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This Is Us Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
18 Episodes 2019 - 2020
Episode 1
Strangers
Tue, Sep 24, 201950 mins
In the early 1970s, Jack and Rebecca have returned to Pittsburgh after what was their third date, a week-long road trip to Los Angeles where Rebecca was having an exploratory meeting with record company executives. Beyond their mock coyness, both Jack and Rebecca don't want to wait for their next date, which is why Rebecca offers and Jack agrees to a country club dinner she had already planned with her parents and some family friends. Beyond Jack's need to look the part meaning wearing a sports jacket which he does not own and cannot afford to buy, he will have to overcome what is probably her parents' perception of him having whisked Rebecca away only having known each other a week. Jack will find that the wolf in sheep's clothing may be the most dangerous in what he already sees as his and Rebecca's long-term relationship. In present day, Cass has just returned to the States decommissioned after a very difficult tour of duty in the Middle East. One specific event triggered by what on the surface was a minor issue shows her that she is suffering from PTSD, although she doesn't want to simplify what she is going through with the four letters alone. Teenage Malik is tired of his mother constantly harping on him about his responsibilities, he well aware of those responsibilities in seeing his infant daughter every day. He contemplates the big and easy money (i.e. illegal) to support his daughter rather than working at his father Darnell's garage. His encounter with "a Pearson" has the potential to be another Jack/Rebecca country club dinner. And a few decades down the road, Jack and Lucy's joint life, from their meeting to their courtship to the early part of their marriage, is presented.
Episode 2
The Pool: Part Two
Tue, Oct 1, 201943 mins
At the end of summer 1992, Jack, before the kids head back to school for the year, wants to have a family fun day back to the pool as they did four years ago. Unlike that fun day about which the then eight year old kids were excited, the Big Three, now twelve, are less than excited. While Jack and Rebecca largely want at least the family aspect of that day four years ago not to have changed, the three now have a different dynamic with their family members, and have different, more grown-up peer pressure problems with their friends and so-called friends. In present day which too is at the end of summer, both Randall and Kevin can't help but think back to that pool day in 1992. Randall and Beth and their family are still settling into life in Philadelphia. While Randall too wants to have a Pearson family fun day to mark the end of summer and celebrate all their new city has to offer, he and Beth are in negotiation with the girls about other issues, Randall with Déjà about her want to ride the public transit bus by herself to school, and Beth with Tess about a trip to the salon, Tess who wants to express her true self in the hairstyle she chooses instead of Beth's vision of her. Kevin has now been sober one hundred eighty-seven days, since the day Jack was born. He is still struggling and has to balance his life: his own path in sobriety, supporting Kate in her current issues while having no idea how to provide that support in a meaningful way, and dealing with Nicky's recent kerfuffle, Nicky who isn't returning Kevin's calls. And Kate and Toby are dealing with the news that Jack's blindness is permanent. While Kate is handling the news with a seeming single-minded focus, which includes finding Anna who will help them live holistically with a child with such a disability, Toby, knowing his wife, can see that she is not dealing with the news in her own best interest while he tries to help himself in other ways he has not told anyone. In the process, Rebecca too can't help but think back to that pool day in 1992.
Episode 3
Unhinged
Tue, Oct 8, 201943 mins
The start of the school year in 1992 and present day are presented, times that do not go according to plan for many of the Pearsons. In 1992, Randall, wanting to make a good impression on a new teacher, does something that gets him into hot water instead and results in something with that he has to deal for the rest of his life. In this specific situation, he gets some unexpected help. With public school not yet having started, Kate and Rebecca try to bond over a shared activity at home, but it gets Kate onto a path that she too has to deal with for the rest of her life. And a bad situation at work brings Jack and Miguel closer together as friends. In present day, Déjà learns something about her budding romance with Malik, while Tess, expecting that she can deal with her sexual orientation in a fresh manner by not having a history with her new classmates, doesn't have the first day she wanted. Randall has literally become "unhinged" by having his office door removed to demonstrate his Monday open-door policy to the general public, which Jae-won, his Chief of Staff, encourages to do things differently. This move, however, receives the quiet and not-so-quiet ire of experienced staffer, chief aide Bernice. Randall, being open as a political newbie, has to balance Bernice's comments about doing his job versus what he truly wants to do. Kevin has decided to come to Nicky's aid in ensuring that his chair-throwing incident not only does not land him in prison but that he can still continue with therapy afforded to him as a veteran. In the process, Kevin, who is not managing well with regard to his sobriety, and Nicky meet Cassidy, their initial impressions of each other which gets them off to a rocky start. And in attending a business lunch to woo potential clients for Toby, Kate sees her husband in a clearer light which she did not see in her sole focus on Jack. She also meets one of their neighbors, the two who have the potential not to be good neighbors in focusing on their individual problems without knowing the others.
