On last week’s This Is Us, we learned Jack (Milo Ventimigila) doesn’t make it to the present day — sending our minds racing about what might have happened to him. It was also an excuse, of course, to look forward to more crying, and the Tuesday, November 1, episode gave Us plenty of tears to spread around. What did we learn about Jack’s fate? Or that sexy, unlikely present-day couple Miguel (Jon Huertas) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore)? And are Emmy voters taking notice of Sterling K. Brown (Randall) destroying viewers’ Kleenex boxes coast-to-coast weekly? Watch the powerful moments above, and read our recap below!
Jack grew up, but he won’t make it
Seeing Jack pull himself together to go to his boring adult job every day was extra heartfelt knowing that he won’t live to old age. He and Rebecca toured elite Hanes Academy for a look at Randall’s prospective gifted school. Jack couldn’t help but reveal his own insecurities at the ritzy institution, projecting his fate of being “locked in a cubicle” onto the kids, who look to be in “Nazi Germany.” The earnest, tired and eventually doomed look in Jack’s eyes is one of our favorite parts of the show. Jack later had a heart-to-heart with Randall at his office, as the little guy confessed he gets B’s in math to not outshine his brother and sister. “Your mom and me, we always try to treat you kids the same. Always have,” Jack said. “Hasn’t always worked because you’re not all the same.”
Miguel got project manager, but Jack didn’t want to work with him
“I got promoted!” Miguel exclaimed to Jack, offering a shot at working with him at his new, bigger post. “Thanks, but no,” Jack said. “I’m going to go out on my own. I want to start my own thing.” Miguel, a bit taken aback, told Jack to reconsider, but it was too late. Jack eventually popped the idea on to Rebecca of his company “Big Three Homes,” and she was thrilled with it — even when Jack dragged his feet on the urgency of executing. By episode’s end, we saw Jack and Miguel apparently going separate ways.
William played the piano
When the forlorn William (Ron Cephas Jones) tickled the ivories for his granddaughters, we felt the ease with which the beat-poet-style musician slid into music. “You are too beautiful,” William sang. “And I am a fool for beauty.” How sad it will be to see him go. Later, William revealed he met and played with some of the world’s greatest musicians during his life. We got a glimpse that he’ll give a ready-to-learn Randall a piano lesson — until Randall announced he wanted his own tutor.
Randall owned his confidence
Oh, that bizarre Randall career-day song-speech in the gymnasium: “The future cost of corn.” We all knew Randall was deep, deep in quality. But compared with the other exciting school parents — one mom was a firefighter — Randall felt inadequate about his career: fortunes weather-trading. It made Randall consider if he were an artist — not a “straight-and-narrow math geek” — playing the saxophone like Wesley Snipes in Mo’ Better Blues. Wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson), barely concealing laughter, told him, “This early midlife crisis is so you, I can’t stand it.”
Kevin didn’t get it
Poor Kevin (Justin Hartley): While a great manny, he had the New York stage presence of a Google Maps voice. To get him out of his head, drama partner Olivia (Janet Montgomery) took him on a bizarre memorial-service party date. They’re not invited; they’re memorial-service crashers, and it’s an acting exercise. All part of the growth process. And it started to work, as Kevin was thrust into convincing strangers with his emotional conviction — just what a good actor needs. We learned Kevin started to lose his realness when Jack died, which made him angry and unable to eat for a month. “I used to wake myself up and cry so I could cry myself back to sleep again,” Kevin said. And…cut to passionate makeout with Olivia.
Kate bares her trust for the new boss
We sensed an underlying nastiness with Kate’s new boss, Marin (Jami Gertz), who buried details of lowly assistant work — ferrying her bossy teenage daughter, Gemma – in a more glamorous job description. Marin said she noticed Kate “when toilet paper stuck to [her] forehead.” Eventually Gemma gave Kate the straight dirt — she’s being used. God bless her; Kate told the girl to manny-out before she learned mom and her daughter (a.k.a. Cruella De Vil) don’t like each other either.
Check out Christina Garibaldi and Kim Rittberg discussing all the biggest moments on Us Weekly’s Facebook Live ‘This Is Us’ Panel.
Tell Us: When will we see Miguel and Rebecca get closer? How much of Jack’s sad story will make Us cry? And will Randall ever improve at the piano?
This Is Us airs on NBC Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
