‘This Is Us’ Season 4, Episode 8 ‘Sorry’ Review: Nicky’s Trial

Nicky Pearson (Griffin Dunne) smiling like a little kid has been the sweetest highlight of my week. Everyone must protect this precious man! Seriously though, this development in Nicky’s narrative is such an emotional moment in this week’s episode of This Is Us. And it’s such a heartwarming turn to Nicky’s 40-year ordeal.

On the other hand, though, remember This Is Us’ finale last season with Rebecca (Mandy Moore) lying on the bed? Well, we just got a taste of the prelude to that. And it’s not pretty. For Thanksgiving, Rebecca comes over to Philly. And as Randall (Sterling K. Brown) tours her around, he grows more and more agitated about her constant drive to take pictures of literally everything. As Randall grows more worried, I grow more worried as well because it’s beginning. It’s like Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) all over again.

Elsewhere on the episode, Kevin (Justin Hartley) tries to deal with his guilt over sleeping with Cassidy (Jennifer Morrison). Meanwhile, Kate (Chrissy Metz) tries to get baby Jack to eat his first solid foods. And in Philly, Malik (Asante Blackk) and Deja (Lyric Ross) have their first chaperoned date with Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson). Soon enough, Beth learns about a secret Deja’s been hiding from them. Here’s what happened this week on This Is Us.

Baby Jack Takes His First Solid Food Bite

Kate and Toby (Chris Sullivan) are trying to work around each other’s schedules so that both of them could both be there in baby Jack’s ‘first’ moments. This time, Kate’s trying to get him to take his first bite of solid food. Unfortunately, without a bite from Jack, Toby has to rush out. So, he tells Kate to leave it for later when he gets home.

NBC

A while later, Gregory (Timothy Omundson) doesn’t show up for their usual walk. So, Kate checks on him. As it turns out, Gregory is having muscle spasms. So, Kate offers to help. The whole day, Kate does the menial tasks. And come snack time, Gregory requests she open an avocado. When he tries to feed Jack some, Jack surprisingly eats it up. Kate is overjoyed of course. But, she soon remembers Toby.

When Toby gets home with a load of baby food, he sees the avocados from Gregory’s. Opening one, he feeds it to Jack and is overjoyed when his son eats it. As Toby records the moment, Kate looks on in guilt.

Date Number One: Check

Meanwhile, Deja and Malik have their first chaperoned movie date. In the middle of it, however, Beth starts hearing arguing that leads to Deja storming upstairs. When she checks on her, Deja’s only request is to send Malik home.

Instead of sending him home immediately though, Beth couldn’t help but give in to her curiosity about what the two were fighting about. She was worried about what in the world Malik was forcing Deja to do that made her uncomfortable. Malik hesitates at first, knowing it wasn’t his place, but he finally admits that Deja wants to see her biological mom.

NBC

Deja doesn’t feel that she can talk to Beth and Randall about it. And Malik’s pushing just made it worse. Malik also reminds Beth that Deja did talk to them about it a while back. When Beth remembers, she reasons out that they were busy. However, as Malik points out when Randall ran for councilor, when they moved to Philly, and when Beth opened her dance studio, they didn’t reason out that they were busy for any of those things.

As Malik’s point gets across, Beth talks to Deja and promises her that they’d visit Deja’s mom soon. But, Deja has one more request. She asks Beth if she could invite her mom for thanksgiving. After a moment’s hesitation, Beth agrees. With the problem settled, Deja and Malik end their little date. And as Beth sees how goddamn adorable the two are, she heads to the pantry and calls out “You’ll be unsupervised for the next thirty seconds.” Somehow, this soft side of Beth makes this scene a whole lot more adorable. Finally alone, Malik and Deja a chance to share a little kiss.

Rebecca Gets A Job

On the other hand, all this time in This Is Us, I’ve always wondered how Rebecca supported her kids after Jack’s death. And now, we have answers. Around the time Kate (Hannah Zeile) was dating Marc (Austin Abrams), Randall kept coming home on the weekends under the pretense of doing laundry. With their pressing financial situation, Randall offers to help Rebecca with her resume.

