'This Is Us' Creator Teases That Fans Should "Brace for Impact" After Last Night's Episode

Amanda Garrity
·4 min read

From Good Housekeeping

  • This Is Us returned on Tuesday with an emotional episode titled "New York, New York, New York."

  • Tension between the Pearson family — Kevin (played by Justin Hartley) and Randall (played by Sterling K. Brown), especially — is at an all-time high, and there are just a few episodes left before season 4 comes to a close.

  • Following Tuesday's episode, showrunner Dan Fogelman teased that next week's episode, "After the Fire" is "legit crazy."

During last night's episode of This Is Us, the writers accomplished a first-of-the-season feat: Fans spent most of hour annoyed and even, angry at Randall for how he was treating Kevin and Rebecca (played by Mandy Moore).

"New York, New York, New York" focused on three important New York City trips in the Pearson's history: One when the "Big Three" were teenagers, another when Randall and Rebecca visited Kevin during his college years, and finally when Randall and Rebecca joined Kevin at his movie premiere.

All three trips are full of ups and downs, but the present day proves to be the most complicated. Ahead of their visit, Randall tells Kevin and Kate that he wants to send Rebecca to St. Louis for a nine-month Alzheimer's trial. At first, his siblings are reluctant to agree, but eventually they understand that it's the best decision for their mom's health. However, Kevin has one stipulation: He wants Randall to wait to tell her until his premiere is over.

As luck would have it, things don't go as smoothly as Kevin planned. After Rebecca vents about her frustration with living with Alzheimer's, Randall mentions the trial, which understandably makes his mom upset. In the heat of the moment, Kevin shares a few choice words with Randall, questioning why he would ruin such a special family moment. Viewers at home were wondering the same thing:

Even Sterling K. Brown weighed in:

At the tail-end of the episode, Randall confesses that his actions actually stem from Jack's death. "I spent every day for the last 2o years wondering if I could've saved dad, and now I had a chance to save mom and you blew it," he tells Kevin. While Kevin reassures him that there was no way to save Jack, it's clear that Randall still believes there was something he could've done.

Based on the promo for next week's episode "After the Fire," it seems like the show will explore this tremendous pain that Randall is still grappling with 20 years after Jack's death. This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman teased that there's even more drama.

The promo for next week proves that there's way more to the story. In the 15-second clip, we see glimpses of what Randall's life would have been like if Jack had never died. And in the words of Fogelman, "brace for impact" when you tune in next week.

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