Tonight on NBC their new honest & provocative dramedy series This Is Us airs with an all-new Tuesday, November 22, 2016, episode and we have your This Is Us Recap below. On tonight’s This Is Us season 1 episode 8, as per the NBC synopsis, “Jack, (Milo Ventimiglia) Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and the kids take an unexpected detour on their way to Thanksgiving dinner at Rebecca’s parent’s house. In the future, Kate (Chrissy Metz) makes two drastic decisions; Kevin (Justin Hartley) invites Olivia to Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) house for Thanksgiving.”
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This is Us begins with Rebecca (Mandy Moore) making a homemade cranberry sauce, and a few other things for a dinner they are going to have at the parents’ place. All three of the kids are objecting to going, and Rebecca casually tells the kids that if it comes up, be sure to mention how great a mother she is to them. Young Randall (Lonnie Chavis) tells their mom, how upset he gets that they always say they want a picture with just the “twins”; Rebecca promises to talk to them about it again.
Jack (Milo Ventimilgia) comes in telling everyone to get excited for their annual Thanksgiving roadtrip and shows the kids all the snacks he bought. Jack orders all the kids to go pee before they go on their 6-hour car ride. Rebecca is fretting over her food not being good enough to her parents, but her sister’s always is perfect.
Jack takes a spoonful of her cranberry sauce telling her it is perfect. He continues to make her laugh, when he tells her how entertaining her boring sister really is. Just as they were getting ready to leave, the boys came running into the kitchen and crashed into their mother who dropped the bowl of cranberry sauce. Jack chases them out to get changed.
Kate (Chrissy Metz) is at her weight loss session, and they are all discussing what food really gets to them over the Thanksgiving holiday. One of the women in the group talks about her gastric bypass surgery and how she already lost 30 lbs and how it’s worth it, which intrigues Kate. The host of the group warns them all to be aware of their triggers, and encourages them that they can do it.
Toby (Chris Sullivan) and Kate are out to dinner, and as she is eating a kale bland dinner, Toby is eating a ton of pasta. He is excited about New York, and tells Kate he hopes her mother likes him. Kate tells Toby she doesn’t want him to come to New York with her, and she wants to take a break from him. She says that since he stopped dieting, she dreads going out with him, and she feels weak. She tells him about stuffing her face with powdered donuts and cried herself to sleep.
She reminds him that when they met, she told him she could not fall for a fat person. Toby tells her that she did, that she did fall for him and what is she going to do now, throw him away? Kate goes on to explain that Toby is better than her wildest dreams when it came to men, but she still isn’t happy. She tells him its not just about her weight, she needs to get her life together. Toby asks if she needs that even more than him, and her silence speaks volumes. Toby says that its clear she made up her mind.
Kevin (Justin Hartley) talks to his co-star, Olivia (Janet Montgomery) about Thanksgiving, asking if she celebrates it. She says her mom is American, but she is definitely not getting together with relatives she hates so they can gorge themselves on dry bird while pretending that they would have anything to do with each other if they weren’t related by blood. Kevin then asks her what she will be doing then.
Olivia tells him she will be going to her favorite dive bar to spend time with the senile bartender while watching Rocky II and drinking bourbons. She wishes Kevin a great break, he asks her to join him and his family. She says she is not going to New Jersey to spend time with the wonderful slices of Wonder Bread responsible for “this”. Kevin tells her she is way off, that his family is more like a multigrain bread, except not that healthy. “We would be Ciabatta Bread!”
He goes on to explain that his mother is married to his dead dad’s best friend, he has a twin sister who is seriously overweight and has an adopted black brother, who just reconnected with his biological father who is dying now. Jokingly he asks her, “Don’t you want to see that up close?” Kevin throws in her face how she is always saying the more time they spend together, the more they look married on stage. Olivia gives in and tells him to pick her up at noon tomorrow.
Randall (Sterling K. Brown) wakes up at 6:30 in the morning, and tells Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) to get up, that it is turkey day. He dances out of their bedroom, and wakes up everyone, telling them to meet him in the kitchen in 8 minutes, even jumping on Kevin in the basement to get up. Instead of helping prep dinner, Kevin tells Randall he is going to pick up up Olivia, and some of the ingrediaents required for dinner that night.
