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This Is Us Season 2 Episodes
Season 2 Episode Guide
18 Episodes 2017 - 2018
Episode 1
A Father's Advice
Tue, Sep 26, 201743 mins
The season two premiere picks up during the Big 3's 37th birthdays as Randall and Beth debate a big life change, Kate takes the first step in pursuing a new passion and Kevin balances the demands of his career and relationship. Meanwhile, Jack and Rebecca deal with the fallout of their big fight.
Episode 2
A Manny-Splendored Thing
Tue, Oct 3, 201743 mins
In the 1990s, Rebecca is able to convince Jack to come home, her want for him to do so despite his admission that he has been drinking again. The last that she knew of his drinking was approximately a decade earlier when he decided to figure out his own way to cope without alcohol. She wants them to fight his problem together this time. In present day, everyone in the family is convening on Los Angeles for a live taping of Kevin's guest appearance on The Manny, he who wants to be the big man in doing the producers this favor despite his acrimonious departure from the show. Kevin is also doing it as he feels his appearance, based on the script, is both classy and funny. Despite never having liked the show and never having thought Kevin funny, Beth is an attendee, with an added reluctance being the focus of she and Randall wanting to take in a foster child, and how and when to tell Tess and Annie. Randall, however, has kept to himself thus far that he doesn't know if he or they will be prepared to take in a fully formed human being with potential problems, as opposed to his original want of adopting a baby who they could mold. Kate is not looking forward to her mother's arrival in Los Angeles, Rebecca who is blissfully unaware of how inadequate she has always made her daughter feel. This issue is potentially heightened as Kate tries to start a singing career. And Kevin has to decide what to do when a last second script change makes his appearance on the show less classy than he was anticipating. All these issues come to a head as the taping begins, and has ties back to a talent show the Big Three were preparing for at school when they were ten.
Episode 3
Déjà Vu
Tue, Oct 10, 201743 mins
In the 1990s, Jack has been attending AA meetings now for three weeks and although is still sober, not all is right with him and his relationship with Rebecca. Jack still finds it difficult to talk to her - their limited exchanges in the form of cold niceties - and they haven't had sex in quite a while. Based on advice from Shelly, Rebecca decides to take the bulls by the horns and assume the role always taken by Jack and sweep him off his feet in a romantic night out. The evening doesn't go quite the way Rebecca hopes. In Jack and Rebecca's problems, they are unaware that Randall has placed an ad in the newspaper in an effort to locate his birth parents. He has to decide what to do about the one response he does receive. In present day, Kevin has invited Kate onto the movie set for the first day of shooting with Sylvester Stallone, a family favorite actor. Jack's spirit pervades the set this day, and not always in a good way especially for one. And after three weeks of being approved as foster parents, Randall and Beth receive news that a foster child will be entering their home today for the first time, she being twelve year old Déjà, whose mother has been in and out of jail, her current status being in jail, hence the immediate nature of Déjà needing to be placed. Unlike before, Randall is confident that this experience will be easier than what people in general have stated. Beyond Randall's theory being tested, everyone in the household may find that Déjà's entrance into the family is somewhat akin to another recent stranger having arrived.
Episode 4
Still There
Tue, Oct 17, 201743 mins
It's the middle of winter when the Big Three are ten years old. Kevin and Kate come down with a case of chicken pox. The doctor recommends that Randall too try to get infected to get the pain over with in the household in one fell swoop. Randall takes the words to heart because he doesn't want an illness like chicken pox to interfere with him participating in an upcoming science fair. Jack and Rebecca, the latter who had to call her mother to confirm, have both had it when they were children, meaning that they do not have to worry about coming down with it now. Regardless, they know that they will be overwhelmed looking after two sick and complaining children and one who is trying to get sick. The situation gets even worse when Rebecca's telephone call has unintended consequences, which is only exacerbated by something that happens to Jack. In present day, Randall and Beth are having an issue with Déjà two weeks into her stay. Because of the general role reversal with Randall at home and Beth going to work, Randall wants to take the lead in dealing with Déjà's issue. Randall does not fully comprehend either the situation with which Déjà is facing or the complete dynamic of the parenting within their household. Kevin has been hiding his knee injury from the movie producers. Producer Brian Grazer eventually does find out. As such, Kevin may have made the situation worse in hiding it than it would have been had he been up front about it. Toby is tasked with being his caregiver as he recuperates as Kate is busy focusing on herself, she exercising and watching her food intake in order to fit into a specific dress for her first paid singing gig, a bar mitzvah. Kate, however, isn't being totally forthright about the reason for her being so diligent to the health routine this time around.
Episode 5
Brothers
Tue, Oct 24, 201743 mins
The kids are ten years old. Jack has decided to take Kevin and Randall on a camping trip in an effort to get them to bond, which he and Rebecca know is more an issue for Kevin because Randall truly craves his brother's love. Jack plans to treat the outing like he's coaching a football team in emphasizing the need for teamwork. In the absence of the Pearson men, Rebecca has planned a girls' day for her and Kate, specifically a movie and a manicure. Things for both Jack and Rebecca don't go quite according to plan with Kevin not understanding how his actions affect his brother. In light of what Rebecca has to do, a specific outing when Jack himself was a child is shown. In present day, Kevin is in New York to attend a gala fundraiser for the hospital where Sophie works, where he will be auctioned off as part of that fundraising. While in New York, Kevin tries to hide his problems from his loved ones, in the process making things worse for himself and those around him. Déjà, after a month of living with the Pearsons, makes a declaration to her foster parents about something she really wants to do. Despite Beth not thinking it a good idea, Randall wants to oblige Déjà's request and be the one to accompany her because he realizes that she has bonded the least with him compared to the women in the house. And Kate, eight weeks in, tells Toby her/their big news. She has one request for Toby in light of the news, that request which Toby may have a difficult time keeping. Kate's encounter with someone she doesn't really like might give her a change of focus about the situation.
Episode 6
The 20's
Tue, Oct 31, 201743 mins
Two Halloweens 18 years apart are presented. The first is in 1990 when the kids are 10. An incident leads to Rebecca accusing Jack of coddling Kate; Jack, in turn, accusing Rebecca of coddling Randall. Rebecca's concern with Kate is that she will not be able to endure all the disappointments in her life as she becomes an adult, especially as Jack will not always be there for her. A difference between what Randall wants to do and what Kate and Kevin want to do in approaching their trick-or-treating leads to Jack taking Kevin and Kate and Rebecca taking Randall. Jack's and Rebecca's time with their respective charges for the night gives them a clearer perspective of their spouse's accusation. The second is 2008: It's been two months since Randall's nervous breakdown, and it's the day before Beth will be induced into labor with their first child. Although Randall has always come through for her, Beth is still concerned about having a child now with what happened to Randall, which is why Rebecca is coming this day before the arrival of the baby. Randall, who knows the reason for his mother's presence, unburdens himself to someone he thinks that can help. Kate is still in Pittsburgh working as a waitress while Kevin, living in Los Angeles, has been working in a salon to make ends meet while he waits for his big acting break. His friend and roommate Zeke has just been cast in a big budget movie. Both Kate and Kevin decide to take a chance within their individual situations, despite both knowing deep in their hearts that what they are doing may not only not work out but may make their lives holistically worse.
Episode 7
The Most Disappointed Man
Tue, Nov 7, 201743 mins
It's about a year after the Big Three's birth. Jack and Rebecca are going through Randall's adoption process, which requires a social worker to make occasional home visits, some of those surprise visits to catch them unprepared. They are buoyed to learn from the social worker, Paula, that her report is a glowing one, with the final step, typically a formality, being for Jack and Rebecca to appear before a judge to swear that they want to adopt Randall. That appearance and the remaining process until Randall legally becomes theirs is not quite as straightforward as Paula had said and as Jack and Rebecca would have liked. In present day, Kate and Toby have decided it's time to tell their loved ones about her pregnancy. Kate makes another decision based on something that happens during that process. Toby, who wants to please Kate, isn't sure that what Kate decides is really what she wants, so Toby turns to someone who knows Kate better for some advice on the matter. Kevin is spiraling downward in his addiction to his prescription painkillers. He has been putting off a trip to New York and an eventual permanent move to be with Sophie. But he can only delay the inevitable for so long. And in a court-ordered process, Randall hesitantly takes Déjà to the prison for a visit with her mother, Shauna. That visit doesn't go quite according to expectation which leads to Randall and Beth making some decisions about Déjà's future. This situation hearkens back to William's own first arrest for drug possession, the court process which has unknown connections to Randall's adoption.
Episode 8
Number One
Tue, Nov 14, 201743 mins
Kevin's story, the first of the three to enter Jack and Rebecca's outside world life and the one who has generally done things first among the three children, is presented. Kevin's current life continues to spiral downward in his alcohol and prescription painkiller abuse in dealing with the physical pain of his knee and the emotional pain that is his life that he associates with the knee. In wallowing in his self loathing, Kevin in New York is reminded at the last minute that he has agreed to attend an event at McKinley High, his alma mater, in Pittsburgh tomorrow as one of this year's recipients of a distinguished alumni award. He will find out if his celebrity and the general love that he felt by his classmates when he was a student at McKinley can get him through the event with his reputation intact, especially because he truly believes other recipients, such as Charlotte Everly, a former classmate who is now a plastic surgeon largely working on burn cases, is more deserving than him of such awards. Through the process, he can't help but think of his high school days, especially when he and his siblings were applying to colleges. Then, Kevin had no doubt that he would not only get a scholarship to his preferred school, Notre Dame, but that he would go on to a successful and lucrative football career, causing him to be openly hostile to any other option much to his parents' chagrin, especially Jack's.
Episode 9
Number Two
Tue, Nov 21, 201742 mins
Kate's story, she the second of the three to enter Jack and Rebecca's outside world life, is presented, that story concurrent to the one already told for number one, Kevin. Kate's euphoria in planning for the baby comes to a complete halt when she miscarries. Kate does not want to talk about it, which means that she and Toby have to deal with their emotions on their own. It also means that they each decide on their own if they will try to eliminate any possible triggers of the baby or the miscarriage from their lives, not knowing how the other will feel about their unilateral actions. Kate also receives several telephone calls from her mother, who she does not want to talk to in her emotional state. Kate may not realize that Rebecca may be the one person in her life who truly does understand through what she is going. That hesitance to reach out to her mother stems from not ever having that connection, something which Rebecca acknowledged to Kate when Kevin and Randall were applying to colleges, while Kate would not divulge her own plans, Rebecca assuming that silence meaning that Kate had not yet found her passion in life.
Episode 10
Number Three
Tue, Nov 28, 201743 mins
Randall's story, he the third of the three to enter Jack and Rebecca's outside world life, is presented, that story concurrent to the one already told for numbers one and two, Kevin and Kate. In the lead up to Thanksgiving, Randall feels he has finally made some sort of connection with Déjà, he helping her with a science project for school, about which she seems excited. That life with Déjà may quickly come to an end when Randall and Beth learn, in somewhat of a hard way, that Déjà's mother, Shauna, has been released from prison. Due to the means through which they find out about Shauna, Randall and Beth believe that Shauna is not fit to regain custody of her daughter, they who vow to fight for what they think is best for Déjà, which is to stay with them. What ends up factoring into Randall's thoughts about Déjà is the approaching one-year anniversary of he finding about about his mother knowing William's whereabouts his entire life, his subsequent discussion with William about the nature of the relationship between him and Rebecca over those years, and Randall's own life with his Caucasian parents, especially when he was contemplating an alternative to the outward decision to attend Harvard or another Ivy League school in the approach to graduating from high school.
Episode 11
The Fifth Wheel
Tue, Jan 9, 201843 mins
It's been one month since Kevin has been in court-ordered rehab for substance abuse due to the DUI, during which he has had no contact with the family, which is the longest he and Kate have ever been without being in touch with each other. All the adult members of the family go to the facility to go into a group therapy session with Kevin, each with his/her own agenda. Rebecca and Kate just want to help Kevin in any way they can. Despite Beth's anger over Kevin putting Tess' life at risk along with everyone else who may have been on the road that day, Randall wants to support Kevin if only because Kevin was there for him during his own most recent breakdown. Barbara, Kevin's therapist at the facility, and Kevin have their own agenda which may be uncomfortable for the rest of the family. What Kevin brings up in this first group session, based on his earlier sessions with Barbara, relates to the events when the Big Three were ten and Jack surprised the family with a vacation to the Poconos because he had access to a cabin from a co-worker. On that vacation, Jack and Rebecca had to deal with certain issues concerning their children, not always as successfully as they would have liked. In this first group session, the spouses are not included, leading Miguel, Beth and Toby to head off to a bar where they discuss their Pearson outsider status. Miguel has a slightly different perspective as the only one of the three who knew "perfect" Jack, his best friend.
