This Is Us, Season 4
“Flip a Coin”
Posted by Shannon
Every once and a while, Pearsons across time and space unify their efforts and remind me precisely why I love and identify with them. It’s not that they’re all perfect this (or any) week, though there are plenty of smaller character moments that could have carried the episode. It’s that there’s a specificity to growing up in a family that collectively prioritizes art. That’s never been more clear in relation to the Pearsons than it was this week: Beth with dance, Rebecca and Kate with music, Kevin with performance. In moments of stress or anxiety or just daily life, the arts are intrinsic to the whole Pearson clan and it serves them all so well.
Rebecca
It’s the fall after Jack’s death, and the teenage Big Three have started establishing their separate lives. Kevin is off in New York with Sophie, Randall is a month or two into his first year of college, and Kate is home with Rebecca marathoning Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s beyond obvious to say that this is a complicated time for all the Pearson kids, but Kate is especially unmoored. It broke my heart, along with Rebecca’s, to hear her quiet complaint about their one remaining CD. So in an effort to both get Kate out of the house and make the place feel a little more like home, Rebecca sends her off to the record store with a small wad of cash to rebuild her collection.
It’s a time honored tradition for record store clerks to be dicks about taste in music, and the kid in charge here is no exception. (The same rules apply for video store clerks and I would know because I was one.) I absolutely loved the way Kate handled this exchange. She’s not out here trying to make anyone feel comfortable after they make asshole comments about not already owning Nevermind, but she also doesn’t hold it against him when he’s willing to adjust accordingly. Especially once they start bonding over corny wedding music and the willfully obtuse meaning behind what I can only guess was Something About Airplanes. (If I didn’t fucking love teen Kate before, the sentence “I think I like Death Cab for Cutie but I have no idea what Ben Gibbard is talking about. But I also think that’s WHY I like him?” would have done the trick.) The record store kid is head over heels in .02 seconds, and while I’m enamored by their whole vibe I also have some logistical questions. Specifically, how exactly this kid has the authority to hire her without so much as a second glance. But hire her he does, and truth be told it couldn’t be a more perfect opportunity.
Meanwhile, Randall and Rebecca are both acting precisely to character. Of COURSE Randall told his mother about Beth after a single, not exactly great date. And of COURSE Rebecca takes the opportunity to invite herself over to the table where Beth and Carol are eating lunch. The kids are both mortified, and while it was a little uncomfortable watching Beth get cornered into lunch with a guy she asked never to call her again, he at least made an effort to speak with Carol in a way that was both honest and appropriate. The kids escape to class relatively quickly, leaving Rebecca and Carol to share a meal.
Phylicia Rashad is a casting coup for This Is Us and it was great to see her again this week across multiple timelines. But all of that aside, it’s so smart of the writers to bring Carol into Rebecca’s life at this moment. I sincerely hope it’s just the beginning of seeing these two on screen together. Carol is wary of Randall, to be sure, and she’s potentially a bit wary of Rebecca too. Labeling the entire family as “still too broken” felt callous, even if it rings true. But just as Beth and Randall shared the trauma of their father’s death, their mothers share the trauma of losing their husbands. For fear of becoming a broken record, this was just another example of how desperately Rebecca needs someone to talk to. Someone to ask what to do with her wedding ring. (“I’m not taking mine off… not unless Harry Belafonte comes knocking.”) Someone to ask for advice about just how she’s supposed to carry on. In yet another example of the arts as salvation, Carol shares the details of her and her husband’s reading habits – and how having students who “count on me showing up every day to make them love books” is getting her through.
It’s not just Kate who needs that music ringing through in their home. It’s Rebecca, too. The fact that Rebecca Pearson has gone full seasons with a lone CD is devastating – lest we forget, this is a woman who kept a piano and guitar in her tiny apartment, along with a sizeable record collection. Kate knows her mom needs music back in her life just as much as she does. So along with Nirvana and Death Cab, she comes home bearing Carole King and Neil Diamond. It’s a turning point for both of them. And it’s long overdue.
