After more than half a season of hurt feelings, harsh words, tears, strangeness and anger, It’s us‘Randall and Kevin addressed their issues directly in this week’s episode. But it the hour (by the way with very nice work from Sterling K. Brown and Justin Hartley) actually brings the Pearson brothers closer? Read on as we explain what’s happening in ‘Brotherly Love’.
WILL YOU NOT BE MY NEIGHBOR?| In retrospect, when The Big Three were toddlers, Rebecca and Kate left on a girls’ weekend while Jack stayed with Kevin and Randall. An employee pulls a few strings to get Pearson and his sons in to watch a recording Mister Rogers’ neighborhood, filmed in Pittsburgh. Before the show, a production assistant mistakenly thinks Randall is there with another family; When Jack corrects him, Papa Pearson goes out of his way to make sure Randall feels special and loved … which results in Randall feeling different and Kevin feeling less.
After the show, Kevin runs away, and Jack has to chase him to find him. So Randall steps on the set and sees the Daniel Tiger puppet, talking to him about imagination. “I have imaginary parents,” little Randall confesses.
This follows a scene from the beginning of the episode, in which Randall fantasized that his parents were a TV meteorologist (played by Brandon Victor Dixon, Force) and the local librarian (Janora McDuffie, Grey’s Anatomy). We’ll find out more about that later.
PARTY FOUL | In another flashback, Randall visits Kevin for the first time in Los Angeles, while both are in college. Randall is there with his Model UN team, but agrees to slip away for an evening with his brother. They drink a lot to play before, but then the micro-aggressions start coming hot and heavy from Kev. He gives Randall a fake ID for a much older man and says, “He’s a black man, you’re a black man, that’s fine. And later, when they’re in a taxi, Kev’s so black for the driver, who’s black, that Randall wants to turn off all night. Kevin, angry, says he had to drink so much just to be able to be with his own brother. Randall says he drank so much because he’s a drunk person. ‘They start beating each other a bit, and it escalates to the point that the driver pulls down and orders the two yahoos out of his car.
After struggling a bit, Kevin can not find his keys. And by the time he realized they were actually in his pocket, the brothers calmed down a bit. They return to Kev’s apartment, where he unfortunately admits that he’s a failure who can not book work. “You have everything, Randall: Beth, a great future,” says Kev. Randall tries to make him feel better, and in the process, they do not really talk about all the hurtful, racist things Kevin did and said earlier in the evening.
THE MAIN OPPORTUNITY | OK, now we are at the moment. Beth and the girls go skating for a while to give Randall and Kevin the space and privacy they need, and the guys get it right after Kevin gets there. It’s striking how much Kevin first talks, and how much he says he’s sorry IF Randall felt alone, and IF he ever played a role in making his brother feel bad. Kevin also points out how Randall’s prom date, Allison, had a racist father and says he’s sorry he didn ‘t say anything at the time.
When Randall says a quiet ‘thank you’ and that he appreciates the sentiment, Kevin quickly becomes irritable. “It doesn’t really look like you,” he says. Randall calls the speech a ‘beautiful monologue’, and then steps outside for some air while Kevin follows and asks to know what Randall expects more from him. As they sit on the front steps of the tombstone, Randall shows his frustration and says it feels like Kevin ‘apologizes for a miscalculation of the tweet’ and ‘after all these days you’re still so deaf, man. ‘ Then Kevin’s cell rings – he’s waiting for a call from Robert DeNiro, which he notices as he walks off the set when Madison gives birth – and they both realize that the phone is inside the house … and the door is locked.
So they keep arguing. Randall points out that Kevin just wanted ‘the perception to do the right thing’, and Kevin recalls that Randall’s childhood was ‘glorious’ because he was always singled out because he was special. Randall tells him that he just wanted to merge, but his blackness did not allow it – and Kevin played a big role in making him different. While Allison’s father was for a while, “you were just thoughtless and willful in the dark, which somehow hurt more.”
‘WILDLY GRATEFUL’ | They go to a neighbor to ask for the emergency key she’s holding. While they wait, Randall asks if they would have the same relationship if he was white. He goes a step further by asking Kevin to admit that he is indignant at the fact that Randall is black, and whether he ever considered that the day he became a Pearson was also the day he was born. mother and father lost. Kevin knocks and calls Randall ‘wildly ungrateful’. But Randall says he is very grateful – but to always have to show that it is a prison. ‘
Randall’s neighbor hands over the key and in the process wipes Kevin’s Sylvester Stallone movie (ha!) And tells him he’s better at comedy. The interlude took the heat of Kev and Randall’s conversation a bit; as soon as they are at Randall’s house again, Randall tells Kevin about his ‘ghost kingdom’, or the fantasy reality in his mind ‘where you have the life you would have had if you were never adopted.’ Yes, the weatherman and librarian are his parents there – ‘they were the only two adults I ever saw and looked like’ – but his ghost kingdom also includes Rebecca, Jack, Kate and Kevin ‘because I felt too guilty because I loved you too much. ”
BROADY BREAKTHROUGH | This apparently comes through to Kevin, who offers another – very sincere and ‘as’ -free – apology for everything he missed when he grew up and still would not see. It makes Randall cry. “You are my brother, and I love you. You’re the only brother I’ll ever have. You are my best man, ”Kevin continues. Then Randall makes Kevin cry. “Dad did not die ashamed of you,” he says. ‘And the only reason I said that in our fight was because it was a cheap shot. I am sorry. He was proud of you. I I’m proud of you, and I’m sorry I ever made you think differently. They hug and say they love each other.
But we are not done! Kevin talks to DeNiro, who is not crazy. Then he admits that he done Randall resented because he considered his brother’s special treatment ‘confusing with the fact that you were black, and I wanted to take you down’. While Randall starts crying again – who can blame him ?! – Kevin apologizes for being super jealous and has shot at his brother terribly over the years. As Randall wipes his face, Beth and the girls come home, and they are excited to see Kevin.
That night in bed, Randall dreams not of WeatherDad and LibrarianMom messing with the Pearsons, but of Laurel and William cooking in the kitchen, while Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Free” in the background play – and this is the first time this has ever happened.
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sounds down in the comments!