This Is Us – Vegas, Baby

By starrymag | March 6, 2018

By: Suzanne Fox

 

 

Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) are bowling for their 1st anniversary. Rebecca gives Jack his “romantic” gift. She has notes that he has scribbled put into a bound journal Then the lights go out and “Mr. & Mrs. Pearson” are called to Lane 30 for a very special dance. They dance to Stevie Wonder and Jack wishes her a happy anniversary.

 

Four years later, Jack and pregnant Rebecca are dancing to Stevie Wonder in the kitchen. Rebecca gives Jack a hammer with his name detailed on it for their anniversary. Then Jack walks Rebecca into the living room where there is an upright piano with a bow around it.

 

Jack is snoring next to Rebecca years later and she wakes him up and wishes him a happy anniversary. She asks him to promise not to do any “grand gestures.” Jack tells her no gifts- no guilt. He says he will get the kids to bed early- so they can watch “The Commish” finale.

 

Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) open the door and find Deja (Lyric Ross). She has no heat and her Mom is past due on gas. Deja emphasizes they need the heat on before the next visit from Miss Linda. Randall makes her promise to call again.

 

Randall is staring at his phone as Beth is excited about “Vegas Baby.” Randall contemplates not going. They have Toby’s bachelor party and Kate’s bachelorette. Beth tells Randall they are going and that she deserves this since she works full time, has two kids and is now running a tenement. Randall does his “Rain Man” impersonation to make her happy.

 

Madison (Caitlin Thompson) is showing Kate (Chrissy Metz) “Magic Mike Live” in Vegas. Kate is hesitant to go. Toby (Chris Sullivan) walks out to have Kate help him pick a blazer for this “bromance-athon.” Madison calls Toby “Toblerone,” which he does not like. Toby asks if he should go “Clooney Ocean” or “Sinatra Ocean.” Kate and Toby act out a scene from Ocean’s Eleven. Madison tells them they are like Mike & Molly. Toby whispers that he hates her so much. Kate and Toby play with the dog as she bemoans having their parties on the same weekend. Toby tells her that they are too co-dependent. Kate is apprehensive of Beth coming. She asks to trade Randall for Beth but Toby wants the Pearson brothers to himself. Kate tells Toby she’s sorry his brother couldn’t make it. Toby said he made a hundred excuses.

 

Jack is making pancakes for the kids. Kevin (Parker Bates) asks if Jack is going to do something special for their anniversary. Jack tells all three kids that they are taking the year off from that. Kevin suggests the kids do something special and Kate (Mackenzie Hancsicsak) and Randall enthusiastically agree. Rebecca walks in and asks why the kids are conspiring. Randall (Lonnie Chavis) tells Rebecca they are throwing an anniversary party.

 

Beth is hanging out the sun roof of the limo. She is very excited to be in Vegas. Randall is upset in the limo and wants to call Deja to let her know they are away. Beth tells Randall that Deja is no longer in their home and he has to stop acting like she is. Randall tells Beth that she is detached because she is the “head” and he is the “heart.”

 

Kevin (Justin Hartley) is in the hotel in Vegas. A maid named Renata (Joanna Sanchez) walks in with towels. Kevin has Renata come into his room to see how much alcohol is in there. He tells her that he has been to Vegas about 50 times and asks Renata if he knows how many times he was black out drunk. When she guesses correctly he asks how she knew that. She tells him that everybody knows “Rehab Manny that got rrunk and ran over his daughter with a car.”  Kevin tells her he is going to conquer this. Kevin tells her to check the alcohol and if it is the same tomorrow she gets a $100 tip.

 

Beth meets Kate’s friends from support group. (Stephanie Ray, Jill Johnson) . Randall walks into Toby’s room and they high five. Toby introduces Randall to everybody (Gary Kraus, Alden Ray, and Alan Heitz), and then Kevin enters. Madison has party gifts for everybody. She pulls out a t-shirt that says “I love Moby Dick.” In separate rooms, both friend groups toast to Kate and Toby. Beth chugs right from the vodka bottle.

 

Kevin and Jack are in the kitchen. Kevin reminds Jack that Rebecca always wanted to try cornish hens. Kate and Randall go to the library. Rebecca is left behind as Randall and Kate go off on their secret mission.

 

Toby and his guys are out to dinner. Kevin orders a soda while everybody else drinks. Kevin tells everybody about Randall’s bachelor party and how they went to a seedy strip club. He shares how Randall convinced two strippers to leave their job. Randall then shares that Kevin dated a stripper for a year. Kevin then spots a former co-star walk by their table.  Randall looks at his phone and sees a missed call from Deja. Kevin goes up to the bar and greets Emma (Mallory Jansen), his former co-star from his movie. Emma said she was cut out of the movie and others had scenes reduced. Kevin heads back to his room.

 

Randall calls Deja back  and  tells her that he has his phone on for her. Deja is viewed standing in an alley, holding a backpack.