Randall tells Kevin he is excited to meet his girlfriend, which stops Kevin in his tracks. He returns to the kitchen and tells Randall that Olivia is not his girlfriend, Randall acts sarcastic and winks at him, promising him he will be cool. Kevin tells him he isn’t allowed to talk to her, Randall jokes “why?” because she will want me?
The rest of the family come down and Randall sends them on different missions; but William (Ron Cephas Jones) seems to be unusually worn out. Randall orders him to rest and they can take care of everything else. Beth is upset when Randall is excited for his mother and biological father to be at the same table.
Miguel takes the food into the kitchen and Beth confronts Rebecca. She tells her that she knows she has been avoiding her and she doesn’t know how things work in her marriage but she has been sitting on this huge lie for 3 days. Rebecca insists that she isn’t telling Randall tonight and she will tell him in her own time; Beth is defiant and tells her that Rebecca has until tonight to tell him, or she will.
We return to when the kids are little, and on their road trip, the tire pops and everyone is trying to stay calm.
Rebecca and Randall are in the kitchen working on dinner, when Rebecca suggests they find some time to talk later; before she can finish Kevin arrives with Olivia. Kevin hugs his mother, but is rather rude to Miguel. The girls tell Olivia she is very pretty, and when he tells her she already knows Randall, she says, “you’re the adopted one.” Randall smirks but Rebecca and Miguel welcome her.
The whole family goes on their traditional hike, where Kevin’s mother can’t remember the name of his play after he has told her numerous times. As his mother goes ahead of them, Kevin asks if Olivia’s mom is really okay with her not being with them for Thanksgiving. She explains how horrible the holiday really is with her family.
Randall sits with William, who is out of breathe. Randall asks him how he spent Thanksgiving, he said they would all bring a potluck and play their instruments to pass the time. William asks how far the hike is and he tells them it is exactly 3.4 miles long. We go back to when the car broke down as kids, and Jack is telling the kids they will walk the rest of the way to the dinner, which also happens to be exactly 3.4 miles long.
Kate is on the airplane on her way to Randall’s place, telling him that she is just boarding the plane and should be there for dinner. Kate has a hard time, as everyone stares at her and the flight attendant embarrasses her with a belt extender.
Back when they are walking with the kids, Jack asks what they want to do on Thanksgiving when they grow up. Kevin says he is going to be a quarterback and playing football on the holiday. Randall’s response is that he isn’t going to celebrate it because when you’re a grown-up you don’t have to do things you hate.
Kate pipes up and says that she hates it too. All three kids admit that its not even their grandparents, its Rebecca, that she acts all weird and has this high voice when she is there. Jack tells them to stop, and tells Rebecca they are delusional from the cold. When Randall says he isn’t cold, Jack tells him to zip it.
Beth and the whole family return from their hike and are about to start their traditional Thanksgiving movie, when Randall says he wants to drive to William’s apartment to retrieve the recordings of him and his friends through the years; Beth protests that its a two- hour drive, but Randall reminds her that this could very well be William’s last Thanksgiving. She tells him to hurry up. Rebecca tries to go with Randall, who refuses and tells her to enjoy the movie. He tells them Kate is on her way, without her boyfriend and that it sounded like drama, and he runs out the door.
Kevin talks to Olivia and says he understands what Thanksgiving has meant to her, but promises that this year she will definitely make it to the pie. Miguel approaches Kevin about breaking tradition, and that he would like to wear the hat this year. Kevin tells him no, that was always his dad’s hat, and since their dad died, Randall and him take turns wearing the hat, and this year it is his turn. Miguel walks away. Olivia gives Kevin back the pumpkin pie and says she is leaving. She tells him to stop looking at her thinking he can see things that aren’t there. She begs him not to follow her, and she leaves.
The kids are exhausted, and they find a garage, but the guy tells them there is no tow-truck until tomorrow. Rebecca asks Jack to settle the kids and she will call her parents, when her mom picks up they begin to argue, instead of arguing Rebecca decides she isn’t going to subject her kids to being at her parents’ place any more. They are lucky enough to see there is a motel across the street. Jack kisses her and tells her he loves it.
