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‘This Is Us’ Season 5 Episode 13 ‘Brotherly Love’: Is Kevin Pearson racist? Ugly truth behind Randall's accusations

Teasing what's about to come, Sterling K Brown and Justin Hartley who play brothers on the beloved NBC show shared their thoughts on social media

Not always eye to eye, but always heart to heart — that's how brothers are. On the new episode of ‘This Is Us’, Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley) and Randall Pearson (Sterling K Brown) will finally break the ice. “Kevin's coming across the country to have a long-awaited talk...” Beth Pearson (Susan Kelechi Watson) tells Randall. 

Fidgety and fiddly, Randall asks his wife, “How does the conversation of this magnitude even start? How does it end?” Teasing what's about to come, both the actors who play brothers on the beloved NBC show also shared their thoughts on social media. “Uncomfortable ~t e n s i o n~ in 3, 2, 1,” Justin Hartley tweeted and Sterling K Brown wrote, “Nothin but a lil brotherly love.”

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The Black kid raised in a White family

Kevin lands at Randall's door to personally ask him to be his Best Man and shatter all those years of their problems and indifference. ​“Look Randall I am not blind... I know how difficult it must have been to be a Black kid raised in a White family...” He recalls the day Randall took Allison to the prom and had her dad treat him awfully. ​“God he was a racist prick,” Kevin says. 

Randall doesn't say a word. He just looks at him. “​I am genuinely sorry Randall if I made any part in making you feel bad. I wanted to look right in your eye and tell you what I feel,” Kevin then adds.

In that moment, Randall gets up and Kevin realizes it isn't working. 

When Kevin asks why he is annoyed, Randall says he is “​trying not to be annoyed” with him. Saying he isn't a mind reader, Kevin asks Randall: “I don't know what you are expecting from me.” In that moment, Randall accuses Kevin of being racist.

So, is Kevin really racist? 

It's not easy to talk about racial divide and the same goes for Randall and Kevin. ​“​It's like you are apologizing for a miscalculated tweet... After all these years you are tone deaf,” Randall tells Kevin. The latter then blurts out: “​​Your childhood was glorious. You were the golden child!”

In old flashbacks from their past, we see the two kids going to see a show and their father Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) gets Randall the best seat. With all the attention Randall gets, Kevin feels ignored.

In another flashback, when Randall comes to visit Kevin during their teenage years, Kevin hands him over a fake ID of a man in his forties.

When Randall says his face doesn't even match, Kevin utters: “​​He's a Black guy, you're a Black guy.” And when the two get into the cab, Kevin misbehaves with the Black cab driver, asking him to change the song. They almost have a fight after which the cabbie tells them to get out and leaves them midway on the streets.

‘What if I was White?’

In the present time, Kevin hurtfully tells Randall, “​​You called me racist...” adding, “​​Your brother who loves you, pretty much worships you, your brother who came here to say I am sorry.” Randall then finally blurts out, “​​I want you to acknowledge that you hated the fact that you were Black.”

​“Rest of the world can't say the ugly thing but we have to...” he adds. Kevin then tells Randall, “​​You're not just my smart, successful brother, Randall. You're my Black successful brother. And I think maybe I did resent that. I thought you getting special treatment was to do with you being Black. I took shots at you that I shouldn't have taken. And I was more jealous of you than I should have been.”

Written by Jon Dorsey and directed by Kay Oyegun, the episode handles a very sensitive matter in a delicate way and manages to fill your heart and eyes with tears. It makes you realize that even though Kevin wasn't racist, there were undercurrents of racial discrimination somewhere. And it also makes you believe in the power of forgiveness and the joy in being a family. 

‘This Is Us’ premiered on Tuesday at 9 pm ET on NBC after the mid-season winter break with Episode 5 titled ‘A Long Road Home’ on January 5, 2021. After a one-week break, Episode 12 titled ‘Both Things Can Be True’ aired on April 6, 2021 and now Episode 13 ‘Brotherly Love’ will be telecasted on April 12, 2021.

The episode will be able to stream on Hulu the next day, on April 7, 2021. Binge-watch Season 5 episodes on NBC.com and the NBC App. Not just that, you can stream old seasons on Amazon Prime too.