This week’s episode of This Is Us focuses mainly on Kevin’s past and future. None of the other family members are really in this episode aside from the flask backs. In the beginning, we see Rebecca and Jack getting ready for Kevin’s college visits and they express how excited they are for their children’s futures. Jack struggles with Kevin and his attitude toward the college representative who come to the house.
Kevin is receiving an award at his old high school so he goes there to get acquainted with everyone before the ceremony. He walks down the halls and gets flashbacks of his days on the football team and the early stages of his and Sophie’s relationship. You can definitely tell he is uncomfortable and doesn’t want to be there. We see he is still struggling with the pain medication and is running out. It is only a matter of time that he cracks.
At the awards ceremony, the presenter gives a speech about how inspirational and wonderful Kevin is. He keeps envisioning his father speaking to him when all these nice things are being spoken about him in hopes of lifting his spirits. Kevin goes up to accept the award and states how he isn’t worthy of this award or any honor for that matter. He is extremely down on himself and doesn’t believe he deserves any recognition in his life. I feel that at this point Kevin feels he is a failure because there are not many positive things in his life right now.
To kill Kevin’s pain, he decides to hang out with an old classmate and drink. He finds himself, walking out on the football field and venting about his issues. He keeps having flashbacks about his injuries and how it affected his life goals. It seems that Kevin felt in the past that anything he did was never good enough for his father. He felt so much pressure on the field and to succeed after his injuries. This happens again just recently when he had surgery on the same knee. He is stuck in a rut and can’t seem to find a way out.
Kevin finally hit his breaking point when he stays over his old classmate’s apartment and steals a prescription pad from her drawer. He leaves the apartment in the morning and goes to get more pain killers because he is now in withdrawals. While standing on the line to receive new meds, he realizes he has lost something. He goes back to the girl’s apartment to retrieve his father’s necklace and has a complete breakdown. Kevin begs and pleads with the woman to look for his father’s necklace because that is all he has left of his father.
Here comes the tear jerker moment! Kevin decides he needs to tell someone about his issues and confides in Randall for help. Randall is surprised to see him but happy because he is concerned for him. Kevin tries telling Randall he has to tell him something but is interrupted when Randall says he knows and that he heard Kate lost the baby! NO!!! You see the absolute pain and shock in Kevin’s face and it truly broke my heart. What a plot twist, of course I cried like a baby and had immense sympathy for Kate and Toby. Next week’s episode seems to be focused on Kate and Toby’s relationship and the loss of the baby.
This Is Us premiers every Tuesday 9/8c on NBC.
