Kevin struggled with his sobriety due to his interactions with Nicky while Kate and Randall reminisced about their very different childhood memories during the Tuesday, February 12, episode of This Is Us, titled “Songbird Road: Part 2.”
Battling Demons
Kevin (Justin Hartley), Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Kate (Chrissy Metz) took Nicky (Griffin Dunne) back to their hotel after finding him with a gun in his trailer. Rebecca (Mandy Moore) showed up the next morning once Kevin filled her in. Kate and Randall decided they had to get back home, while Kevin was determined to help his uncle. So, Rebecca stayed behind to assist as well as ask her brother-in-law some questions.
Kevin and Rebecca took Nicky, who they discovered was an alcoholic like Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), to a veterans’ center to explore counseling options and inpatient treatments, but Nicky was uninterested, having already tried those methods and being adamant they would not work.
Rebecca inquired to Nicky about Jack’s childhood and tried to explain that Kevin worried about him because he was family and he cared. She also told Jack’s brother that she believed her husband would have made his way back to Nicky if he had not died shortly after getting sober. Nicky reasoned that Kevin was just a movie star who wanted to play hero. He also mentioned that his younger years were not worth remembering.
Nicky later came around and told Rebecca a story about Jack building a tree fort for them as kids. He went on to tell Kevin that he would go to one meeting at the center, and Kevin helped repair the leaky roof in Nicky’s trailer. Nicky assured Kevin that he did not have to worry about him anymore. Furthermore, he admitted that it was too painful to be around his family.
The relatives said their goodbyes, and Kevin and Rebecca began the journey back home. On the ride, Kevin recalled being in Nicky’s trailer alone and drinking some of his uncle’s whiskey, though his mother was unaware.
Chasing Ghosts
Randall presented Kate with the idea of revisiting the location of their childhood home during their road trip. The siblings went inside the house, with an invitation from the new owners, and saw how changed the new structure was. They also realized that their memories of a certain day with Jack differed.
The day after Jack returned from visiting Nicky in the early ‘90s, Kate and Randall had a sequin fight and created what they called the Pearson pizza. Kate recalled a fun day with their dad, while Randall remembered how Jack was angry and off after the trip. Jack eventually apologized to his kids for yelling at them, and they ended the day with a crafting supplies battle.
This Is Us airs on NBC Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
