jack are going as Sonny and Cher for Halloween, which is the second Kardashian parallel to happen on this show. (Kim Kardashian and Jonathan Cheban went as Sonny and Cher this year, too. How the hell does Kris Jenner do this shit?)
Randall’s dressed as Michael Jackson, Kate’s Sandy from Grease, and Kevin’s a random dude with five o’clock shadow. Randall, the genius he is, made a map outlining the best houses to hit for trick-or-treating, which Kate and Kevin (of course) don’t appreciate. They don’t want to use Randall’s map, so Jack takes them trick-or-treating separately while Rebecca takes Randall alone. Jack scolds Rebecca for giving into Randall’s “rigid” demands, but she contends he’s just anxious. This is obviously foreshadowing for Randall’s type-A panic attacks.
Child Kate has a crush on a boy named Billy Palmer, and she wants to ask him to go through the neighborhood haunted house with her. Kevin, as per usual, is a grade-A asshole about this and says Billy is “just as popular” as he is and that there’s “no way” he’ll hold Kate’s hand. He’s so terrible; let’s vote him off the island. Fast-forward a few hours later: Billy does hold Kate’s hand in the haunted house, but only because Kevin gave him all his Halloween candy to do it. Kate doesn’t know this. Damn, I’m crying.
Rebecca tries to get Randall to divert from his map for five seconds, and he has a full meltdown about it. This leads to them having an uncomfortably emotional conversation about why Randall was adopted in the first place. I hate that Randall has to deal with the most trauma despite being the best child. His life should be all candy and rainbows and trick-or-treating maps, but nope: This show makes him sad all the time.
Parting thoughts: I hope Kevin’s roommate is now a huge movie star and hate-watches old episodes of The Manny.
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