Road terror. Terrified man driving his car which may just be about to crash.
‘This Is Us’: Justin Hartley On That Car Crash And Kevin “On the Brink” As He Struggles To Be The Perfect Dad
SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Feb. 9 episode of This Is Us.
After an unplanned scheduling hiatus due to Covid-related production delays during the recent surge of infections in Los Angeles, This Is Us tonight returned with the first of several new episodes which will complete the first half of Season 5. Almost a month after that ominous car crash teaser at the end of the last original aired, we got to find out what exactly happened to Kevin (Justin Hartley) on his way back to Los Angeles for the birth of his children after Madison unexpectedly went into labor at 34 weeks.
The car that had veered off the road in the promo wasn’t Kevin’s. He saw the wreck while driving to Seattle to catch a flight to LA and stopped to help as there was no phone service in the area to call 911. While pulling the injured driver Nate (played by Joshua Malina) from the car that had caught on fire and assisting him, Kevin’s drivers license slipped from his pocket as seen in the promo at the site of the crash.
Without a photo ID, Kevin was not allowed inside the airport terminal after he dropped off Nate at the hospital. The last we saw him, Kevin was pleading with an officer to let him board his flight.
Madison was not the only mother in labor this episode. Also about to give birth was the woman whose baby Kate and Toby are set to adopt. With Kevin and Kate both occupied, Madison is faced with going through labor and childbirth alone when she gets a call from Randall and Beth who comfort her on the phone.
With the stress over missing his babies’ birth adding to Kevin’s other worries, emotions came to a boiling point in the episode as he abruptly left the set of his movie as he was about to film the pivotal court scene opposite Robert de Niro. He defied the director’s order and his agent’s plea to go back, putting his career in jeopardy.
The episode also juxtaposed Jack’s little league experience being constantly berated by his father with the support Kevin found in super dad Jack as the star high school football player struggled with confidence. It only amplified Kevin’s drive to be there for his babies the way his father was always there for his family.
In an interview with Deadline, Hartley speaks about Kevin’s struggles in the episode and what is in store for him as a new father, fiancé to a woman he barely knows and an actor who just abruptly quit a movie in the middle of the shoot as he faces a career fallout and the challenge to measure up to Jack as a dad.