Randall and Beth
Considering the fact that Beth has been dreaming of her own dance studio opening for most of her life, she’s remarkably chill about the whole thing. Yes, she’s having baseline panic over forgetting something on her list – or forgetting to put something on her list to begin with – but ultimately she’s keeping pretty calm. Standard issue Randall Pearson pep talks are meeting her needs, even with the imminent arrival of one “regal yet intimidating individual.” The tension sits more between Carol and Randall than anything else; his nervous laughter at any mention of her name seems more significant than Beth’s concern over the opening. Randall offers to act as a firewall between Beth and her mom, despite Beth’s suspicion that Randall isn’t quite up to the task. And Deja’s got her own worries to add on top of all those adult-sized nerves rattling around the house.
Deja is a perfect mix of bemused and apprehensive at her parent’s insistence that they meet Malik before going out on said group hang, though it’s ambitious of everyone involved to add yet another person to the mix of this studio opening. Especially once they arrive to discover a dead possum (or, god forbid, a whole family of them) has stunk up the place merely 30 minutes before the invited guests are due.
There are clear lines to be drawn between Carol’s suspicion about Randall all those years ago and Randall’s wary perception of Malik when he arrives, despite his clear eye contact and a firm handshake. Carol has kept Randall at arm’s length for decades – at his gentlest request for Carol to go easy on Beth this trip, she merely turns on her heel and shuts him up with an inquisitive “you trying to tell me how to speak to my daughter?” So with all that top of mind for Randall, he does try to give Malik a break. And he was already willing to go easier on them than Beth was. (Case and point: it was Beth’s insistence that they meet Malik first. Randall was ready to give the date an okay without making any such demands.) He goes full weird dad despite (because of?) Deja’s introduction. (“Malik this is my dad Randall, Randall please don’t do anything weird.”) Just like Randall at the cafeteria table, Malik is unphased, calling Deja a genius at math and holding his own in every possible way. It’s Deja’s attempt to keep Malik’s daughter a secret that backfires, prompting Randall to reinforce Malik’s casual references to his daughter dating one day with “I’m sorry, when you say my daughter what do you mean by those words?” And this is where Malik proves his presence of mind beyond his years: he doesn’t falter, immediately clarifying with Randall that his six-month-old is very much not a metaphor.
Randall and Beth have consistently impressed me with their parenting style whenever I’ve deigned to doubt them. However. I strongly suspect that this is going to be the time they draw a line in the sand. Beth goes full scale shut it down, even telling Carol point-blank that “Deja likes a boy who has a baby.” They aren’t going to go so far as to revoke Deja’s permission to go on the group hang, but both agree to “put an end to it tonight,” whatever that means. For the millionth time in these recaps, I’m going to reiterate that I’m not a parent, and I’m certainly not a parent to a teenage adoptee who wants to date a boy with a six month old. But I just don’t think this is the way to react. After all, Deja wasn’t too sure about her comfort level with this baby to begin with when she spoke to Tess last week. Refusing to let her see Malik without so much as a true conversation about her own feelings and agency around this decision seems like a surefire way to drive her into a relationship, even if she’s not actually ready for it herself. Again, I think the comparison to Randall when he met Beth stands. Randall was deep in mourning and in an emotional state that could have been just as precarious in its own way. Carol’s refusal to see Randall for who he is, even decades later, is the cause of much consternation. Randall isn’t perfect, but he’s proven to be a man who remembers his own history and adapts his behavior accordingly. I hope he can get there with Malik as well.
