‘This Is Us’ Season 5: What happens when Randall and Kevin face-off again? Here are 3 solid fan theories
A punch, a slap or even a verbal spat... nothing can really tear apart siblings. ‘This Is Us’ begs to differ. Back in Season 4, Randall Pearson (Sterling K Brown) and Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley) had a huge fallout in the finale episode. Spitting out all the mean things they had buried in their hearts, the series ended with a crack in the wall of their relationship. Bringing up their dad Jack Pearson's (Milo Ventimiglia) death, Randall told him in the last episode, “He died ashamed of you and proud of me. That's what gets to you. The shame, right?” Without biting his lip, Kevin blurted out, “The worst thing that happened to me other than the day dad died? The worst thing happened was the day they brought you home.” In a flashback scene, doctor Nathan Katowsky sings, “Blue skies... smiling at me,” as all happiness turned into dust in no time.
Now, as the show comes back with Season 5, most fans are looking forward to the face-off and are worried that Kevin and Randall's differences may not be resolved any time soon. As has been the tradition, the NBC show will begin with The Big Three's birthday celebration and that's clear by the name of the episodes: ‘Forty: Part One’, and ‘Forty: Part Two’. At some point, Kevin, Randall and Kate Pearson (Chrissy Metz) will be together in the same room. After all, the synopsis reads: “In the two-hour premiere, the Pearsons gather to celebrate their 40th birthday while musing about the day they were born.”
What will happen when they come face-to-face again? Of course, the two might appear to be mature and cordial in groups, but will they ever let go of the rift?
Take a look at these three theories:
Randall will never forgive Kevin
One Reddit fan said, “When Kevin said that it was like a dagger in my heart. I think that might be what keeps Randall away from everyone. Like in his ‘what if jack didn’t die’ scenario where he goes off to college and doesn’t think he belongs. I feel like he might try and remove himself from the family for awhile. We’ll see. But yeah seeing young Kevin act so clearly annoyed and even embarrassed by Randall... you believe him when he said that the worst day of his life was when they brought him home. Because Randall has always felt like a burden to him.”
It's quite possible that it may come true. The words pierced Randall's heart and he is one of those who holds on to things. Already struggling with his mental health issues, it may not be easy for him to forgive Kevin... precisely because he feels it's actually true.
Rebecca's death will reunite them
Justin Hartley was asked about the flash-forward in an Entertainment Weekly interview about how “things seem strained between the brothers in the distant future at first, but at the end, by their mother’s bedside, Kevin puts his arm around Randall. Was that meant to represent the extending of an olive branch — or was this part of an ongoing process of healing?”
The 43-year-old replied, “You know what the funny thing is? I don't totally know. But I took it to mean that the idea is that they always come back together as a family, and it might take a while, it might take a bit. But they're brothers this is not going to divide them until their deathbeds and they don't speak. That’s how I took it to mean. But I think it's going to take a while.” Families can never really stay apart for long. What will bring them back together? The incident will have to be really strong and perhaps, it could be Rebecca's (Mandy Moore) death or grave illness that will reunite them.
In fact, Sterling K Brown too said in an interview, “You know in the future that these two brothers come together while they’re around their mom, and she’s sick,” Brown continued. “So hopefully, we get a chance to see how they build their way back to each other. But it’s not going to be easy.”
Kevin will help Randall during another breakdown
The Pearson brothers’ battle continues well into the season as showrunner Dan Fogelman said. “That’s a fight that has been building for 40 years between these two boys, and now men, who grew up in the same house… It’s in the front and center of our premiere, and it will be in the front and center of our show for for quite a bit.” Hartley added that “when you have fights like that, sometimes it takes an event to bring people back together.”
But what if it's another breakdown that might bring them back together? As we've seen earlier, Randall has had many mental breakdowns and he has always sort of tried to get in touch with Kevin during those stressful times. Will he have another major breakdown that he can't tell anyone about - except Kevin.
Executive producer Isaac Aptaker said in an interview: “I mean, going all the way back to season 1 where Kevin realizes Randall is having that very intense panic attack when he’s about to go on stage and rushes to his brother’s aid. We’ve seen that despite how at times rocky their relationship is. There really is this connection there and this way that Kevin has with Randall.”
Watch the promo for Season 5 here:
Get set to watch the two-hour episode of 'This Is Us' premiere on Tuesday, October 27 at 9 pm ET on NBC. Following that, you can catch one-hour episodes starting at 9 pm from November 3, 2020.