Olivia comes outside and tells William she is waiting for her uBer, he says he doesn’t know what that is. She bluntly asks him what it feels like to be dying. William says it feels like all these beautiful pieces of life are flying around me and I am trying to catch them; like when his beautiful grand-daughter falls asleep in his lap, he tries to catch the feeling of her breathing against him.
He wants to make Randall laugh, and then he tries to catch the feeling of him laughing, and how it rolls up from his chest. William says the pieces are moving faster now and he can’t catch them all. He can feel them skipping through his fingertips, and soon the laughter and the breathing will be gone.
He advises Olivia that even though she thinks she has all the time in the world, she doesn’t. Stop playing it cool, and to start catching those moments in her life while she is young and quick, because sooner than she thinks she will be old and slow, and there will be no more moments to catch. He tells her when a boy adores you and offers you pie, say THANK YOU!
Kevin is in the kitchen grabbing a beer from the fridge, when he closes the door, Olivia is there, and she kisses him and says thank you for the pie while she takes her jacket off. Olivia and Kevin join the rest of the family to watch the movie.
Jack and Rebecca enter the lodge, where the owner Pilgrim Rick is there to greet them. Pilgrim Rick asks if the kids know about the MayFlower, and Rebecca tells him they do. Jack is a bit rude and just asks for their room. The kids want to strip down and the furnace is stuck on high. Jack pulls out hotdogs, Kraft singles and saltines; and everyone in the room is whining. Jack promises to go talk to Pilgrim Jack.
Randall is in William’s apartment, where he finds all the recordings his dad had, but underneath it is a letter from his mother Rebecca. Randall is in shock. Kate’s flight has some severe turbulance, and the lady beside her held her hand after they both admitted they thought they were going to die. She admits to Kate that life is too short, and she managed to escape her abusive husband and is getting a divorce.
Back at the lodge, there is a knock on the door, and Jack comes back as Pilgrim Rick. He asks them again about the MayFlower and kisses his wife. Jack finds Police Academy 3, so they have entertainment and then they are going to skewer the hotdogs and roast them in the furnace, then wrap them in sliced cheese and roll it in crushed saltine crackers: Thanksgiving CheeseDogs!!
Kevin bursts into the house as Pilgrim Rick and his nieces are excited, but as he starts, he sees Miguel’s face. He takes off the hat and says he is only Uncle Kevin, but the real Pilgrim Rick is behind them. He tells Miguel to come take the hat, and Miguel starts the traditional family story.
Just as Miguel begins his story Randall walks in. Beth asks him if he found what he was looking for, and he said he did, but is giving the death stare to his mother and William. Beth asks about Kate and he tells her she will be there soon.
Thanksgiving dinner is going great, no one noticing how angry Randall is. Dinner is the traditional meal, Thanksgiving CheeseDogs among other delicious things including pie. They start with the yarn, a tradition Rebecca started, back in the lodge.
Kate was forced to wear a sweater Rebecca’s mother made, and she hated it, it was itchy. So when they were stuck in the lodge, Rebecca tells the kids they are going to start a new tradition. The first person will take the sweater, say something they are thankful for, pull the string and throw the sweater to the next person.
Rebecca says what Jack said all those years earlier, when one of the girls says grandma always says the same things. Randall sarcastically says that she always does. Beth tells the girls to go upstairs and play. Randall pulls out a letter and photo that he found at William’s apartment, and asks his mom why she did that. When Rebecca starts to talk, Randall cuts her off.
He says he went to get the tapes for William, and instead he found this letter, and it had handwriting he knew…. his mother’s handwriting, so he opened the envelope. “After all these years…” Rebecca tries to explain, but Randall doesn’t want to hear it. He is furious that she kept him from his father all these years. Randall says he can’t even look at her, that he asked for years about his family, and if he hadn’t found him on his own, William could have been dead already.
Randall gets up from the table and leaves. Beth tries to stop him, but as he walks out of the room Kate walks in, excited to be there and oblivious to what just happened. Kate announces that she has decided to have gastric bypass surgery. Olivia tells Kevin his family is amazing.
The last moments of tonight’s episode, a young Randall cuddles with his mom and tells her that he does want to have Thanksgiving, and he knows how he wants it to be; like that night. That he wants every Thanksgiving for the rest of his life to be like that. Rebecca kisses him and all five of them are in bed sleeping.
THE END!
