This Is Us producers break down Jack's family secret

This Is Us fans undoubtedly had two words to say after this week’s episode of This Is Us: “Oh! Brother!”

Advertisement

The revelation that emerged in “Brothers” — or, rather, popped up in the back seat — was that Jack Pearson had a brother, one with whom he served in Vietnam. Brothers loomed in the forefront of this episode as Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) packed up his two sons Kevin (Parker Bates) and Randall (Lonnie Chavis) for a camping trip, driven to help them find common ground on the ground. (He would try unsuccessfully to get Kevin to articulate exactly why he wasn’t more accepting of Randall, though Kevin ultimately warmed up after he discovered Randall’s poignant instructions to himself to try not to alienate his brother.) And at the end of the episode, we saw why this all mattered so much to our patriarch: As Jack lay awake in the middle of the night after returning home from the trip — one he did not cut short after Rebecca (Mandy Moore) called to inform him that his alcoholic, abusive father (Peter Onorati) lay on his deathbed — he was consumed by a feeling that prompted him to sneak out of bed, open up that metal box of memories, and stare at a picture from Vietnam. There was Jack, and there was his brother.

Elsewhere, in the present day, hurting-in-all-kinds-of-ways Kevin (Justin Hartley) continued to spiral while keeping things locked up (like father, like son). Desperate to get a Vicodin prescription re-re-filled and chasing away his problems with alcohol, he even missed his big moment on the auction block for a charity event arranged by his not-pleased girlfriend, Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge). Meanwhile, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) was working as hard as Jack to bond with his foster child: He brought Deja (Lyric Ross) to the auction, because(/even though) she was crushing on Kevin, and he would learn that he should be a little more hands-off with Deja, literally, as his touch on shrimp-eating etiquette literally triggered memories of abuse. And as for the other member of the Big Three, a very guarded Kate (Chrissy Metz) revealed to Toby (Chris Sullivan) that she was pregnant, denied him office desk sex, dinged him for being too excited, and then ultimately let him off the leash to outlandishly celebrate the news in a coffee shop to the music of Hootie & The Blowfish.

Now that the news has been delivered — and Jack’s family twist is bouncing around your head — let’s bring in two men who would gladly loan you their Gameboys, This Is Us executive producers (and directors of this episode) John Requa and Glenn Ficarra.