This Is Us viewers have wondered since the pilot episode about the fate of Jack, patriarch of the Pearson clan. The future never seemed to include him, and recently we learned through Kate that her father had died a long time ago — long enough that she may have watched the 2006 Super Bowl with his urn by her side. In “Career Day”, Kevin revealed just how hard he took his father’s death on This Is Us , and it introduces a whole new side to what had prior been a pretty closed-off character.
Kevin played the main character on a television show called The Manny, so I’ll excuse him for being the goofy, happy guy all the time. He was on a dumb sitcom, and I’m sure he programmed his brain to be glad to be there. But now that Kevin is in New York City and working on a play that involves a man mourning his dead wife, Kevin needs more range, and he’s not quite getting it. So what does Olivia, his scene partner, do? Take him to the memorial service of a stranger. But it’s at this memorial service that we learn more circumstances around Jack and Kevin’s often-tumultuous relationship. Kevin told the stranger’s widow that he and Jack did models of planes and ships as their one-on-one time, and it was hard to carve out, so he picked the most difficult models so he could get as much time with his dad as possible. When Jack died — when Kevin didn’t say, except to say it was “a long time ago” — Kevin threw out all of the models because he was angry that Jack died. Now, all he has left of his father is his father’s necklace, and it’s the only piece of him that remains. It’s all that’s left of their relationship.
Kevin often felt ignored as a child because his parents were too busy dealing with the problems of his sister and brother (he said as much in a tantrum at the pool), so it’s interesting to see how the triplets dealt with their respective problems with their parents as adults. Kevin shut down after the death of his father, and it’s only now that he’s starting to open up. There’s still no word about how Jack died, but if Kevin keeps talking, hopefully we’ll find out soon.
Images: Ron Batzdorff/NBC (2)
