This Is Us season 1, episode 8, “Pilgrim Rick,” told the story of how the Pearson family Thanksgiving traditions came to be, and how they continue them on.
‘This Is Us’ season 1, episode 8 recap:
‘This Is Us’ past:
Thanksgiving as a mom of three is anything but relaxing as Rebecca proves that while trying to cook and keeping the kids relatively happy. They’re all off to Rebecca’s parents house and yet no one is excited about it. Without Jack’s optimism they might all go crazy, especially when the boys run into Rebecca and ruin the cranberry sauce she worked on all morning.
After spending two hours searching grocery stores for cranberry sauce, the kids are restless and the Pearson’s pop a tire in their car. Only the car is hurt, but everyone is shaken, and they’re miles away from the closest gas station. Jack keeps the optimism alive though and tries to make it seem like a fun hike.
To try and keep the kids happy, Rebecca comes up with a game where the kids talk about their future Thanksgivings. Kevin say’s he’ll be a professional football player in the future and will playing on Thanksgiving day. Randall doesn’t want to celebrate it in the future because they never have fun on the holiday, instead Rebecca is always stressed out by her family. The rest of the kids chime in that they hate it too. It’s a wake up call for Rebecca that her own issues with her family are rubbing off on the kids.
Once they finally make it to a gas station, the family is over joyed. Until they learn a tow truck won’t be available until the next day. They’re only choice is to call Rebecca’s parents and ask for a ride, but she can’t even get to asking them because her mom starts guilt tripping her right away. Frustrated with her mom’s attitude, Rebecca says they’re not coming anymore. Despite the day being seemingly ruined, it means that they get to spend the rest of their time together without having to worry about anyone else’s negative energy around them.
Instead, they’ll be spending Thanksgiving at a local lodge eating food from the gas station. What they weren’t expecting was to find Pilgrim Rick, the slightly creepy lodge keeper. Unfortunately, their lodge is also way too warm for comfort and their hotdogs have gone cold. As Rebecca desperately tries to keep the kids happy Jack goes off to try and get help from Pilgrim Rick.
The kids are surprised when Jack returns with Pilgrim Rick’s hat and wants to tell them the story of the Mayflower. He also has the makings for an indoor picnic and Police Academy 3 for entertainment. The overly hot furnace comes in hand when they use it to heat up their hot dogs and wrap them in cheese.
Rebecca decides to make another Thanksgiving tradition as Kate continues to complain about the itchy sweater her grandmother made. So Rebecca pulls a piece of the yarn out and they make a new game where they will throw it to one another and say what they’re grateful for.
Ending the holiday, everyone curls up in bed together. Randall admits that he’s changed his mind on Thanksgiving, and wants every year to be just like this one from now on. Just like that the holiday has gone from something they dread to something they love.
‘This Is Us’ present:
Thanksgiving brings a big problem for those trying to lose weight. At the weight loss meeting Kate attends everyone is talking about the food they’ll be tempted by. Without Toby at the meeting, Kate stays quiet as she listens to the others. Later, they meet for dinner and it becomes clear that their relationship isn’t going to work at the moment.
Having to watch Toby eat all the food she can’t is making Kate feel weak and worse about herself. Even with all of Toby’s amazing aspects, Kate isn’t ready to give up on herself yet. It’s very hard for Kate to do, but she stands up and makes the decision to end the relationship so that she can focus on herself.
The play is taking a break from rehearsals for the holiday, and after hearing that Olivia plans to spend the day at a bar drinking, Kevin invites her to spend it with him. Past experiences with her own family have tarnished her idea of the holiday, but Olivia decides to give it a shot after hearing how interesting his family dynamic is.
It appears that the only person really pumped for Thanksgiving is Randall. He’s up before everyone else and in the kitchen getting everything ready. William is having his first Thanksgiving with his son and is not prepared for the amount of enthusiasm.
As William’s health starts to get worse, Beth is still struggling with the secret that he shared with her. Randall is excited about having his mother and biological father over for Thanksgiving, but Beth is anxious about it. Once Rebecca arrives, Beth is quick to make it clear that today is her last chance to come clean to Randall.
For what it’s worth, Rebecca does try and let Randall know they need to talk but they get interrupted when Kevin and Olivia arrive. No one is surprised that Kevin has an attitude towards Miguel, but they’re a bit taken aback by Olivia’s bluntness.
Their traditional family hike gives Kevin a chance to learn more about Olivia. All her memories about Thanksgiving revolve around her own dysfunctional family with a cheating father and sad mother. Maybe worst of all, Olivia never got to eat the pies that her mother made.
Kate’s flight was delayed so she won’t make it to Randall’s until dinner time. Plus, she has to deal with everyone looking at her as she needs two seats to herself and a buckle extender. After some scary turbulence on the plane, Kate makes a connection with the women next to her who resolves not to live her short life unhappy.
Police Academy is their Thanksgiving movie tradition, but Randall is missing out to go to William’s apartment. After learning that William used to spend the holiday with his friends playing music, Randall hopes that the tapes of them will help cheer him up. Even though he can’t play with his friends anymore at least he can still enjoy the memories.
Trying to make Olivia enjoy this Thanksgiving, Kevin gets her a piece of pie early. That way no matter what happens she still gets her favorite dessert. But after seeing how Kevin treats Miguel, Olivia says she can’t be who he wants. It doesn’t really make sense, and it seems like Olivia is projecting her own problems onto Kevin.
Outside, Olivia sits with William while she waits for her Uber. William gives her a beautiful description of what it feels like to be dying. He describes trying to catch all the memories around him while he still can, but is already feeling them starting to slip away from him. His advice to her is to take advantage of catching the memories while she still can, and say thank you to nice boys who give you pie.
Taking William’s advice, Olivia goes back inside to see Kevin. She does indeed thank him for the pie, and kisses him, before settling back in with the family. They watch the movie together and wait for Randall and Kate to arrive. Kevin even lets Miguel wear the Pilgrim Rick hat and tell the Thanksgiving story to the kids. It’s quite a big step for Kevin, who hasn’t wanted to accept Miguel as part of the family.
Randall is able to find the tapes of William’s music, but he also comes across a letter from Rebecca to William. This is a shock to Randall who still thinks his mother had no idea who his biological parents were. When he gets back home, Randall can’t hide his emotions.
Remaking Kate’s awful sweater, the family uses a ball of yarn to pass around and say what they’re thankful for. Rebecca repeats the line Jack said the year they started the traditions, just like she always does. When she throws it to Randall, he purposely drops it, and Beth cues the kids to go upstairs.
Then he lets everyone know what he found at William’s apartment. The letter makes is clear that Rebecca had known William for years and knew about his drug issues. He doesn’t want to listen to Rebecca’s excuses though and says he can barely look at her. Every time he asked about his parents, Rebecca was lying to him, and that’s a big blow to their trust.
Kate arrives just as Randall walks out and makes her big announcement to get gastric bypass surgery without realizing what just happened. Olivia comments to Kevin that his family is amazing as Rebecca tears up.
I can’t help but notice that Randall places all of the blame on Rebecca and none on William. Perhaps this is because he’s still processing what he’s learned, or maybe because he still doesn’t know his biological father that well, but it doesn’t seem all that fair. Hopefully, Randall will take some time to cool off and talk it over with his mother like an adult to hear her side of things.