After all, the Pearson clan never says die – not in the face of complicated circumstances or dead possums. Randall refuses to let Carol strong arm Beth into rescheduling, immediately apologizing for his tone but clarifying that “the content holds.” The solution is pretty straight forward: move the party and Beth’s demonstration out into the parking lot, dancing in the sun. It’s a lovely moment for Carol and Randall to have a heart to heart. While I was initially wary of the fact that Carol hadn’t yet had the opportunity to see Randall really come through for Beth, it reminded me of just how far these two have come in the last few years: Tess and Annie’s childhood started off with both parents working traditional, reliable jobs, and all of a sudden Randall and Beth have torn through a spare five careers between the two of them. It’s been a real period of tumult and change for this corner of the Pearson clan. Now that they’ve settled in Philly with new, more soul satisfying lines of work, I expect Carol will have many more opportunities to see them both shine.
Kevin and Nicky
After that collective giggle fit got my favorite collection of alcoholic misfits kicked out of their last AA group, the gang is on the hunt for a new AA meeting. Kevin is especially excited about a new spot thanks to their almond milk offering, though Nicky can’t quite muster the same level of get-up-and-go. The relationship between uncle and nephew is still fraught, with Kevin tripping over pitfalls and Nicky responding accordingly. (Even Kevin should have known that his offer of spending some of his well-earned Hollywood Douchebag Money on a new trailer for Nicky as a “good cause” wouldn’t go over well.) Nicky has been alone for a long, long time, and concern for other people isn’t something he’s used to feeling. Especially not when that concern would be prompted by the cancellation of a long-running sitcom that once involved his nephew “drinking out of a baby bottle and [not] wearing a shirt.”
Between his time in LA and New York, Kevin hasn’t exactly been spending a lot of his time out in the casual-television-viewing world. The Manny’s cancelation comes at a vulnerable time for him, not just because of his sobriety, but because for the first time in ages he’s surrounded by people who aren’t used to seeing celebrities on the regular. The constant recognition starts at the beginning of Kevin’s day with the woman in charge of the church’s now-rescheduled meeting, where Cassidy has also shown up in desperate need of a meeting after breakfast with her husband resulted in a clear next step of divorce. Nicky and Cassidy are both completely unbothered by Kevin’s celebrity status, for better or for worse, but Cassidy especially notes the differences in how everyone else treats this random handsome stranger. (“What’s happening to her face?”)
There’s just no escape, not even at the RV dealership where Kevin takes them in an effort to kill time until the actual meeting starts. It’s constant. Incessant, even. There’s the RV manager who exclaims “You’re beautiful! …Jesus you’re tall!” and calls his wife Geena so she can get an introduction and a selfie. Kevin is nothing short of saintly with every single one of these encounters. He’s patient, kind, consistent, gentle. He compliments everyone, repeats back their names, takes the pictures when they can’t stop shaking, listens to their own stories about The Manny. And the moment any of them leave him alone, he collapses back with Cassidy, exhausted, telling her that all he wants is a moment to himself to mourn the show that launched his career. Cassidy has been dismissive of Kevin’s emotional reactions before, but in this sequence she’s not cruel. She’s drained, and exhausted, and mourning her relationship, but she can still see the toll the day is taking on Kevin. And he doesn’t have it in him to be anything less than completely honest about his own divorce. So she gives too, telling him about her engagement and her one and only manicure.
Kevin Pearson is pretty much always an open book, and he brings out that same quality in people who spend time with him. Nicky is a tough nut to crack, and they have a long way to go, but it’s a huge sign for him to speak to Kevin and Cassidy in the car about how he came by that trailer he’s so reluctant to part with. It’s a sad story (of course it is) and it shows just how depressed Nicky has been for most of his life. Kevin can’t imagine not fighting for Sally, not ever coming back or even waiting to see if she would re-appear. But Nicky doesn’t work that way. He gave it one chance, and it didn’t work, and that was that.