Episode 4
Flip a Coin
Tue, Oct 15, 201943 mins
In 1998, Rebecca goes to visit Randall at college on Parents Day. While Kevin is now living in New York, Rebecca worries more about Kate at home wiling away her time with no direction. On the visit, Rebecca notices that Randall is distracted, and after learning why he is distracted, she takes measures against his wishes to deal with it. On the one and only task that Rebecca has given Kate for the day to go to the mall to replenish their CDs after the fire, Kate comes away from the experience with something unexpected. And at the end of the day, Rebecca and Kate receive some shocking news. In present day, Kate, wanting to provide Jack the full experience of life, decides to take him to a music class. That situation provides her and Toby with some experience about how to proceed with Jack. While Kevin is about to take Nicky to their next AA meeting after being banned from the last group, Kevin receives some news closing one chapter of his life, which makes the meeting more of a necessity for him this day. Another attendee at that meeting is Cassidy, also banned from the last group, who is also not doing well with the latest development at home. Out of circumstance, the three of them have five hours to kill before the meeting, which gives them time both to reflect on their current issues and, at least for Cassidy, reluctantly to get to know who could potentially be her long-term AA meeting colleagues when she views Kevin in particular with some animosity. And after three months work, Beth is having the grand opening of the dance studio with her immediate family in attendance to provide support. With Carol also coming from out of town for the opening, Randall, who has never gotten along with his domineering mother-in-law, makes a vow to Beth to act as the buffer between the two of them during the event. The event ends up being overtaken with a situation in the building, and with something associated with a request from Déjà.
Episode 5
Storybook Love
Tue, Oct 22, 201943 mins
Two milestone Rebecca Pearson dinners are presented. The first is Jack and Rebecca's dinner the first night in their first-ever house together, they scrambling to locate their items for dinner as Rebecca wants to make the evening special. The second is one month after she and Kate have moved into their house following the fire, the dinner, beyond having invitee Miguel over for all his help, to celebrate Kevin and Sophie's marriage, and to welcome Randall and new girlfriend Beth from college. While the earlier dinner had its many problems, Rebecca still considers it the perfect night, while the issues that end up overtaking the latter dinner, which includes an unexpected attendee, may make emergence to it even being a good night difficult. In present day, Kevin, having purchased his own trailer and having set up next to Uncle Nicky, proceeds with his vow to help Cassidy repair her marriage, the first time meeting Ryan being at a local hockey game where veterans, including Cassidy, will be honored in an on-ice ceremony. Beyond finding that Uncle Nicky still resists his presence in his life, Kevin may find his task with regard to Cassidy and Ryan harder to achieve than he believed. Randall and Beth discover that the one aspect that Randall hoped would not manifest itself in any of his children has afflicted Tess. In learning directly from William that he too suffered from the condition, Beth takes action to comfort both Randall and Tess about the matter, but also repair whatever negative feelings Tess has about her father because of it. And Kate and Toby await the housewarming gift Randall says he and Kevin have sent. While Toby expects it to be another grand gesture typical of the Pearson men, it ends up being bittersweet for Kate in some things attached to the actual gift.
