On November 10, the This Is Us episode Changes delivered a long look into how The Big Three took on new chapters in each of their lives.
Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) have to get The Big Three through puberty in the episode’s flashback scenes.
This Is Us looked in on a single day in the Pearsons’ life, revealing there is no simple task for these adults in charge of three teens.
Teen Kevin starts turning into a hunk on This Is Us
As are his siblings, Kevin is in 8th grade, and he’s beginning to look like a star, if only on the football field.
To bond like he once did with his own dad, Jack invites Kevin to “pump iron” with him in his garage gym. This is strictly their thing until, well, it isn’t.
It turns out the young athlete is so enamored with molding his body through exercising that he sneaks into the sacred space when his dad isn’t looking.
Meanwhile, teen Kate is stoked because even though they broke up, she and Stewart Alberghini may have a chance after all. He boldly asks if he can join her in a school project that examines the desert-biome.
She, of course, thinks he is rethinking the whole splitsville situation. That ends when the class nerd admits the reason he wants to get into her science group is simply that he loves deserts.
Obviously, he does not love her.
Downtrodden, Kate calls Stewart “a desert groupie” as she explains the whole deal to Rebecca, who helps her daughter understand the ups and downs of romance.
Meanwhile, Randall is alone with Tanya, who is also in Kate’s science group. Tanya, who is white, is interested in him, but apparently not for the right reasons.
In fact, she tells him, “I always wondered what it would be like to kiss someone like you.”
And, just like that, Randall rebuffs the racially challenged teen’s advances.
Also, since this happened to Randall — who, as all fans know, has been a bottled-up sort of mess as an adult — he keeps the whole deal a secret from everyone, including himself.
Randall finds his new therapist on This Is Us
In the present, Randall appears to be elated when he tells Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) he believes he found his new therapist to replace his old one, Dr. Leigh.
“He checks all the boxes,” her husband explains, saying his pick after interviewing a bunch of possible professionals is not only Black and cool, but he “is also a young dad.”
At their Zoom meeting, Randall is nervous, and it shows.
His new doctor tells him that this is a process. So, in essence, he tells his new patient not to freak out. He also assesses Randall as someone who likes homework, so he asks him to write an anecdote about something that happened to him in the past.
Randall writes about his experience with Tanya in 8th grade.
Finally.
Kate and Toby meet with pregnant Ellie on This Is Us
Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan) continue their mission to adopt a child. They meet with a single mom named Ellie, who is pregnant and does not want to keep her child.
This seems ominous until Ellie explains that her daughter’s father died of cancer, and the child she is carrying came about due to a one night stand.
The three bond, but Toby warns Kate that this adoption may not come to fruition.
The two compare notes about the 33-year-old mother-to-be. In doing so, Kate and Toby admit they are a good fit for Ellie as the three have similar tastes all around.
Kevin and Madison admit their downfalls on This Is Us
Meanwhile, Kevin (Justin Hartley) learns more about his fiance, Madison (Caitlin Thompson), and vice versa. She is looking very pregnant while Kevin is getting exceedingly more buff, putting in more than two workouts a day every day.
Although the two are cordial, they don’t always seem very comfortable with each other. But, to put the proverbial “the truth shall set you free” phrase to good use, Kevin admits he is not healthy and that he has “a lot of stuff.”
“I’m an alcoholic and workout addict with daddy issues,” he admits to Madison.
Before that and then a little later, too, Madison became uneasy as she talked about herself.
The lean blonde let Kevin know she is both anorexic and bulimic. Being with child and gaining weight as the twins get bigger in her belly is not easy for her. In fact, to remind herself she needs to eat right for their sake, she keeps a picture of their ultrasound on the fridge.
The pair start to become two people who are no longer “polite strangers.”
Also, during the episode, Randall and Beth dealt with Tess (Eris Baker) after she posted a “profane dance video” online.
In the video, which Tess made the year before with her friend, the two filmmakers talk about their teachers, taking them to task. In no uncertain terms, they repeatedly tell them, “Screw you.”
The parents in this situation are upset with Tess about how their daughter has handled her problem. However, she hit back.
“You tell me to be myself. Well, this is me now… I am done being the prissy little girl you raised in the white suburbs,” Tess tells her mom and dad.
Without taking a beat, Beth sends their daughter to her room. Tess does as she is told. For now.
This Is Us airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.