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The Pool is the fourth episode of the first season and the 4th overall episode of This Is Us.

Short Summary[]

Rebecca and Jake take the kids to a community pool, where they realize each child's unique struggles. In the future, Kevin auditions for a Broadway play; Toby runs into his ex-wife while on a date with Kate; and William's reported as a loiterer in Randall's predominantly white neighborhood, exposing deep-seated racial tensions.

Full Summary[]

On a hot summer day, Jack decides to take the whole family to the pool. Once they get there, each of the three kids run off to do their own thing, which overwhelms the both parents. Kate gets bullied and ostracized by the other girls there, Kevin is frustrated that his parents aren’t paying attention to him, and Randall goes to play with the other black kids. When he disappears and Rebecca tracks him down, another black mom hints to her that raising a black kid contains some differences that she might not have considered. While all this is happening, Kevin swims into the deep end without permission and almost drowns. There’s a tense moment, but Jack comforts Kevin and Kate, and Rebecca goes back to the other mom for more advice. Jack tells the story of the shirt he’s been wearing - that one day he chased off some guys harassing a stranger, so the stranger gave him this shirt and said it’s magic.

Randall has to chase off a police officer after someone reports William for loitering. William is furious at the obvious racism, but Randall apologizes to the cop to keep the situation calm. William and Randall end up arguing, and Randall tries to prove that he’s ‘black enough.’ But when they go see the school play where Tess is playing Snow White, all the white parents laugh. Randall opens up to William about how hard it is to be surrounded by white people, and how when he was a kid, he kept a tally of all the black people he met in his hometown. William formally apologizes for abandoning Randall as a baby and praises him for doing a good job raising his kids.

While Kate and Toby are out on a date, they run into Toby’s ex-wife. Kate becomes obsessed because she thinks she can’t compete with her. Kate stalks her to her job at a clothing store, and when she assumes Kate is there to get a job, Kate is too embarrassed to contradict her. Kate ends up getting hired, which is convenient because she had just quit working for Kevin, but she obviously can’t keep the job because that would make things awkward for Toby. For the first time, Toby really gets angry at her and tells the story of how his ex-wife cheated on him. He calls out Kate for always assuming she can’t be loved just because she’s fat.

Kevin auditions for his first play and makes a complete fool of himself. He gets so nervous that he accidentally insults everyone there. However, he later runs into the star of the play whom he auditioned with, Olivia. She invites him for a drink, makes fun of him for not knowing what he’s getting into, and then casts him because he’s famous already and it’ll get more people to see the play. Frustrated and lonely in his city apartment, Kevin goes to Randall’s house to stay there indefinitely.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
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Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode scored million viewers.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Quotes[]

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.

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