‘This Is Us’ Recap: The Fight To Save Nicky Takes A Toll On Kevin
Kevin’s not giving up on Nicky, but his determination to save his uncle and his anger at Jack’s secrets has him in a vulnerable place. Read our recap of the Feb. 12 episode of ‘This Is Us’ now!
The episode picks up right where we left off. Nicky’s got a gun on his table while the Pearson siblings are around him. They take Nicky to their hotel to spend the night. Nicky tries to push them away right off the bat, but the Pearson kids aren’t giving up. Kevin wants to call Rebecca and tell her what’s going on. The next morning, she shows up and sees Nicky for the first time. “I’m Rebecca,” she says to him. “I was Jack’s wife.” She starts asking questions. He admits that he knew about the family after Jack’s visit in early 1992. “He seemed very happy,” he says. The whole scene is extremely awkward. There are so many words that need to be said, but no one wants to say them yet.
Rebecca starts to put the pieces together about that weekend Jack went to visit Nicky. She realizes he was off when he got back. While Rebecca took Kevin out to get a playing card signed, Jack stayed at home with Kate and Randall. He tried to bottle up his frustrations about Nicky and ended up snapping at the kids. He later apologized and engaged in an all-out sequin party!
. Randall and Kate decide to leave right in the middle of all this. Kate has a doctor’s appointment, while Randall is needed back home. On their way back, Randall and Kate reflect on that weekend with Jack and their old house. “I miss that house,” Kate says. Randall and Kate decide to go back where their house once stood. They go up to the door of the new house and knock. They explain their situation, and the door is slammed in their face. Later, a little girl comes out and invites them in.
Kevin and Rebecca try to get Nicky the help he needs, but he doesn’t want their help. “You are your dad’s kid,” Nicky tells Kevin. This shakes Kevin up a bit, and he has to walk away. He’s pissed that Jack never said anything about Nicky. Rebecca comes up to her son. She knows how he feels. “It’s hard to be mad at someone who’s not here anymore,” she says. Rebecca is mad at Jack, too. She wants answers now. When they get back to the hotel, she tells Nicky, “I think it’s time you and I talked.”
Kevin goes back to Nicky’s trailer to pick up the place while trying to process all of this change. Rebecca and Nicky sit down and talk. While Nicky has been set in his ways for 40 years, Rebecca doesn’t want him to shut out Kevin and the family. “You still have a chance to make things right because I’m here and his son is here,” she says. “He’s just worried about you… because he cares. This is so important to him. You are already so important to him because you’re family to him already.” Later, Nicky opens up about Jack’s early days. Rebecca is learning new things about her husband all these years later.
Nicky goes back to his trailer to find Kevin. He agrees to go to meetings at the veterans center. However, he confesses that he’s not sure about a relationship with Jack’s family. He admits it’s “too painful” right now to be around the family. Kevin doesn’t push Nicky. He says goodbye to Nicky, and you can tell he’s hoping he’ll see his uncle again, but his eyes are so sad. On the way home, Kevin seems down. He’s not just upset about Nicky. While cleaning up the trailer, he saw Nicky’s bottle of whiskey. He couldn’t fight the urge and nearly drank the entire bottle. Kevin knows what this could mean. He’s finally gotten sober, and he may have just ruined his recovery.