[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 6 of This Is Us, “Our Little Island Girl: Part Two.”]
It’s been a few weeks since viewers last spent time with the Pearsons on This Is Us and it’s off to a great start with the show’s latest Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson)-centric episode, a follow-up to Season 3’s “Our Little Island Girl.”
Beginning the installment is a flashback between young Beth and her father Abe (Carl Lumbly) as they sit on the sands of a Kingston, Jamaica beach. He recalls Beth’s origins as the little island girl who danced before she walked, and tells her to never forget how special she is, “you’re gonna change the world one day,” he tells her as a child. This is reflected as the episode carries on into the present and future.
Below, we’re breaking down all of Beth’s challenges and triumphs along with the rest of the Pearson family drama unfolding in this installment.
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
Beth Turns Her Biggest Failure Into Her Biggest Success
The episode opens with Beth visiting the City Ballet of Philadelphia, where she joins the team in their recruitment department under a scholarship banner, providing promising ballerinas with a chance to study at the finest nearby school. Feeling pressure to pick the right talents, Beth encounters Stacey (Jazlyn Martin) a promising and timid young woman whose dad wants her to focus on studies first and dance second.
While training her recruits, Beth tells them all to look in the mirror at themselves and say, “I can and I will,” setting in place a promising mantra. Stacey struggles though and Beth catches her practicing before an upcoming showcase. Beth tries to comfort the girl who questions “why me” in regards to being chosen for the program. Beth tells her that she saw herself in the girl who used to be the best student at her old dance school but is nowhere near perfect in comparison to the City Ballet’s performers.
As the episode proceeds, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and his daughters show up at the showcase to support Beth who is nervous and tells her husband she can’t fail today. Watching from the wings, Beth sees Stacey fall and the girl remains sitting on the stage, too embarrassed to stand up.
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
Beth walks out and sits with her, telling her she’ll never be disappointed in her no matter what, her words of encouragement lead to a reset as Stacey takes on the solo again and nails it. Watching from the audience, Randall tells his daughters to take in how amazing their mother is.
Later that evening, Beth drinks a glass of wine and receives praise from Randall in the kitchen. Before following him up the stairs for bed though, Beth decides to call her old instructor, Vincent (Goran Visnjic). Throughout the episode, there are brief flashbacks to Beth’s (Rachel Hilson) early relationship with Randall (Niles Fitch) when they bumped into Vincent at a restaurant. She wanted to confront him about not being supportive after her dad died, but nerves got the better of her then. Now, she has no inhibitions as rings him on the phone to tell him how much it hurt as a kid.
We later see in a brief flash-forward that Beth’s students are her pride and joy as she fills her board with photos and programs from their productions, including Stacey’s run in Houston Ballet’s The Nutcracker. “I can and I did,” Stacey’s note to Beth reads alongside the pamphlet that’s proudly posted on Beth’s corkboard, proving that supporting your students is always the best approach.
Chaotic Thanksgiving Plans
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
In the past, Miguel (Jon Huertas), Kate (Hannah Ziele), Kevin (Logan Shroyer), and Sophie (Amanda Leighton) unload groceries in preparation for Thanksgiving. When Rebecca (Mandy Moore) enters the house alongside new beau Matt (Matt Corboy), talk of the holiday leads to an impromptu invitation that leaves a bad taste in everyone else’s mouths, particularly Miguel who displays hints of jealousy.
Meanwhile, Kevin’s drinking in excess, and Kate can tell something is wrong, when she asks, he confesses that he cheated on Sophie with a fellow student from his acting class. She pushes for him to reveal the truth but he asks for her silence. Sophie confides in Kate that something’s off about Kevin, but Kate remains loyal to her brother.
Feeling worse than before, Kevin finally admits the truth to Sophie when she asks him for a direct answer. Unfortunately, he also let it slip that Kate knew, causing drama between the best girlfriends. In the kitchen, Miguel makes repeated remarks and digs about Matt, but ultimately apologizes to Rebecca as they prep the Thanksgiving feast for the next days. While Kate sits and comforts Kevin, Miguel asks Rebecca if he can invite his new girlfriend and she allows it. What will the Thanksgiving meal entail? Only time can tell, but we have a feeling it will be awkward.
Present Pearsons Drama
(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
Kevin (Justin Hartley) is doing his best to be a supportive dad and co-parent to Madison (Caitlin Thompson) by making brunch for her, Eli (Adam Korson), Kate (Chrissy Metz), and Toby (Chris Sullivan), the latter of which is busy with work calls. While he makes comments about the Pearson’s annual Thanksgiving celebration, that Madison is supposed to attend on the east coast, she shares an awkward glance with Kate.
Unnoticing, Kevin invites the whole gang to his taping of The Manny reboot. There, he learns the awkward glance is about Madison not wanting to attend Thanksgiving with the Pearsons and stay put with the twins in California. In this argument, Kate takes Madison’s side and tells Kevin to think about her as an individual worthy of respect as the mother of his children.
Kevin goes to Madison’s door to apologize and she accepts, and just as he’s about to leave, Eli follows him out the door. The boyfriend warns Kevin that he’s not going anywhere and that he shouldn’t bide his time. But it doesn’t seem to bother Kevin who takes in the statement with open ears.
Back at Kate and Toby’s, there’s some mild tension between the brothers-in-law as Toby complains about Kevin taking up his office space. Meanwhile, in the other room, Kate sends a text to Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge), apologizing for not jumping off the cliff with her, a Thelma & Louise reference from their past, regarding Kevin’s cheating. Sophie has nothing but love for her former sister-in-law, by replying that she understands Kevin was her brother and that she still loves her.
Could this be an opening to Sophie’s return? Only time will tell for certain. Unfortunately, fans will have to wait two weeks as the show returns on March 8 following a pre-emption for the State of the Union on March 1. So mark your calendars and keep an eye out for more This Is Us this March.
This Is Us, Season 6, Continues Tuesday, March 8, 9/8c, NBC
