‘This Is Us’: Kevin Begins to See the Bigger Picture in ‘The Guitar Man’ (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 8 of This Is Us, “The Guitar Man.”]

This Is Us is heading back to the pool in the final season’s latest episode, “The Guitar Man,” which serves as the first installment of the show’s last trilogy about the Big 3. First up? Kevin (Justin Hartley).

The episode touches on three separate points in time ranging from one of Kevin’s first trips to the public pool, one of his last visits in his early twenties, and Kevin’s trip east with his twins to check up on the Pearson family compound’s progress. Below, we’re breaking down all of the drama Kevin is experiencing on his journey to becoming the man he’s always wanted to be.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Grand Opening of the Pool

At the grand opening of the Greenview Pool, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) take the young Big 3 — played by Isabella Rose Landau (Kate), Kaz Womack (Kevin), and Ca’Ron Jaden Coleman (Randall) — along for a family outing. As they settle into their surroundings, Kevin eyes the diving board over at the deep end, he wants to try it out, but Jack wants to teach him to swim before he tries it out.

The swimming lesson doesn’t go quite as planned as Kevin begins to sink and Jack scoops him from the pool and the boy chokes out the water he inhaled. Upset, Kevin runs off to sulk alone when Rebecca finds him sitting on a bench, she passes him a creamsicle and he complains that Jack almost let him drown. She defends Jack though, telling Kevin that he’d never let that happen and that he only wants to teach him to swim before jumping off the diving board. Rebecca promises that Jack is good at building all sorts of things, including swimming lessons, and that Kevin will be good to go afterward. Little Kevin isn’t so convinced though, saying he’s nothing like Jack. Could that mindset be proven wrong?

Post-Thanksgiving Hang Out

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

After the explosive Thanksgiving at their house where Miguel’s (Jon Huertas) feelings for Rebecca were finally revealed, Kevin (Logan Shroyer) goes to the site of the Greenview Pool which is now in disrepair. Kate (Hannah Zeile) and Randall (Niles Fitch) follow him there and the siblings talk about life over drinks. When Kevin stands on the diving board, his siblings advise against diving into the empty pool, but it reminds Kevin of the drain at the bottom, something he apparently always wanted to touch. As the episode continues, the siblings migrate to the middle of the pool where Kevin finally touches the drain but makes an observation.

Kevin says he doesn’t belong in the deep end, but that his siblings do, suggesting that he isn’t smart or bright enough to make it in those harder to navigate waters. He then points out how he ruined things with Sophie (Amanda Leighton) and wonders if he should quit acting to become a construction worker and follow in Jack’s footsteps. As the evening carries on, Randall and Kate tell Kevin he’ll figure things out one day, could that day be in the near future? It seems so as the episode transitions to the present day.

Getting There

Following a deep conversation with Rebecca at Thanksgiving, Kevin tells Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Kate (Chrissy Metz) he’s going to start the fearless life that their mother wants them to lead. Back in California, he struggles to soothe his kids by playing guitar and Kate suggests that he parent with confidence and so he does through diaper changes and feedings.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

On the set of The Manny, Kevin’s costars ask what he has planned during some time off and he reveals his plan to take the twins east by himself to check on the Pearson family compound. They ask about how many nannies he’s bringing and when he says none, they’re shocked. Kate and Randall also advise against it but Kevin is determined. He makes it on the plane and as with any baby on board, nothing goes particularly as planned when a diaper blowout occurs just as he sits down.

Eventually, Kevin makes it to the Pearson family cabin where he’s greeted by Uncle Nicky (Griffin Dunne) and his new girlfriend Edie (Vanessa Bell Calloway). Cassidy’s (Jennifer Morrison) son Matty (Noah Salsbury Lipson) also comes running up and excitedly acknowledges Kevin’s guitar before leading him to the construction site where Cassidy is overseeing the workers.

Things are a bit hectic at the site where the foundation wasn’t done correctly, so there’s some demo going on to repair and replace it. Kevin is annoyed and Cassidy tells him she’s solving the issue among the crew made up of fellow vets. Back at the cabin, Nicky chides Kevin for his tone with Cassidy, telling his nephew that the girl busts her ass off and barely sleeps when she stays at the cabin. In other words, cut her some slack.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Kevin goes into the kitchen then to find Cassidy blank staring out the window and he apologizes to her. From there, the whole group of Kevin, the twins, Cassidy, Matty, Nicky, and Edie enjoy dinner together and then play games and music. While everything seems pretty good, that evening, Kevin gets a call that Cassidy is in the hospital, he is shocked because he believes she’s in bed, but when he checks, she’s gone.

It turns out that she’s been in an accident and so Nicky and Kevin rush to the hospital where they’re told she has a fractured clavicle and broken arm. Kevin blames himself, thinking that his treatment of her drove Cassidy to relapse, but the doctor says alcohol wasn’t involved. It turns out that the pole she drove into sustained the most damage in comparison to her.

When the doctor tells them to return home, Kevin seems almost giddy to know that Cassidy didn’t relapse, but Nicky has a dark look on his face. He warns Kevin that Cassidy isn’t the kind of person to give a heads up if she was in a dark place as she had to lie constantly with her position in the military.

(Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

After some much-needed perspective, the reality of Cassidy’s predicament begins to sink in for Kevin and he decides to stay at the hospital. Nicky tells him to just be there, don’t try and fix things, just be there. And so, Kevin sits and waits. When he’s finally permitted to enter her room, he finds her face torn up a bit, but otherwise unscathed on the surface.

She tells him that she’s been having a hard time and to cope she takes drives at night since she doesn’t sleep. During the drive, she kept thinking about how nice their evening together was and how she didn’t want it to end. As she got more tired driving, she let her eyes close and kept her foot on the gas, leading to the accident. The reveal is emotional, and when Nicky enters the room, he sits by Cassidy’s bedside to support her with Kevin.

At the cabin, Kevin cares for the twins and talks to Matty whose dad, Ryan (Nick Wechsler), is coming to pick him up. Before he arrives, Kevin invites Matty to help him make a get well soon card for Cassidy with paint. Bonding over the project, the boys bid farewell when Ryan arrives and Kevin takes a peek at construction on the property before visiting Cassidy again at the hospital with Nicky.

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In his quiet time at the cabin, Kevin talks to his twins, remembering their grandpa Jack, saying that he would have made the Pearson compound happen if he’d lived long enough, and this motivates Kevin to do the same. When Nicky returns home with Cassidy, the men help her get situated and unveil her room in the cabin from now on. While looking around, Nicky notices a pad of paper filled with sketches from Kevin for “Big 3 Homes.” When he inquires about the meaning behind the drawings, Kevin asks about hiring more veterans, and Cassidy says they have enough for the house, but Kevin gets ambitious and suggests building more. What could be Kevin’s sleeve? Will he follow Jack’s dream? It seems so, but we’ll have to wait and see for sure. One thing’s for certain as he gets on the plane to return to California, he’s getting the hang of this father thing with Franny and Nicky.

Stay tuned for Kate’s episode of the trilogy as the final This Is Us season continues.

This Is Us, Season 6, Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC