Tonight on NBC their new honest & provocative dramedy series This Is Us airs with an all-new Tuesday, January 9, 2018, episode and we have your This Is Us recap below. On tonight’s This Is Us season 2 episode 11, as per the NBC synopsis, “The Pearsons come together under unexpected circumstances. Meanwhile, Jack surprises the family with a summer vacation.”
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This Is Us begins tonight with Rebecca (Mandy Moore) playing Monopoly with a young Kate (Mackenzie Hancsicsak), when Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) comes home and announces they can go on a family vacation to the Poconos. Jack felt it was too good of a thing to pass up as she says she has to make a list of things to pack but he suggests she pack her black bikini, but she says that thing is retired
Kate (Chrissy Metz) frets to Toby Damon (Chris Sullivan) that she hasn’t spoken to Kevin (Justin Hartley) in a month, saying its the longest they have gone without talking. She hopes that rehab is good for him but can’t believe she missed everything that was going on with him; Toby reminds her they had a lot of their own things to deal with. Kate is packing a healthy lunch for them, but asks him to take out the garbage before they leave, when he lifts the bag he finds KFC bucket and other junk food containers in the trash, but chooses not to confront her on it.
Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) ask Tess (Eris Baker) if she is okay before they leave to see Kevin. Beth doesn’t want to see Kevin after driving drunk with Tess in the back seat, but Randall reminds her that he is still his brother and Kevin was there for him when he was at his worst. Rebecca and Miguel Rivas (Jon Huertas) are also at the rehab clinic when Toby and Kate arrive, all there to support Kevin.
Kevin comes into the room, happy as always and Kate rushes into his arms; he tries to offer his condolences over the loss of her baby but she already knows. He thanks everyone, saying he is blessed that they are all there, but Beth sighs, not wanting to be there at all, thinking he is a jackass. Kevin introduces everyone to his therapist, who only wants to do a session with his siblings and mother, which couldn’t make Beth happier.
Jack brings Kevin to the vacation cabin, he isn’t happy that they went on vacation while he was at football camp. Rebecca tells him not to make fun of Randall and his new glasses and in private, Rebecca comments on how Kate always references everything about food but Jack defends her; Rebecca says its the same argument but she is worried about her. Jack promises to find a physical activity she would like and Rebecca wants him to not take her to the ice cream place anymore either. Jack forces her to play football with him and Kevin and he tells her she has been eating a lot of sweets, she promises not to eat any more sweets but she doesn’t want to play. Kevin calls Randall “4-eyes” and tosses the ball at him. Rebecca shouts at him and punishes him.
Barbara tells Kevin he is in a safe place to speak. He apologizes, saying he hit a low point, ruining things with Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge) and then with everyone else. He apologizes that Kate had to go through the most difficult things in her life without him. He tells Kate he needs to take some time for himself as Kate says she is sorry for taking her eyes off of him. He apologizes to Randall for not knowing Tess was in the car, he tells him they are there for him. Rebecca tells Kevin they just want him to be happy. Barbara says this sounded a little too polite to her and she wants him to talk about where this addiction might stem from and Kate encourages him to talk about it.
Barbara informs them they have to talk about something involving the family even about the father that weren’t so perfect, even when he was alive. Randal doesn’t want to. Meanwhile, Toby, Beth and Miguel sit at a bar and toast to the “New Big Three”.
Jack finds a young Kate sitting in the woods, she tells him that Derek called her “fat” and she wants to know if Jack thinks she is fat too. He says she is his favorite looking person on the planet. Randall can’t find his glasses anywhere and Rebecca offers to help him look for them. She accuses Kevin of taking them. Kevin shouts that he hates his mother, saying the cabin sucks, and she sucks!
In their therapy session, Kevin finally admits throughout his childhood, he felt like he always came in second to both Kate and Randall with their parents, like he was the fifth wheel. Kate says that is crazy but Barbara tells her to let him speak. He looks at Kate, saying she always had dad and Randall always had mom, like they were two peas in a pod. Rebecca says that isn’t true. Barbara tells her that Kevin is telling her how he feels and they will all have a chance to speak after. Kevin says that feeling went on repeat when he got older with acting and football and fame, and it was only a matter of time for it to turn into something worse.