Sudden, instinctual decisions that might not go the way one thinks make up a theme this week. Nicky flipped a coin leaving Sally alone without even realizing that was what he did; so does Cassidy, exclaiming that she does want to try to make it work with her husband, even if the odds are against her. And Kevin flipped a coin about The Manny pilot. The filming of an Untitled Hot Babysitter Pilot eight years back didn’t have an auspicious start. No one laughed, the writing was bad, Kevin was freaking out, the baby wouldn’t stop crying, and in his heart of hearts Kevin didn’t even want the pilot to get picked up at all. He wondered with Kate if he wouldn’t be happier getting married in a small town and having some kids, if acting was something he threw himself into after Jack’s death without a second thought. But the pilot did go. And acting did create a home for Kevin, even if it came with its own set of challenges. We just can’t know what will come of flipping a coin – for better or for worse. So Kevin makes a new, instinctual decision for a new, instinctual day: he buys a new trailer and sets up shop next to his uncle.
Kate and Toby
It’s a simple truth of character development within This Is Us is that Kevin is the child who was no one’s favorite. And yet it’s a simple truth of writing within This Is Us that Kate – particularly adult Kate – has been written with the least substantive emotional range. All too often things just happen TO Kate; her weight is a regular plot point, as is her relationship with Toby, her fights with Rebecca and now her management of Jack’s vision. But she’s so rarely given the opportunity to dig in, to act from a position of memory or intention or control in the same way Kevin and Randall are. Even her guilt surrounding Jack’s death was handled with comparative superficiality. So this week, faced with yet another storyline that happened around Kate instead of WITH her, I’m increasingly frustrated. It’s possible that the writers are trying to make a comment about Kate’s internal emotional barriers refusing to fall, or place her character in this position of consistently going with the flow and adapting to challenges, but put up against the deep, thoughtful exploration that every other member of her family is receiving it just doesn’t pass muster.
So yes, it was heartwarming to see just how firmly Kate insists on Jack’s musical education as a newborn, despite Toby and Gregory’s concern that the whole thing is just a little too early. And sure, I’ll take any excuse for Toby to rattle off a packing list that includes both a stylish hat and a practical hat. But man was it predictable for them to show up late, without allowing Jack to get acclimated to the space, launching a full scale meltdown. And yep, it sure was careless of them not to email ahead of time and alert the teacher that Jack is differently abled. The car fight that followed, with Kate bringing up Toby’s gym habit as the reason he wouldn’t know that Jack had turned on Other Monkey, was well written and well performed but equally predictable and just a little tired. The audience knows Kate’s reasoning before she says it herself, and she’s not even given the opportunity to speak about finding comfort in music during her own childhood or to draw those comparisons for herself. I just. I really hope that as the show goes on, Kate is afforded the same care, the same consistent writing, hell, even the same screen time as the rest of the Pearson clan. It would do all of them some good.
Colors of the Painting
- Kevin Pearson is an undercover favorite but he’s also a teenager who left news of his completely unplanned wedding on an answering machine. So. This is gonna be a whole thing.
- It’s been a while since I’ve yelled about just how perfectly the teens play to their adult counterparts, so let me just say that Rachel Hilson (teen Beth), Niles Fitch (teen Randall) and Hannah Zeile (teen Kate) all absolutely kill it this week. They match the mannerisms of their counterparts to a tee, while also keeping the performances unique.
- I’m going to say this again and again so get used to it – Jennifer Morrison is fucking fantastic. She took my breath away twice this week, once in the waiting room with Kevin and again in the car with Nicky. This show is lucky to have her.All I could think about during that whole Nevermind exchange at the record store was this absolutely iconic scene from one of the best movies of all time:
- I’m sure all of you brilliant pop culture aficionados knew this already, but in the midst of my writing process this week I discovered that Griffin Dunne – our very own Nicky Pearson – directed the stellar and seasonally appropriate film Practical Magic. I’ll never be the same. LOOK AT HIM!
- There was an embarrassment of riches for potential music entries this week, but we’re going with the civil rights anthem that blessed Beth’s studio opening: “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free.” Enjoy.
What did you think of “Flip a Coin”? Let us know in the comments.
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