Episode 6
The Club
Tue, Oct 29, 201943 mins
Three rounds of golf over the years involving non-golfers Jack and/or Randall are presented. On the spur of the moment while Rebecca has a brunch date with her mother, Rebecca encourages Jack, the two still early in their dating life, to go out on the links with her father to the country club so that the two of them can bond and get to know each other better. Despite never feeling like he fit in that day, Jack takes 12-year-old Randall out for nine holes in wanting to provide him with opportunities he may not otherwise have, especially because he has been taken under Mr. Lawrence's wing - a black man Randall admires - and because Mr. Lawrence has told Randall of a new black professional golfer Tiger Woods who is poised to change the face of the game. In present day, Randall, feeling like he is being frozen out by Councilman Wilkins after having had to cancel two previous meetings with him, tries to find a way back in through one of Wilkins' favorite activities golf by using Randall's access to one of the most exclusive courses in town. This round is his first since that day when he was 12 with his father, which Randall wanted to cut short. Meanwhile, it's been almost 10 months since Kate and Toby have had sex, and with Kate using the excuse of Jack, Toby encourages her to ask Rebecca to sit with the baby so that they can have a romantic hotel stay on their own. Toby's mind and his body tell him two different things, the connection between those two being a comment made by Kate to him while he was cleaning out his closet. And Kevin is trying to find things to do to keep himself preoccupied in what is his new albeit temporary home with the length of his stay dependent on Nicky's legal issues. While he still has Cassidy's issue on his mind, Kevin ends up falling into old habits when it comes to the opposite sex.
Episode 7
The Dinner and the Date
Tue, Nov 5, 201943 mins
Two exploratory dinners approximately 30 years apart are presented. In the first, Jack has invited Mr. Lawrence - Cory - and his wife Trish to dinner in seeing how much Randall admires, almost revers, his black teacher. While Jack outwardly wants to get to know Mr. Lawrence, the reason for the invitation, Rebecca, and the Lawrences for that matter, can see Jack's true agenda. In the second, Randall and Beth have invited the Hodges family for dinner, the issue spurring it being the fact that Déjà not only went against their directive of not seeing Malik, but that their time together was as he convinced her to skip school, Randall and Beth only finding out by a telephone call from the school principal. Realizing that Déjà cannot totally avoid Malik, Randall and Beth want to meet his parents before passing their final judgment. While Randall has more than made up his mind, Beth wants them to keep a open perspective in not prejudging the outcome. The dinner may not turn out the way either expects. And with both dinners, it may be the innocent who can only bring up the white elephants in the room. In the process of the dinner with the Hodges, a flashback to Déjà and Malik's day together skipping school is shown. As Randall has only shown the family what tourists see of the city, Malik wanted to show Déjà the "real" Philadelphia: his Philadelphia. In the process, Déjà laments not remembering much about her only other trip to Philadelphia when she was four or five with her biological mother and grandmother, and laments her inexperience with boys.
Episode 8
Sorry
Tue, Nov 12, 201943 mins
Two periods in Rebecca and Randall's relationship are shown, highlighting what Randall has coined "R and R": Randall and Rebecca time. The first is about a year after Jack's death when Rebecca feels the need to enter the work force to pay the bills with Jack's insurance money dwindling. The second is in present day with Rebecca and Miguel making an early trip to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving at Randall and Beth's. Randall develops concern for Rebecca during R and R time that Rebecca cannot function without some help, arguably his help, because of different reasons in each of the two time periods. Meanwhile, Nicky's court appearance is approaching, which is the reason Kevin has stayed in town. However, Kevin is not in the best shape to be of help at this crucial time in the aftermath of his and Cassidy's sexual encounter, which has neither helped him nor Cassidy. With visits metaphysically from his past, Kevin has to find an outlet to deal with his emotions, the bottle his old standby. Baby Jack should be at the stage of eating solid food, but Kate is having difficulty when testing one food at a time like she believes she has to. Toby is not apprised of a development in the situation that occurred with Gregory. And Beth is supervising an in-house date between Déjà and Malik. While trying to be invisible, Beth feels the need to intervene in a matter between the two, which she learns does involve her and Randall.
Episode 9
So Long, Marianne
Tue, Nov 19, 201943 mins
It's Thanksgiving - the holiday for the Pearsons arguably most steeped in the traditions set by Jack - and the extended family is convening at Randall and Beth's townhouse for the first time for the occasion. Behind the scenes, there are some underlying and mostly unspoken tensions leading up to people arriving at the townhouse, many of those surrounding whether Shauna and Nicky will have their respective acts together to function without causing a scene. Rebecca is still angry with Randall, their problems which they at least agree not to involve Kate and Kevin. Kevin's immediate future is still up in the air now that Nicky's court issues have been resolved. And Kate, by omission, has to decide if she will disclose to Toby the truth behind Jack's first bite of solid food, to or not to which both have their pros and cons. As more and more people arrive, the collective group becomes physically fractured out of circumstance, the resulting issues which may compound the potential problems that already exist.