 

Randall bails on the club. Toby struts with his nerdy friends. Kate and friends go to Magic Mike. Beth gets pulled up on stage. Kevin exercises in his room while looking at the drinks.  Randall heads to Magic Mike to find Beth. Toby and his friends do not get into the club because they are wearing sneakers. Randall observes Beth lying on an ottoman while a Magic Mike dancer swings above her.

 

Kevin and Jack are in the kitchen cooking. Kevin tells Rebecca the entrée had to marinate for three hours. Randall and Kate want to use china and Christmas lights. Randall tells Rebecca he needs help lighting the candles. Kate tells Rebecca that Jack should wear a tux and Rebecca should wear the outfit that Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Woman (the hooker dress).

 

Randall walks up to Beth as she is escorted off the Magic Mike stage. Randall tells Beth something is wrong with Deja. Randall and Beth start fighting. Beth tells Randall she knows he was going to call her heartless but he chose the word detached. She reminds him she asked for one night off. Randall yells at her that he didn’t know it was so difficult being married to him. Kate breaks up their fight. Beth asks Kate to butt out and that this is not a Big Three moment. Kate reminds Beth that Randall is her brother even though she knows who is more important to Randall.

 

Kevin goes into the kitchen to get dinner out. He cries because Jack never put the oven on earlier. Kevin cries because Sophie’s parents are getting divorced and is worried Jack and Rebecca will since they didn’t want to celebrate their anniversary. Rebecca and Jack assure Kevin they will never get divorced. Then Kevin gets Randall and Kate to leave so they can go to bed.

 

Kate is playing slots when Randall approaches. Randall makes fun of her for still drinking “cosmos in 2018.” Kate tells him that Carrie Bradshaw is timeless. Randall tells Kate that things with Beth will be fine. Kate reminds Randall that after Jack died the two of them binge watched “Sex and the City” and ate hot pockets. Prior to that it was always Kate and Kevin. She informs Randall she knew he was the coolest kid before anybody else. Kate says it was hard losing Randall to Beth so early. Randall tells her that she will never lose him. He asks her if she really thought a straight, black teen would enjoy that show. He said he only watched it because she liked it. Kate asks Randall if he has bonded with Toby. Randall tells Kate that they bailed and left him with his friends. Kate informs Randall that  Toby’s friends were the filler and he really wanted a weekend to bond with the brothers. Randall and Kevin show up at Toby’s door to walk the strip.

 

Jack and Rebecca are in the kitchen. They talk about how the kids really tried to make dinner. Rebecca tells him she misses going him a gift. She apologizes for “De-Jacking” him. They kiss in the kitchen and head upstairs. Rebecca and Jack open the door and find Christmas lights and an arrow on the bedroom floor. There’s a note to “Mom and Dad” telling them to go up to the roof for a meteor shower. Attached is a flyer for the meteor shower.

 

Kate goes to Beth’s hotel room and finds Beth with candy wrappers all over the bed. Kate tells her that it is hard for her to make friends and be around strong women. She said that when she waiting tables, Beth was building a house and getting a Master’s degree. Now she fosters kids while Kate sings and has only adopted a dog. Beth cries to Kate that she worries about Deja.

 

Randall and Kevin walk the strip with Toby. Randall admits that he needs to let go of Deja. Kevin admits that his life plan is not working and his movie fell apart. Toby admits that he dropped a few grand to fly out strangers so he would look cool in front of his future brothers-in-law. Toby asks if they know that he has a brother. Toby admits to being a 16 year old Dungeons and Dragons nerd. He said his brother is 10 years younger and didn’t want to play with him. He tells Kevin that Kevin Costner was cut out of “the Big Chill” and four years later was in “The Untouchables.” Toby tells Kevin to call Ron Howard and let him know that he has made a big mistake (Pretty Woman big).

 

Jack and Rebecca are on the roof. Rebecca says she thinks Kevin will be a chef one day. Jack tells her that he doesn’t need anniversaries and thanks for marrying him. She thanks him for asking her. They kiss on the roof.

 

Kevin and Jack are riding in the car. Jack gives Kevin a lesson in gestures. He tells him that it is not about the gift but it is about the intent and letting the person you love know you see them and hear them…Kevin, Toby and Randall end up on the strip checking out all the lights…Rebecca and Jack spot a meteor.  Beth opens her hotel room door and finds a heart box of candy from Kate.  Kevin calls Ron Howard (as himself) and tells him that it was wrong to cut him out of the movie. Ron Howard tells him that he is still in the movie and to buy a tuxedo. Kevin finds out from Ron Howard that they cut out the romantic angle of the story and focused on the father-son dynamic between him and Sylvester Stallone. Renata the maid counts the bottles of alcohol and happily opens an envelope with her tip.

 

In the limo home, Randall tells Beth it is not fair what happened with Deja and he has to let it go. He apologizes and tells her it is time to move forward. Beth tells Randall she is going to be the heart. They go to Deja’s apartment and she is not there. A neighbor says they don’t live there anymore. They walk and find Deja sleeping in a car with her Mom.