NBC

Soon enough, Rebecca lands a job interview. The problem is Mr. Simons (Thomas Crawford), the interviewer, has no time to train new employees on their software. After seeing his mom emerge from Mr. Simons’ office downcast, Randall takes it upon himself to inform Mr. Simons of his mom’s best qualities. Somehow, his talk works and by the end of the day, Rebecca receives the call. After thanking her son, Rebecca reassures Randall and tells him that she’s going to be fine. As she said, “I’m the parent and you’re the kid.”

Rebecca’s Pictures

Back in the present, Rebecca heads over to Randall’s Philly home to spend Thanksgiving with them. While Beth handles Malik and Deja at home, Randall gives his mom a tour of Philly. While on the tour, however, Randall notices that Rebecca is practically attached to her phone. She’s taking pictures of everyone and everything. And it’s like she’s not really in the moment.

NBC

One moment, Rebecca loses sight of her phone and she immediately spirals into a panic. She only calms down after she has it back in her hand again. At home, Randall confronts his mom about her off behavior and her little mix-ups. And Rebecca casually chalks it up to ‘senior moments.’ But, Randall pushes on and suggests she see a doctor. At this, Rebecca turns defensive and in the height of her anger, she repeats the same line she told Randall before. “I’m still the parent here and you’re still the son…” After this, their argument turns sideways real quick with Randall uttering some hurtful words to his mother. So, she kicks him out of the room and slams the door in his face.

Kevin Spirals

Meanwhile, the day of Nicky’s trial has finally come. In the morning of it, Nicky comes knocking on Kevin’s trailer jolly as a bird. He also apologizes for berating Kevin after finding out that he slept with Cassidy. But, as it turns out, Kevin’s not even in the trailer. Realizing that Kevin might be in trouble, Nicky calls Cassidy and together, they search for Kevin.

NBC

As it turns out, Kevin’s in a bar looking for trouble. And boy did he get what he came for. Later on, Nicky and Cassidy find him walking home with a bruised up face. Not only that, but he also forgot that it was Nicky’s trial.  Cassidy does her best to fix up Kevin’s face with makeup. While doing that, she assures Kevin that he didn’t ruin her marriage. She takes full responsibility for it saying she ruined it herself way before she even met him. And she had just signed the divorce papers.

Nicky

Later on, as they wait for the trial to begin, Kevin notices that Nicky’s a nervous wreck. So, he comes over and helps his uncle calm down while fixing his tie. In the trial itself, the judge asks if Nicky feels remorse for what he’s done. Surprisingly, Nicky answers no. On the contrary, Nicky says that throwing that chair was the best thing that ever happened to him. Throwing that chair led him to finally stop drinking, to join AA meetings, and to stick with therapy. More importantly, it brought his nephew back into his life.

NBC

“For forty years, I have pushed people away…I told myself I was doing it for their own good because I’m broken,” he said. “But, I was wrong. I wasn’t broken. I was sick. And when you’re sick, you gotta let the people who care about you to help.” Then, he looks back at Kevin with a little smile. At this point, I just want to hug them both so tight. Nicky’s been through so much. And as Kevin notes, it seems that he’s started to forgive himself.

After hearing his explanation, the judge lets Nicky go with a condition to remain in therapy and to avoid reoffending for two more years for all the charges to be dropped. At that moment, Nicky smiles so wide for the first time ever in This Is Us. 

NBC

Later on, Cassidy also patches things up with her family. She thanks Kevin for helping her find her way back after returning from the war and bids him goodbye by wishing he finds his happy ending. Then, with the signed divorce papers in her hands, she joins her soon to be ex-husband and son for dinner. I hope this isn’t the last time we see Cassidy on This Is Us though. Morrison’s character has really grown on me.

As Nicky and Kevin watch Cassidy’s reunion with her family, Kevin gets thinking. Then, he invites his uncle to come down to Philly with him for Thanksgiving. After a moment’s thought, Nicky says yes.

This Is Us continues Tuesday, November 19th, with “So Long, Marianne” at 9/8c on NBC.