Welcome back to That Was Us! We’re so happy to be back after our hiatus. This is the first of three This Is Us episodes dedicated to each Pearson sibling. First up…Kevin Pearson! We dive into the struggles teenage Kevin faces during the college application process and the life-altering news Jack has to deliver to him after his injury. Mandy, Chris, and Sterling break down how adult Kevin spirals after returning to his high school while on a bender, where he’s being honored—only to truly hit rock bottom. We also explore Kevin’s complex coping mechanisms and Chris opens up, sharing some vulnerable stories about his own past. Lastly, we answer the burning question on everyone’s mind: is Justin Hartley’s beard real or fake in this episode?! Plus, don’t miss a heartfelt fan letter that reminds us why this show resonates so deeply. That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Follow That Was Us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, and X! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
On today's episode of That Was Us, we'll be discussing season two, episode eight, number one. An alumni honor ceremony brings Kevin back to his high school where painful memories of that time in his life further his downward spiral. And Jack and Rebecca are hopeful about the future of their kids. Gang, how are we doing today?
I'm pretty great. Yeah. I'm happy to be discussing this episode in particular. I've been waiting.
So Manny and I have been having this conversation for a long time. I'm going to go back to when I first read the episode, because we got the three episodes coming up focused on each of the big three in the past and in the present, right? And I read Kev's episode, and I was like, this is really good. And then I saw Kev's episode. Yeah. And I was like, this is the shit.
Justin Hartley stuck his foot so deep in this episode that like, it's probably in my top 10 of episodes of the show, maybe even top five.
It's top five for me.
It's top five for Mandy.
And Sterling, before you arrived yesterday, Chris, Sterling and I sent a little video to Justin because we just had to let him know. Gotta let him know. We had to give him his flowers. We had to just tell him how much we missed him, how much we appreciate him, how mind-blowingly good he was in this episode. It is just like, again, re-watching it, it took me back to seeing it for the first time.
And I hadn't watched it since I saw it that first time six, seven years ago, however long that was. The fact that he doesn't get the recognition and the accolades for the work that he did on this show just blows my mind.
So that's our little precursor to what the episode is. The episode begins with the home movies back in the past of Jack and Rebecca watching the big three. They're all around a year or something, maybe a little less, a little older. And we're trying to see who's going to walk. Like, come on, Vic 3, who's going to go first? And number one starts walking and he's moving forward.
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