This Is Us Review: Still There (Season 2 Episode 4)

Ah, don’t you just love getting unexpected visits from your racist mother?

On This Is Us  Season 2 Episode 4, “Still There,” the Pearsons get a surprise visit from Rebecca’s mom, Janet (played with pitch perfection by Elizabeth Perkins).

To say the visit didn’t go well is an understatement. Janet is something of a nightmare. She criticizes everything Rebecca does, from her cooking and cleaning to how she raises her kids, she dismisses Jack — Jack! — and she’s downright awful to Randall.

This episode gets into some uncomfortable family dynamics that the show hasn’t touched upon in a while. The fact that Randall is a black boy living with a white family shouldn’t be a problem, but this is the 90s, and yes, even grandma is capable of microaggressions against a ten year-old boy.

The show did the best it could in confronting such an issue by having Rebecca call her mother out on her behavior, but it almost felt like the show lacked some grit in telling this story. Maybe I didn’t want it to be wrapped up with Janet slowly coming to her senses by the end of the episode. It felt a little too easy, and sometimes the show goes for easy when teaching us life lessons.

I did however like Mandy Moore’s performance this episode. She’s usually pretty great, but especially so playing opposite of Perkins. One could really sense the unease in Rebecca as she’s building up the courage to speak up against her mom. It’s telling that Rebecca may have inadvertently given her Kate the complex she accused Janet of doing. In some ways, we all become like our parents.

One of the standout plots of the episode involves Randall, Beth, and Deja. As the three get used to their new living arrangement, they try to find common ground.

Deja, understandably, is still struggling. She’s reluctant to let Randall and Beth all the way in. When Beth realizes why Deja was hard pressed against washing her hair — she has alopecia, which is an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss — she finally breaks through to Deja, giving her an awesome new hairstyle and bonding with her in the process.

That is until Randall, with the best of intentions, sort of ruins things by bringing it up with Deja, who thought she had Beth’s confidence.

The look on Beth and Randall’s faces when Deja cuts all her hair off is just devastating. I love the tension around this situation, and I’m so eager to see Deja fully become part of the family. I’m reminded of Parenthood’s adoption arc with Julia, Joel, and Victor. Similarly, that storyline also explored the difficult nature of a child entering a new home. Parenthood, I have hopes that this story will be well-told.

Elsewhere, Kevin gets knee surgery, and instead of taking the time to recover, he pushes himself extra hard so that he can get back on set. And to help him do that, he takes a bunch of pills.

What is happening here, exactly? I’m not sure watching Kevin develop an addiction to pain killers is where I want to see his story go, but it feels like it is.

 

I really enjoyed the flashbacks this week, and part of it had to do with little Kevin’s scenes with Jack. Sick with the chicken pox, Kevin does what any kid in his situation would do, which is whine about being sick. Jack tries to help with that? He tells him to toughen up; it’ll make it less worse on himself.

Look, I’m not sure if I agree with Jack’s methods here. Maybe Kevin just needs to whine and cry about it, because he’s a kid and in a sucky circumstance, but I appreciate that experience was formative for Kev.

Part of the point of the show is that Jack is not in the present timeline, but his lessons are what live on through his kids. Kevin was deeply affected by Jack, and we learn that the last time he hurt his knee, he ended up throwing away a future in playing football, something he feels that let Jack down.

Ergo, Kevin being dumb and not letting his body recovery naturally the way it should. He doesn’t want to let Jack down again by throwing away a future in acting. He feels like he’s finally gotten his big break.

Jack would certainly not approve of Kevin jeopardizing his health for a role, and he’d probably be proud of Kevin regardless. Football or no football, movie star or not. It’s sad that Kevin doesn’t fully realize the kind of man Jack was in that sense, but I’m hoping he’ll figure it sooner rather than later.

And then we end the episode with a kicker: Kate is six weeks pregnant.

I’m already nervous about this. I’m not nervous about the kind of story they’re going tell here. Having children on TV shows can complicate things significantly, and it’s not always for the best. Sometimes, bringing a baby into the fold, ruins a good thing.

I guess we’ll just wait and see.

What did you think of this episode of This Is Us? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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