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This Is Us Recap: “A Manny-Splendored Thing”

By Kelly Shanaphy

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While “A Manny-Splendored Thing,” may seem like it’s going to be Kevin-centric, the episode of This Is Us focuses more on Kate, Randall, and Jack.

However, This Is Us focuses on Kevin’s screening of his return to The Manny which unites the whole clan, so it makes sense as to why the title was named after the fictional series. Nonetheless, the screening is filled with drama after a mother-daughter clash and Randall second-guessing the decision made last week to foster a teenager.

Kate probably gets the biggest story in “A Manny-Splendored Thing,” after getting her first official gig as a singer. What should be a happy occasion is destroyed by the impending visit of her mother, a notoriously strained relationship on This Is Us. Seen through flashbacks, young Kate wanted to sing “Lean on Me” at the talent show and was excited to get advice from her mother. Rebecca does everything right: she’s extremely supportive and offers up only gentle criticism when helping her daughter prepare. In fact, she even makes an outfit out of the dress she wore for her first performance and gives it to Kate as a special gift much to the glee of her daughter. Unfortunately, after trying the dress on she walks in on Rebecca in the shower singing a pitch-perfect rendition of “Lean on Me,” leaving Kate’s confidence too destroyed to actually perform at the talent show.

It’s tough to get on either Rebecca’s or Kate’s side in “A Manny-Splendored Thing,” because it always seems like the two characters are given scenes where they’re unlikable. Last season made it perfectly clear that the mother-daughter relationship there is incredibly strained, and the flashbacks this week continue to give a reason as to why she was closer to her father. Yet, their confrontation at Kate’s first show seems unwarranted and catty. The only good thing that comes out of it is that Toby makes his intentions to be on Kate’s side for life clear to her mother in a touching moment that earns the latter’s respect. Hopefully, This Is Us begins to see both characters attempt to improve their relationship with each other the way Randall and Kevin did last year.

Speaking of Randall, he’s grappling with a tough decision this week. After Beth admitted she wanted to foster/adopt a teen rather than a baby last week, he’s beginning to freak out of the prospect. Understandably, he thinks that taking a child who has potentially been the subject of abuse could be biting off more than the couple can chew. It’s a legitimate concern considering many foster children have faced abuse of some kind, but it sends Beth venting to Kevin.

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It’s there that the most famous Pearson has his best scene in “A Manny-Splendored Thing” when he sits down with Beth and consoles her with a story. Turns out that the only big leap of faith Randall ever took was asking out his wife despite knowing she was completely out of his league. The two share a laugh before Kevin reveals he was on the phone feeding Randall all of the jokes and lines before telling Beth that she fell for The Manny.

At the taping of Kevin’s show, he spends most of his time worrying about making a “Clooney-level” return to the series he’s most famous for. Working to make sure he looks good and that the material he gets honors his tenure on the show, he has become a self-conscious wreck. Luckily, Sophie is hanging out behind the scenes with him to ease every impending melt-down before it spirals out of control. Despite some last-minute rewrites aimed to embarrass him, Kevin decides to just go along with it and ends up having some fun. In the meantime, Alexandra Breckenridge was upped to series regular this season, and it would be nice to get a little more depth to her character rather than just see her as another love interest to Kevin.

In the past, things aren’t going well for the Pearson family, with Jack trying to tackle his drinking head-on. He’s haunted by his previous attempts to quit drinking, but can never make it all the way through the door for AA meetings. This time around, he knows it has to be different and Jack goes to a boxing gym where he tries to deal with some of the memories he has of his time in the service as well as his father. However, his best scenes in “A Manny-Splendored Thing,” is with young Kate, who is seeking comfort from. She’s able to see his struggle when she’s at school and comes to sit with him while telling him that it will be okay. Later, when he breaks down telling her about his drinking problem, she once again cups his face and offers him a loving look, once again detailing how deep their relationship is. It’s also a nice foil to exactly how terrible Kate and her mother become in the later years of life.

Next: This Is Us Season Two Premiere Recap: “A Father’s Advice”

“A Manny-Splendored Thing,” feels like the second part of last week’s premiere, because so much time is spent setting up stories for the rest of the season. The promo for next week promises the arrival of a teenage girl to Randall’s and Beth’s which is sure to cause a lot of drama for the couple. Hopefully, all of the Pearson siblings will get meatier storylines this year not just Randall, despite how terrific Sterling K. Brown is.

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