‘This Is Us’ Producer Breaks Down That Epic Therapy Fight

This Is Us came back from winter break with one of its strongest, most brutal scenes yet and one of the producers broke down the reasons for it.

In what is the lengthiest scene for the show to date, the Pearson family explored many of the family drama and resentment they have towards each other while on a family therapy session during Kevin’s (Justin Hartley) rehab stint.

During the scene, Kevin and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) fought over decades of tension, with Randall defending their mother after Kevin accused Rebecca (Mandy Moore) of favoring Randall over him.

The therapist supervising the session questioned Rebecca about whether or not she ever discussed with her children the possibility they could be prone to addiction due to their father’s history with alcoholism. A confrontation that led Rebecca to reveal she gravitated toward Randall over Kevin because he was easier to raise. Kate (Chrissy Metz) was also put on blast by her brother when he commented that her overeating issues could be an addiction.

The explosive scene was always part of the plan for this season, as This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker told Entertainment Weekly.

“So much of the first half of our season was about this family missing each other and being so consumed by their own demons that they weren’t seeing each other and what the others were going through,” he said. “We knew that we wanted to come back from the break with an episode that throws all of our siblings and Rebecca into the same room and really lets them address, head-on, some of their family issues in a way that they really have not to date.”

Aptaker said that the importance of the therapy session was so pivotal to the story that there were early talks in the writer’s room to make the whole episode focus on the session. In the end, the writers decided to incorporate other dynamics into the episode since there were many cliffhangers to address after the winter finale.

After the intense conversation during the session, Aptaker said to expect what was said in that room to loom over the relationships on the show in future episodes.

“We’re not doing the bad sitcom version where everything resets at the end of the episode,” he said. “This will certainly carry forward into the rest of our season, what was said in that room.”

However, the love that viewers have come to know from the Pearson family will remain. “There is a lot of love there, and this is a family that’s not going to fall apart completely based on one therapy session, so there was some healing at the end.”