Episode 12
Clooney
Tue, Jan 16, 201843 mins
Released from rehab, Kevin, based on Barbara's advice, decides not yet to jump back into his Hollywood life but rather spend time with his mother, both of whom need to process the many difficult things said and heard in family therapy to strengthen their relationship. The one problem in Kevin's mind is Miguel, whom Kevin has had open animosity toward, which has existed since Miguel and Rebecca got together, but Miguel will protect his wife at all cost. Kate, having admitted to her junk food binges of late following her miscarriage, wants to move forward with life, the next joyous yet difficult step being to buy a wedding dress. She gets some unexpected help in the matter. In the process, Kate hears an unspoken shout for help, signs which answer a lot of questions. And Randall has two tasks this day: first to pick up a box of William's items found by William's old friend Lloyd, and second to go to a job interview. Beth doesn't want the first task to overshadow the second, wanting him to go back to work in any suitable job solely to bring him back into reality and out of the clouds where he has been since William's death. Randall can't help but follow-up on something he finds in the box, placing the job search in a lower priority. These things happening in the three siblings present day lives hearken back to a time when they were teenagers, specifically a family trip to the mall with each person having a different priority for that trip.
Episode 13
That'll Be the Day
Tue, Jan 23, 201843 mins
In 1998, Jack and Rebecca are preparing for Super Bowl Sunday, the last one they will have with their kids before they head off to whatever their post-secondary life hopefully to some sort of educational institution. All five of them have a different agenda this day besides the game, especially as the Steelers aren't playing, those agendas which will affect them spending time together as a family watching the game. In present day, Kevin is working his way down the list of the people to who he has to make amends, placing a check mark next to the name when completed. He realizes that to a few of those people he will have difficulty in making those amends, they not being just names to him next to which to place a check mark. As the new owners of William's old apartment building, Randall and Beth have their first group meeting with the tenants. Although Randall and Beth walk into the meeting on the same page, they walk out on divergent viewpoints. As the day progresses and comes to an end, they will discover if either of their viewpoints is the wrong one. And Kate catches Toby secretly watching something on his computer. She decides to act upon what she finds he was watching, but ultimately isn't sure if she can take that action to its natural end based on her own baggage.
Episode 14
Super Bowl Sunday
Sun, Feb 4, 201846 mins
It's Super Bowl Sunday, what was Jack and Rebecca's favorite day of the year and what is now the anniversary of Jack's passing. As usual, Rebecca, Kevin, Kate and Randall will have their individual Super Bowl ritual, which differs between the four based not only on the fact of Jack's death but also how they were in relation to him when he died. Rebecca and Kevin's vastly different Super Bowl routines will have to have some compromise due to them spending the day together, which is largely affected by all that Kevin has gone through of late which has brought him emotionally closer to the memory of his father. Regardless of what happens with Kevin, Rebecca still hopes that Jack's annual gift of an unexpected laugh will occur. Kate's ritual hits a snag due to aging technology. In the process of what she has to go through with Toby's help, Kate may feel ready to share her father with her fiancé. And Randall's ritual now centers largely on his daughters whether they want it to or not. The day for them is affected by what happens with Mr. McGiggles, and an admission by Tess about something she's been doing in light of all that has happened in their lives the past year.
Episode 15
The Car
Tue, Feb 6, 201843 mins
Key moments in the Pearsons' lives associated with their vehicle, a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, are presented from the time of the vehicle purchase when the kids were 10 to the end of the day of Jack's memorial service. This specific vehicle, new at the time, was an unexpected purchase in that it was more expensive than they could afford compared to a used vehicle they were expecting to buy, with the argument Jack uses to get the salesman, Mel Buchanan, to give them a good deal framing the events to come. The funeral itself has an unexpected attendee, an old friend, who could shed some light to Rebecca on Jack as husband and father, which leads Rebecca to decide to keep to Jack's wishes on how to end the day. The events between the purchase and the funeral include: Jack and Rebecca heading somewhere quiet to await news of some medical tests; a few of the several times they crossed a bridge that Rebecca was terrified of, knowingly irrationally so; Randall and Kevin's first driving lesson with their father; Jack surprising teenaged Kate by driving her somewhere she should not have been going; and a shopping trip a few days before Jack's death to buy Super Bowl party supplies, with Jack having made five additional purchases at the time unknown to the kids. It is not so much the events in and of themselves that are important but specific incidents within those events that shape their lives to come.