When Barbara asks why was it only a matter of time? Kevin says they were a family of addicts; Kate scoffs but Kevin says their father was an addict and so was his father and Kevin is an addict and he knows how hard Kate struggles with her weight and she probably gets this from her dad too. Kate turns this against the therapist but Kevin says that she wanted him to talk about their dad but its also about his drinking problem.
Barbara asks Rebecca if she ever talked about Jack’s drinking problem and them having the gene? Rebecca admits she never sat them down and color their memories with his drinking and even denies him being an addict. Rebecca says Randall would never have Jack see his children being born and Kate will never have Jack at her wedding; Barbara openly notes how Rebecca comments on Kate and Randall but nothing about Kevin.
Barbara finds it interesting but Kevin finds it typical. Randall jumps to Rebecca’s defense, saying he held his tongue but won’t go after mom. Randall says Kevin isn’t an addict, he only wanted attention. Kevin wants to know why Tess was hiding in the car; when Randall gets upset, Rebecca chases after him. Kevin says this is typical and wants her to admit she loves Randall the most. She finally blurts out that Randall was easier to love, who didn’t recoil at her touch nor abandon her when his father died.
Miguel, Toby and Beth continue to drink and play darts. Toby reveals he found a bunch of junk food at the bottom of their trash can and Kate has fallen off the wagon and is hiding it from him. He gets frustrated, saying that maybe she will tells Kevin or Randall or her mom in therapy or one of the Pearsons on the inside. Miguel says he married his best friend’s wife, no one talks about it, but everyone thinks it. He has been on the outside from the beginning. He isn’t even an outsider, but he is okay. He says those four have lived through the loss of the best man they have ever known and that is why they get to be on the inside, and that is why they get the live savers (reference to Star Wars).
Jack and young Kate get back to the cabin after running through the rain. Rebecca shares that she had a rough day with Kevin. Jack reveals he took Kate to the ice cream parlor just to get her to stop her looking at him like that. Rebecca says she gets the same look, but she doesn’t give into the look so she will always be the bad guy; Jack promises to be more firm with Kate and the food. Rebecca says he can’t be the bad guy, besides it will give their kids something to talk about in therapy one day.
Kevin sits at the pond when Kate joins him, saying “that was intense.” They both talk about how Toby would have cried through that and like that he does cry. Kevin admits she isn’t wrong, that the way dad died is so much a part of them. Randall joins them on the bench and says it would have been sweet if someone had recorded their childhood objectively, then they’d have nothing to argue about.
Randall talks about how bad his vision was until he was fitted for glasses and he believes everyone views their childhood with different lenses and he didn’t come here to crap all over his perspective, but when he was at his worst a year ago, Kevin was there for him and he wanted to be there for him today and he did a bad job. He apologizes and so does Kevin. With Kate in the middle, she says she loves her crazy brothers, but Randall says just so we are clear, I am mom’s favorite; and they all burst out laughing as kate pushes him off the bench.
Toby finds Kate and says their uBer will be there soon because he left their car at the bar. He wants to ask her something while he has a brave beer buzz but she wants to admit something first. She admits since the miscarriage she has been hiding junk food, because it makes her feel good; but hiding it from him makes her feel awful. She has a lot of things mixed up with food that she thought were obvious but she isn’t so sure.
Rebecca comes out give Kevin his favorite dish at the cabin and says if he tells her that he didn’t take Randall’s glasses, she will believe him. She goes back inside. Later that night, when it is thunder and lightning, Kevin calls out for Randall and finds his glasses under the bunk bed. He finds both Kate and Randall sleeping in the bed with Jack and Rebecca and he is forced to sleep on the floor.
Kevin finds his mother sitting in his room at the rehab clinic. Kevin feels they have done enough talking for one day but she begins to talk about his first day of kindergarten, Randall clinging to her leg, Kate was crying but Kevin just waltzed right in. He didn’t even look back at her. Rebecca and Jack looked at each other commenting on their brave little boy and told Kate and Randall to be like their brother. She said she never worried about him because she never thought she had to but now she knows she was wrong.
Kevin sits beside her saying he didn’t have an unhappy childhood. Rebecca says it wasn’t as good as she thought but they had moments, she can feel it in her bones. She woke up in the cabin, seeing Kevin sleeping alone on the floor and she crawled out of the bed and laid on the floor beside him and slept with him through the storm.
THE END!
