‘This Is Us’ Season 3, Episode 7, Recap: Revisiting Jack’s Journeys

On Tuesday, NBC aired it’s newest episode of This Is Us, which revisits two journeys in Jack’s life.

The episode, “Sometimes,” begins by revealing the origin of Jack’s infamous necklace. Apparently, a U.S. serviceman bought it to impress a girl but finds her with another man at the bar. The man then leaves the necklace at the bar, which is later picked up by a Vietnamese serviceman, who ends up dying in battle. A women then finds the necklace on his body and later gives it to Jack. 

We then pick up with Jack finding his brother, Nicky, who was struggling with the horrors of the war. Jack worries about Nicky and asks his commanding officer if he can take Nicky with him to his unit to help him get back on track, but the officer tells him that it’s against policy. Jack is then sent back to his unit by foot, but along the way, he finds a local man and pays him to help bring him back on his motorbike. Shortly after he arrives back, his brother is dropped off in a helicopter, Nicky’s commanding officer had given him two weeks to stay with Jack.

The episode then flashes back to a few years later as Jack and Rebecca go on a spontaneous road trip to Los Angeles for two big separate meetings. During the car ride, the conversation flows easily, but the two still experience some awkward silences. Mostly when Jack responds to Rebecca with one or two-word answers about his life. At dinner on the first night after Rebecca makes comments about how people don’t slow dance enough, Jack takes the hint and asks her to join him on the eatery’s dance floor. As the two dance, Rebecca notices an elderly couple and gets teary over how cute they are. Later, Rebecca and Jack return to the hotel room and the two prepare for bed in their separate twin beds. This arrangement apparently doesn’t last, as we find them waking up naked in bed together the next morning. 

At the next motel, Jack has a nightmare and Rebecca wakes him up. She wonders what wrong with him, but he says that he’s fines and holds back his tears as he hightails to the bathroom. While in the car, Rebecca asks him what happened, but Jack doesn’t want to talk about it and warns her to back off. They then arrive in California, where they stay with Rebecca’s friend. While Jack gets drinks, Rebecca confides in her friend about Jack struggling with something and not telling her. Just the night before arriving, Jack had told Rebecca that he couldn’t talk about what happened in Vietnam.

Later, Jack drops Rebecca off at her meeting with the record label. The A&R guy listens to her demo and tells her that it’s beautiful, but gives her boot. Rebecca presses him for feedback, but when he says she’s “Pittsburgh good,” it hits her hard. Meanwhile, Jack is off visiting the parents of a “Squirrel,” soldier who died during the firefight. After introducing himself, Jack reveals to Mr. and Mrs. Watterson that he was the one responsible for their son’s death. “I let my guard down. I failed many times when I was over there but taking my eye off your son, that was the worst thing I did,” Jack said. “I take full responsibility. And I know it may not mean much, but I needed to come here and tell you that he was one of the good ones. And that I am sorry.”

The parents are touched by what Jack says and assure him that it wasn’t his fault. After the heart-to-heart, Jack returns to pick up Rebecca from the label and when he hears what the label guy told her, he puts her on the spot and tells her to sing the song for him in the car. Rebecca sings and doesn’t hold back, but as she sings Jack turns his face away and tries to hide his tears. Rebecca then pauses and becomes fully aware of what’s going on, but then continues.

In realtime, we pick up with Kevin and Zoe arriving in Vietnam in search of answers. Kevin later becomes frustrated when Zoe doesn’t open up to him. She tells Kevin that she has a troubled relationship with her father and that he lives in China, but she doesn’t want to see him. Kevin realizes that he doesn’t know much about her family and pressures her to tell him more. Eventually, she gives in and tells him that her father had sexually abused her and that she didn’t want that to change their relationship because she’s falling in love with him. Kevin tells Rebecca that she always seems so strong and Rebecca tells him that she is strong.