Episode 10
Light and Shadows
Tue, Jan 14, 202043 mins
During Jack and Rebecca's dating life, Jack is affected by the words said to him by her father at the end of their day on the golf course, those words hitting home as he critically reviews his own life. In present day, Randall takes it upon himself to arrange an appointment for his mother with the best neurologist in Los Angeles, Dr. Angela Whitaker. Randall's action may have an affect not only on Rebecca, who doesn't want either Kevin or Kate to know, but Miguel who feels that Randall is overstepping his bounds, especially as Miguel sees both his and Rebecca's bouts of forgetfulness as the natural course of their age. Kevin has employed the services of a matchmaking company in his short-term plan to get married and have a child by age forty, all the while having that great romance characterized by his parents. With one failed date after another, Kevin decides on a different tact of letting the universe take its course, which may yield some more positive results in he not putting as much pressure on the situation. And Kate continues to have issue with "cross-fit Toby," especially as she believes one of his cross-fit pals with the online handle of Lady Kryptonite may have her designs on him. Kate tries to bridge the gap by inviting Toby's cross-fit friends, none who she has ever met, to Toby's Margaritaville-themed surprise birthday party.
Episode 11
A Hell of a Week: Part One
Tue, Jan 21, 202043 mins
Randall has to deal with the aftermath of the intruder, who broke into the house when Beth and the girls were asleep upstairs and who Randall stumbled upon as he made his late night rounds around the house. This item, in addition to keeping the news about Rebecca without the support from his siblings, and having to deal with work, he soon to hold a town hall meeting to defend his support of a controversial housing bill which many in his district fear will raise their rents, will lead to him having to keep his anxiety in check, some who can see through what he is going. One of those people, only knowing him casually, may actually have a better understanding of the holistic issue Randall is facing. Some key moments in Randall's life when the anxiety manifested itself, including as far back as his childhood, are presented. Meanwhile, Kevin is back in Pittsburgh making an old connection in someone's time of need.
Episode 12
A Hell of a Week: Part Two
Tue, Jan 28, 202043 mins
Following the presentation of Randall's bad week and key moments in his history grappling with anxiety, the same equally bad week is shown from Kevin's perspective, his issues and history centering on the theme of loss. He is back in Pittsburgh upon the news from Sophie that her mother Claire has passed away, Claire who was Kevin's biggest fan and booster throughout the entire course of his career. Conversely, Sophie and bigger-than-life-Claire had a love/hate relationship, the strain from Sophie's side largely in their differences. As Kevin reunites with Sophie, he laments that she was the one he let get away who he shouldn't have, those previous times arguably because he wasn't ready, which Claire probably could see, she demonstrating those feelings in her own way. But as Kevin now feels he is ready and has let every woman that has entered his life get away, he may make an impulsive decision which is just as a bad in his current mindset of need of what his parents' had.
Episode 13
A Hell of a Week: Part Three
Tue, Feb 11, 202043 mins
Following the presentation of Randall and Kevin's bad week, the same equally bad week is shown from Kate's perspective with her issues and history centering on the theme of reliance on loved ones, especially in romantic relationships. She has planned a weekend getaway for herself, Toby, and Jack to a resort for families with children with blindness, something that she not only believes would be fun for the three of them but beneficial for their lives holistically. But Toby's admission about being a father to Jack not only threatens him going on this getaway but whether he will voluntarily be there as husband and father in the long run. This situation hearkens back to Kate's first love, Marc, and the way he treated her despite their admission of love for each other. Through it all, no one may be able to measure up to her father as her biggest support as shown through a story with him of her first night in her first big girl bed at age four. As she thinks about it more, Kate realizes that someone with whom she has always had a relationship with a strained undertone, at least from her side, is truly someone who was and will always be there for her.
Episode 14
The Cabin
Tue, Feb 18, 202043 mins
The Big Three are spending time at the cabin after the terrible week each has had. Beyond whether being with their siblings can help each deal with the fundamental issue of the source of their problems, other questions are whether they can trust what is going on at home without micromanaging - for Randall, the safety of his family and of their property and for Kate, Toby stepping up to the plate as a true father to Jack - and whether that trust is warranted. Two other time periods when the family was at the cabin are shown. One is in 1993 when Jack decided that he wanted to bury a time capsule on the property with one item from each family member with a plan to open the capsule in five years. The other is in 1999 when Rebecca, Kevin, and Randall rushed to the cabin because of Rebecca's fear that Kate was not all right while Kate was alone at the cabin with Marc after Kate's somewhat odd-sounding telephone call home. Those two earlier time periods have a profound effect on their time in present day and into the future.