Episode 16
Vegas, Baby
Tue, Feb 27, 201843 mins
Jack and Rebecca are celebrating another anniversary and have decided not to exchange gifts this year, unlike the grand gestures Jack always does, which means something big, and the very personal gift Rebecca always gets Jack. They get around this decision when the kids decide to make that grand gesture on their parents' behalf for their anniversary. But a grand gesture in the mind of a 10-year-old and the execution of such is a totally different beast than that of an adult. In present day, Toby and Kate are having their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties concurrently in Las Vegas. The bride and groom and the other members of the Pearson family have their own expectations and/or baggage going into the event. Although he has invited a handful of so-called friends, Toby, in light of his own family situation, hopes it will be a "Pearson brothers" bonding session, being the latest entry into that club. Beyond the fact that Madison is organizing her get together, Kate is nervous about spending time with Beth, with whom she has not spent a great deal of quality alone time. This get-together will be Kevin's first real test of his sobriety, which is made all the more difficult by some news he receives. And Randall and Beth are on diverging paths, Randall still fixated on Déjà's recent visit and feeling like she may still need them while they are away on this trip and Beth really feeling the need for some decompression from all that is happening in their lives.
Episode 17
This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life
Tue, Mar 6, 201843 mins
Déjà and by association Shauna's life is presented from the time of Déjà's birth to the immediate aftermath of Randall and Beth finding that Déjà and Shauna are now living in Shauna's car. Key moments in their lives are juxtaposed against similar or comparable situations within the extended Pearson family or those associated with the Pearsons, such as Randall's own short-lived childhood with William. Being pregnant at age 16, Shauna had difficulties in letting go of her childhood to be a responsible single mother to Déjà, relying on her own parental figures to do that parenting for her. And even when Shauna tried to do the right thing for her and Déjà, something would always go wrong, whether it be a matter of circumstance or a subsequent bad decision by Shauna herself. It was in one of those latter situations that Déjà first met Linda with Child Services, which started her long string of foster care. It was during one of those early foster home situations that Déjà learned the "wisdom" of a fellow foster child Raven about what is considered tolerable versus the alternative. In dealing with the Pearsons, Shauna and Déjà may come to some conclusions about if they are able to get themselves to a place of both love and survival as mother and daughter.
Episode 18
The Wedding
Tue, Mar 13, 201843 mins
It's the weekend of Kate and Toby's wedding, the event which is being held on the grounds of the Pearson family cabin, which has both Kevin and Randall acting as the wedding planners so that Kate, who has no people standing up for her (although Madison may disagree), doesn't have to worry about anything, and which Beth's younger cousin Zoe has been hired to photograph. But some people are bringing some baggage into the weekend which may interrupt the smoothness of the proceedings in one way or another. Ever since finding out that her mother is relinquishing all parental rights, Déjà has been acting like the whole world, including Randall and Beth, who will be adopting her, is her enemy. Rebecca, knowing how fragile her and Kate's relationship is at least from Kate's perspective, doesn't want to do anything that may set Kate off on her big day. Toby's parents, who have long been divorced from each other, don't get along, they who have to spend the weekend together in this confined setting. Kevin doesn't want to fall into old habits and stereotypes of ending up in bed with anyone from the wedding before, during or after the proceedings, one person in particular he knowing of who he needs to stay clear. But the biggest issue may be the triangle that is Toby, Kate and Jack. Toby has bent over backward to make Kate happy - something that is not lost on a few looking in from the outside - which includes adding whatever Kate feels she needs of her father into the proceedings, however unusual. Kate has to decide if she has grieved enough of her father out of her life to make room for Toby. Dreams Kate has had over the last few weeks may give her some indication where she stands on that issue.
