In this Tuesday's episode of This is Us, viewers will see Kevin, Kate and Randall along with their parents, Rebecca and Jack, hitting the community pool to beat the heat. But it won't be a pleasant experience for the children, as Rebecca and Jack soon realise that each child is going through their own issues. For Randall, it might be racism.
According to showrunner Dan Fogelman, the next episode, titled The Pool, will see more of Randall's thought process as he grows up in a white neighbourhood.
"That's maybe our biggest story pulling us through our first season — at least the first half of our first season," he told Entertainment Weekly. "It's exactly that: Randall has a false narrative of his existence. For a kid like Randall, it's a huge formative part of his existence. In the fourth episode, you see that. You see little Randall marking little slashes in a notebook, and what he reveals as a grown man is that as a little boy he was growing up in a very white neighborhood, and whenever he saw a black person he marked it down, and wondered if that could be his father. So he has this false narrative that's defined him."
The issue of racism is further addressed when Randall's biological father William is mistakenly reported as a loiterer by their neighbour.
Elsewhere in the next episode, viewers will see Kate becoming unsure of her romance with Toby when they encounter his ex-wife, and finds out how attractive Toby's ex is. As for Kevin, he will audition for his first Broadway play and new that he is to New York, Kevin will make an effort to reconnect with Randall.
This Is Us is aired on Tuesdays at 9pm on NBC.
