‘This Is Us’ Season 3, Episode 1 ‘Nine Bucks’ Premiere Recap: Starting Anew

With numerous awards backing it up, This Is Us has proven to be quite the top seater in the family drama genre. And rightly so. Because even after all the good that came out of the second season, we’re still clamoring for all the tearjerking truths and moments of the Pearsons. And honestly, who can blame anyone?

Swinging from the almost brutal emotional rollercoaster ride of season two, the third season premiere of This Is Us simmers down into something almost happy enough. From the dark foreshadowing montage of the season two finale, this season picks up on the big three’s 38th birthday. And we’re treated to a hopeful start.

Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan) are trying to get pregnant again. Kevin (Justin Hartley) has found new love with Beth’s cousin Zoe (Melanie Liburd). And Randall (Sterling K. Brown) is on the verge of formally adopting Deja (Lyric Ross). We’re also brought back to the very beginning of Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) love story.

In contrast to those hopeful beginnings, we’re also given more pieces to solve the bleak questions left by last season. And looking at this first episode, it seems like the calm before the storm. As the series unfolds another chapter of the Pearson’s life, we’re bound to be in for another tearfest. The only question remains to be is it for the better or worse?

Jack and Rebecca

As a television host announces Pittsburgh’s win against Oakland in what is famed to be Franco Harris’ last glorious moment, two men turn to listen to a young Rebecca sing “Moonshadow.” By the side, a young Jack struggling to get by stops from his plan to rob the bar and listens as well. One of the two men points to Jack and mumbles “Look at this one. He’s done for.” True enough, a smile lights up Jack’s face which Rebecca catches and returns.

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After her performance, Jack and Rebecca talk over some drinks. Rebecca talks about her dreams of becoming a professional singer to which Jack silently listens to. As Rebecca notices this, she asks him to tell her something about him. Jack only simply reintroduces himself to which the pair ends up laughing at. Rebecca invites him to get out of the bar. As she’s getting her jacket, Jack rushes outside to his supposed look-out and friend and asks for money. He scrounges up nine bucks in total to take the girl of his dreams out on a date.

Everything Begins With Hope

Back in the present time, Randall wakes up to a birthday note. Downstairs, his daughters and Deja are busy making him birthday cards. Deja quietly admits that she didn’t get Randall anything. But, Zoe comforts her and advises her to simply tie a balloon to a macaroon and call it a day. As Deja looks at the word ‘dad’ on the birthday cards, she’s reminded of a time in her younger years. She and her mother were passing by a sports store. And the man on the register and her mother share a look before they walk on.

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Randall walks in on the kitchen and finds Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) preparing breakfast. And he tells her that Kevin’s coming over just in time as Zoe walks in. Zoe’s eyes grow wide, and she tries to mask her surprise by saying it’s cool. After she exits, Beth tells Randall her suspicion of Kevin and Zoe sleeping together. Beth asks Randall to tell Kevin to back off, but Randall simply plays it off and refuses to say anything until it’s confirmed. He also makes Beth swear to Ophra that she won’t say a thing as well. But, by the look on Beth’s face, she’s double-crossing him.

Zoe rushes to call Kevin and tell him not to come over. She’s terrified of Beth finding out about their relationship. But, since it’s his birthday too, Kevin has no choice. So, Zoe sets some ground rules including no touching, no flirting, and no half smiling before hanging up on an amused Kevin.

Meanwhile, because of Kate’s difficulties of getting pregnant, she and Toby turn to in vitro fertilization. However, Dr. Jasper (Sumalee Montano) turns them down on the basis of Kate’s weight and the risks accompanying it with an in vitro procedure.

Make A Wish

Kate leaves Dr. Jasper’s office in tears and Toby offers to cancel the birthday lunch party Kate’s friends set up for her. But, Kate pushes through and attends the party led by Madison (Caitlin Thompson) nonetheless. They serve Kate carrot cake, and she proceeds to make a wish. However, as she tells her friends that she wished for a baby, the frustrations about her weight and her difficulty getting pregnant came pouring out.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

On the other side of town, Randall drives Deja to see his biological father’s old apartment building that he and Beth bought and renovated. He retells the tale of how he came knocking at his biological father’s door. And he also tells her how his adoption defined his life. Then he asks Deja’s permission if she’d allow them to sign the adoption papers. However, Deja doesn’t answer and instead tells Randall to stop thinking that they were any way alike in their situations.

Back at Randall’s home, Kevin arrives early and is greeted by Zoe. Beth comes out and immediately sees through the pair’s act. She then proceeds to give Zoe a furious earful of lectures privately. As the two women shout it out in the other room, Tess (Eris Baker) asks her uncle Kevin if he’s dating Zoe. Kevin only indirectly answers that he’d love to take her to his movie premiere. And before plates start breaking, Kevin checks up on Beth and Zoe. Beth kicks Zoe out and replaces her with Kevin. But, even before he could sit, she kicks him out as well.  