Episode 15
Clouds
Tue, Feb 25, 202042 mins
Each of the Big Three has returned to his/her respective home following their much needed sibling retreat to the cabin to deal with their current issues. Kevin feels the need to visit with his mother in light of learning not only about her potential health problems, but learning that she will be finding out her MRI test results today. On Miguel's suggestion, Rebecca and Kevin end up spending the day together leading up to her late afternoon appointment. With Kate, Toby is saying all the right things to her, and is in the works for another of his grand gestures, but she isn't sure if the words and the gesture are enough. In meeting with Madison to clear the air about what happened between her and Kevin, Kate may get a clearer perspective about Toby. And Randall, on Beth's urging, has decided to see a therapist in light of the fact of the intruder, that incident which may trigger his next panic attack. On top of that issue, Randall is dealing with being in Philadelphia while Rebecca is without him in Los Angeles, he not trusting either Miguel or Kevin to handle things with her to his satisfaction. To fully get out of therapy what he needs, Randall will have to give up some control which he may not be able to do being who he is. These issues with the three and with Rebecca hearkens back to a day when they were twelve, it being report card day and the implications of those report card marks in relation to a deal the three have made with their parents.
Episode 16
New York, New York, New York
Tue, Mar 10, 202043 mins
Three Pearson family trips to New York City, each spurred by an event of one of the Big Three, are presented. When the kids are in middle school, the entire family spend 24 hours in the city en route to taking Randall to a debate tournament being held upstate. In their 24 hours, Jack allows each family member to choose one thing they as a collective will do. While this would be Jack's first-ever trip to the city, Rebecca cannot help but fondly remember her annual family trips there as a child, those remembrances which may foreshadow elements of this trip. A year after Jack's death, Randall, Beth and Rebecca drive to the city to meet with Kevin and Sophie, the trip to watch Kevin perform in a showcase, it being the first time Rebecca has returned since that trip six years earlier. While Rebecca is in town, Kevin has a plan in place concerning her and his acting coach, Kirby. And in present day, Rebecca and Kevin are flying to the city for Kevin's movie premiere, Randall who will meet them there. With Kevin and Kate's very reticent okay, Randall has an ulterior motive for wanting to meet with their mother concerning her diagnosis, he who has always felt he is the only one, in the absence of their father, who can take care of her and knows what is best for her, while Kevin has the conflicting goal of just wanting their mother to have just one great day.
Episode 17
After the Fire
Tue, Mar 17, 202043 mins
Obsessing over his disagreement with Kevin after their argument about their mother's care and Rebecca's decision not to apply for the nine-month clinical trial in St. Louis, Randall, in his next therapy session, feels the need to speak to Dr. Leigh about the closing issue in that argument, namely what if Jack had survived the fire, something that Randall has thought about every day of his life since their father's passing. After Randall describes his scenario of what he thinks would have happened, Dr. Leigh pushes back, uncovering a likely cause of why he is feeling the way he is feeling. Randall has a choice of whether or not to take Dr. Leigh to heart and enter into a new phase of his relationship with his mother.
Episode 18
Strangers: Part Two
Tue, Mar 24, 202044 mins
The events surrounding first birthdays or births in three different time periods are presented. In the past, Jack and Rebecca are not only celebrating Jack's thirty-seventh birthday with a modification to their usual routine but the first birthday of the Big Three. It can't help but be a bittersweet occasion for both of them, leading to them turning to an old friend for advice on how to deal with the bitter in light of the sweet. In the future, Lucy has just gone into labor a week late. Someone important to both Lucy and Jack rushes to their side after having her latest "movie star" date. And in the present, the entire Pearson family is descending on Los Angeles for Jack's first birthday, which coincides with Kevin's one-year sobriety. While Kate, Toby, and Jack welcome the family, they have a special Damon threesome-only secret task, out of which Kate and Toby discuss a not-yet-broached topic regarding their family. An announcement by Rebecca has the potential to overtake the day, while a series of events threaten Kevin making it to one year.
