4 burning questions after This Is Us season 2 episode 4, ‘Still There’
The fourth episode of season 2 of This Is Us, left us with some serious follow-up questions. Here’s what we’re wondering after ‘Still There.’
Spoilers ahead for This Is Us season 2 episode 4.
In many ways, the latest episode of This Is Us was a slow-burn. Rather than debut major reveals, the show further developed the character details we already know. We knew Kevin suffered a leg injury — and could surmise it was during football — but “Still There” explored how it has affected and continues to affect him. We knew Rebecca didn’t get along with her mom and it wasn’t exactly shocking to discover she was racist, but the show further characterized Rebecca by her reactions. But it wasn’t all answers — each of these little additions definitely highlighted additional questions.
1. Is that the last we’ll see of Rebecca’s mom?
After she pieces all the clues (three basketballs, “the twins and Randall,” the shots at his intelligence) together, Rebecca gives a pretty powerful monologue calling her mom out for being a racist and explaining her behavior is why the family never comes to visit. Oh, and letting her know she’s officially kicked out as soon as the snow clears. The next morning, when Jack realizes that the whole Pearson clan is avoiding going downstairs, he (and Kevin!) clear out car so that she can leave.
And yet, before she leaves, Janet, Rebecca’s mom, has a moment with Randall, with Rebecca standing in the doorway. Randall has figured out his Rube Goldberg machine, about which she had previously been so dismissive. She calls him a remarkable young man and it seems like maybe it’s the beginning of mended fences.
Furthermore, we know Jack’s death is coming and even if the Rebecca implements a seven-year estrangement, it would be shocking to not see Janet resurface to support her daughter after his death.
Which is to say, we can likely expect more of racist grandma.
2. Why doesn’t Kate trust Toby?
Kate’s pregnancy was the one major bombshell reveal of the episode and it was a total shocker. Her enthusiasm/obsession for working out throughout the episode seemed sadly like a relapse for the character — particularly the way the showrunners mirrored the existence of a “goal dress” in the flashbacks and present day. But at the end of the episode, it was revealed that she’s been so preoccupied about her weight and health because she’s concerned for her baby. As she tells her doctor, she’s well aware of the additional risks of her weight and her age.
The “when” of “when will Kate tell Toby” seems to be imminent. Creator Dan Fogelman has alluded to it happening as soon as the next episode, telling Entertainment Weekly:
"For Kate, this is a slightly more scary, loaded moment than it may be for others, even inside of her own relationship — and it’s something that she and Toby explore in next week’s episode together."
In fact, we may even get the “why” then too:
"Did she keep this to herself — and not tell Toby yet — because she didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, including her own?The first scene with Kate and Toby of next week’s episode will answer that exact question. But yes, that’s something that’s fair to read into this. It’s something that comes out of left field for her. It’s something unexpected for her. This is just her news for this brief moment."
Still, there a bigger questions here. Placing the question of whether Toby is actually a good boyfriend to the side, Kate has been consistently reluctant to truly actually trust him or open up to him in any meaningful way that we’ve seen. And at some point, they’re going to have to deal with that.
3. Can Beth earn back Deja’s trust?
It was heartbreaking to see Deja cut off her braids after piecing two-and-two together that Beth had told Randall what they talked about when she did her hair.
Beth and Randall came so far in the episode as foster parents. In peak Beth-and-Randall fashion, they talked about Randall’s desire to be “lead parent” and then when that didn’t go as planned, he admitted it might be best for Beth to do it her way and have the hygiene chat.
After talking her down from packing her bags, Beth tells Deja about how meaningful doing each other’s hair was in Beth’s home, growing up with three sisters. (Yay, Beth backstory!) Deja asks Beth to do her hair, and through that experience, ends up telling her about how her alopecia (which she didn’t know was a thing) gets worse when she’s stressed. Beth tells her that she can talk about it, because it’s just the two of them, and that clearly influences Deja’s desire to speak up.
Later, when Randall goes to apologize for his behavior in the bowling alley, he reveals that he gets stressed too, but he’s found running helpful. He invites her to go running with him sometime. It seems like a nice moment, and like perhaps Randall has found an activity for the two of them to bond over, until Deja pieces together that the stress comments must mean Beth told him about their conversation.
We know Deja has some kind of negative history with men — she flinched so notably when Randall entered the room her first night in the house — and it’s totally understandable why she would react so strongly to learning Beth had told Randall her secrets. Similarly, it’s totally understandable that Beth and Randall’s communication is so established that it wouldn’t even register to Randall as something to think about.
Watching Beth and Deja bond, particularly seeing Deja ask for Beth’s help and open up, was so moving, here’s hoping Beth can re-earn the trust. It will no doubt be quite the process.
4. Okay, but will Kevin develop a drug problem?
After last week’s episode, This Is Us fans were all a-buzz about whether Kevin had a drug addiction. We saw him pop pain pills and we all, collectively, went 0 to 100 on diagnosing the kid with a problem. “Still There” does considerable work to prove to you — to tell you — that Kevin does not have a drug problem.
He tells his doctor that he tried taking pain meds (which we saw) but he doesn’t like the way they make him feel. He also reflects that when he took pain meds after his initial knee injury, but then as well, he didn’t like the way they made him feel. (There’s still a lot to unpack about what that means — how long did he take them — and how those feelings could also have been impacted by the not-insignificant development of his dad dying. And, whether “didn’t like the way they made him feel” is a euphemism to avoid disclosing an addiction as a teen.)
In any case, the episode seems to say: Kevin doesn’t have a pain pill problem. He won’t even use them when he should!
Out of the potential opioid addiction woods? So it’s settled? Nope! This Is Us season 2 episode 4 really amps up the ominous implications of Kevin’s injury and toward the end, we see Kevin cave and go for the pills as part of his self-escalated rehab timetable.
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This Is Us is already beginning to reveal Kevin’s damaged relationship to physical and emotional pain, particularly as it relates to his father — sorry, Jack, you’re at least a little to blame — and the threat of a pill problem looms over whatever is to come.