The Start of Young Love

Back to the past, Jack takes Rebecca to the carnival for their first date. With the nine bucks he has, he pays five dollars for their entrance. Rebecca spots some candy apples and reminisces about her childhood. To her delight, Jack offers to buy her one. She adds in a request for hot chocolate, and Jack couldn’t say no. There, he loses two dollars and is left with only two. Rebecca asks about his past. And Jack answers that he has just returned from the war in Vietnam where he lost his only brother. To lighten the conversation, Rebecca suggests playing a game where they answer a question at the same time.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

The first question is cats or dogs? Jack surely goes with dogs while Rebecca answers cats. They try again with pizza toppings. Pepperoni or mushroom? Without skipping a beat, Jack answers Pepperoni and Rebecca answers mushrooms. Before they could think of a next question, it starts raining. Rebecca suggests they buy one of the umbrellas being sold for two dollars but, Jack insists that it wasn’t raining that hard. So, they decide to wait it out.

Finding Reasons and Answers

In the present time back at Randall’s house, Randall apologizes to Deja admitting that he was wrong to compare their situations. He tells her that he just wanted everything to work out and that he misses talking to her. However, Deja only apologizes from screwing up his birthday before leaving him alone.

Beth comes in afterward and admits to Randall that she talked to Kevin and Zoe. Randall simply laughs it off and asks her how she’s going to make it right with Oprah. But, Beth assures him that she’s already donated to the Oprah foundation.

Later on, Deja grabs her backpack and climbs out her window. She heads out to her old neighborhood and enters the sports shop she saw as a kid. There, she confronts the same man she saw at the register, her father. Deja tells him everything on her mind. Then she asks for one last favor then he’ll never hear from her again.

Meanwhile, Beth finds Kevin and lays down the reason she doesn’t approve of his relationship with Zoe. Even though she doesn’t say it all the time ‘cause it ruins her ‘shtick,’ she loves and adores Kevin. And she’s afraid that Zoe will chew him up and spit him out like all the other men she’s dated. However, Kevin remains undeterred.

The Aftermath of a Bad First Date

At the carnival of Jack and Rebecca’s date, the pair decides to call it a night. Before Rebecca could get out of the car, Jack admits that he couldn’t afford to buy the umbrella. He says that if he lost his last two dollars to the umbrella, he wouldn’t have enough to let Rebecca play any games. And according to him, no one takes a girl to the carnival and not let her play any games.

Jack opens up saying that he found it difficult to find his place after the war. And even though he didn’t like talking about it, he did like talking to her because it made him feel like home. He apologizes for the lousy first date, and Rebecca nods to it. She reasks about the cats and the mushrooms and finds out that Jack’s allergic to cats and hates mushrooms with a passion. And even though the date was bad and the mushrooms were a turn off for her, Rebecca ends up rethinking as she sees the way he looks at her. She ends up kissing him and leaving her jacket in the car after getting out much to Jack’s amusement.

Second Chances

In the present, after Kate’s birthday party, she and Toby come home and receive a call from Dr. Jacobs telling them to come back to the clinic. It turns out that the doctor has changed her mind. After speaking with her colleagues, she finds out that there’s only a 10% chance of success for Kate, but it Kate’s willing to do it, then she is as well. Back at home, in an effort to help Kate’s pregnancy, Toby throws away his anti-depressant pills which the doctor identified might be the cause of his low sperm count.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

On the other hand, Deja comes home and stops Randall mid-lecture surprising him with a present. Randall opens it to find a pair of expensive red running shoes. And Deja also gives them her permission to sign the adoption papers.

Fast forwarding to a few years later, however, Randall and Tess walk down a hallway to see this mysterious ‘her.’ As Tess excuses herself to the bathroom, Randall calls someone. On the other side of the phone, Toby picks up. Toby doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere but, Randall convinces him.

And going way back to the past, Jack drives up to Rebecca’s house with a bouquet of flowers and her jacket. Rebecca, on the other hand, finishes dolling herself up. As the doorbell rings, she rushes down and is surprised to be greeted by someone else, not Jack. Jack drives up the street right at the exact moment the stranger pulls Rebecca in for a kiss.  Disappointed, Jack drives away.

‘This Is Us: Nine Bucks’ Seaosn 3 Premiere Overall Verdict

Unlike the past two seasons, this season has begun with something less emotional. But, it focused on laying down the foundation strings to this leg of the Pearson’s story. If the first two seasons dealt a lot with the past and its aftereffects in the future, the third season seems to be the chapter where moving on is the baseline. There’s the thrill of finding out what happened to Jack and his brother in Vietnam but, there’s also the nervousness in finding out who the mystery woman is. Nevertheless, if there’s one thing that we can trust This Is Us to do, it’s to deliver excellent and well-written narratives that cause waterworks out of the blue. And we can only expect the emotions to rise from here on.

This Is Us continues next Tuesday, October 2nd, with “A Philadelphia Story” at 8/7c on NBC.