So, he asked to visit Randall in Philadelphia, fittingly the City of Brotherly Love.
Let’s explore what happens during these instances of brotherly bonding (or fighting).
5-year-old Randall
The episode opens with an unfamiliar Black couple.
This Is Us.NBC
A man discusses an incoming storm, a woman mentions the Dewey Decimal System.
Their son is a young boy named… Randall…
It’s a fantasy.
In reality, 5-year-old Randall and Kevin are watchingMister Rogers' Neighborhoodtogether.
Rebecca is away with Kate for a girls' weekend.
For their boys' weekend, Jack takes Randall and Kevin to a live taping ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Then Jack tries to overcompensate by asking the staffer to give Randall the best seat.
Kevin’s annoyed by his brother getting that special treatment.
As Randall explores the set alone in the meantime, a puppeteer asks if he likes using his imagination.
Randall looks around, then quietly says he has imaginary parents.
The puppet implies that’s not strange, and Randall smiles.
The meteorologist is the man from the fantasy, Randall’s imaginary father.
We learn more about the fantasy through Randall’s present-day conversation with Kevin.
Upon his arrival, Kevin calls him the Fresh Prince.
In turn, Randall insults Kevin’s apartment.
Kevin laughs it off and convinces Randall to party with him.
The boys start drinking.
Later, Kevin grabs the fake IDs he got.
Randall notes his is an older man who looks nothing like him.
This comment bothers Randall, but he doesn’t say anything.
Already drunk, they get in a cab heading to a party.
On the way, Kevin is obnoxious to the Black cab driver.
The driver kicks the boys out and they begin to fight.
Kevin says he’s rude to all cab drivers, regardless of race.
They further clash over the situation, but soon Randall drops the issue.
Randall even winds up comforting Kevin as Kevin admits things aren’t going well for him.
He says he’s going nowhere while Randall has everything Beth, a huge future.
Kevin feels like the family failure.
Randall says he doesn’t see him that way.
Beth insists the conversation must happen.
She’s taking the girls out to give the brothers privacy.
Trying to comfort Randall, she says the conversation can’t go worse than the big fight.
When Kevin arrives, they share an awkward greeting.
Soon enough, though, the brothers begin their conversation.
Kevin acknowledges Randall faced challenges growing up Black in a white family.
He earnestly apologizes for not defending Randall when a girl’s father mistreated him for being Black.
Randall thanks him, but doesn’t extend forgiveness.
He thinks Kevin fails to assume any personal responsibility.
Talking heatedly, the brothers lock themselves out of the house.
The fight continues as they retrieve a key from Randall’s neighbor and return home.
Thinking Randall’s calling him racist, Kevin becomes indignant.
But flashbacks in this and earlier episodes support Randall’s point Kevin consistently performed microaggressions.
Randall thinks if he’d been white their relationship would have been different.
Kevin says his cruelty was only ever about jealousy.
Randall thinks Kevin resented his Blackness.
Randall says the day he was adopted was bad for him because he lost his birth parents.
Kevin accuses him of being ungrateful to Jack and Rebecca.
Kevin asks if Randall wishes he was never adopted.
Randall explains a concept from his support group: Ghost Kingdoms.
Adoptees imagine the life they would have had if they weren’t adopted.
Randall adds that he felt guilty for loving his family too much.
The Pearsons were always in his kingdom, too.
But the conversation continues.
Kevin asks Randall if he still thinks about his Ghost Kingdom.
“I overlooked things that I shouldn’t have.
This is the responsibility-taking Randall wanted.
Just then, Beth and the girls return, so the conversation ends.
