This is Us Season 4, Episode 1 RECAP: Sweet Sassy Molassey–That Twist at the End!

Yeah, my jaw is still hanging on the floor after THAT twist at the end of This Is Us’s Season 4 premiere. I kept thinking, What is going on? We don’t know these people! And also, This. Better. Be. Good.

Well, it was good, wasn’t it? After a six month hiatus of our beloved show, we were dying to see our favorite Pearsons again. But the way the writers introduced new characters was shocking and fabulous. They sure made us wait for it, didn’t they?

Here’s my RECAP of Season 4, Episode 1:

• It’s been three years since we’ve seen anyone’s buns (it was Milo’s then) so a little bit gasp-inducing to see a “stranger” in the buff. Who is he, this guy who is a musician and kinda looks like Kevin and appears to be blind?

• Ah, good. Sigh. Rebecca and Jack are back, and them we know (and love). Their story picks up after their road trip to LA from last season, where Rebecca was told she was mere “Pittsburgh good” and Jack consoled her in the way only he could. When they pull in to her place in Pittsburgh, the two linger in the car, not quite ready to declare undying love but feeling it anyway. Jack: I’m not calling first. Rebecca: No, I’m not calling first. Haha. No one is buying this, you adorable idiots.

• We meet another new character, young Malik, who, we find out, is old enough to be a daddy to an extremely cute baby in footie pjs. Wow–he is young. And a sweet daddy who wants his baby girl to have everything. “You’re a long way from the NICU,” he whispers to her. Right now they are living with his parents, who seem pretty darn cool. But Malik seems to be tempted by fast money in his neighborhood–uh oh.

• We meet a third new character (at this point, I was tearing my hair out, weren’t you?) Cassidy (Once Upon a Time‘s Jennifer Morrison) is a soldier in Afghanistan, awkwardly facetiming her husband and drowning in the violence and sorrow all around her. When she negotiates with a local mother to ID a bomb maker, things backfire in a terrible way, and several villagers are killed despite Cassidy’s promises. She returns home to the US in a fog of trauma.

• Back to Jack and Rebecca–it’s meet the parents time, and of course, we know how well that will go. Jack wanders into a men’s suit shop and connects with the amiable sales guy (Miguel!), who feels for Jack and loans him one of the store’s sport coats for his dinner at the country club with Rebecca’s parents. Things go from bad to worse as Jack’s dad brings up Vietnam immediately (calling it a fake war), Rebecca’s mom snidely inquires about Jack’s messed up parents, and Jack glops lobster sauce on his borrowed jacket. To add insult to injury, Rebecca’s dad seems nice but isn’t. He tells Jack that he can tell he’s “haunted” by Vietnam and will make sure Jack stays away from his daughter. Ugh. Well, at least Jack and Miguel met cute, anyway.

• Malik’s father, who owns a mechanics shop, knows his son is considering being a small-time criminal to make money for his baby. He knows how hard it is for him to be responsible all the time, so he offers to babysit Malik’s baby while Malik goes to a barbeque. Earlier, we saw a “Pearson” bumper sticker on one of the cars in the shop, so we knew Malik’s family lives in Randall’s district (Yay! Signs of Pearson life!). It’s not too big of a surprise, then, when Malik ends up grilling a burger for Deja. It is on and sparks are flying. Oh, so that’s the connection there. But what about the other two new characters?

• Cassidy loses it when she hears the pricetag $1200 attached to their broken water heater. That’s because the US gave out condolence payments of that amount for each Afghan person who was killed in the bombings. As if $1200 could make up for a life lost. Cassidy snaps and accidentally hits her son, which is the beginning of the end of her marriage. Adrift, and drinking too much, she joins an AA meeting where a guy suddenly throws a chair through the window of the meeting. The guy? Jack’s brother, Uncle Nicky, who gets arrested and calls Kevin to bail him out. (Hmmm…What does this all mean?? There’ obviously going to be a connection between Cassidy and Uncle Nicky, but could she also be Kevin’s next love interest? I don’t see it at all. Do you?)

• That’s two outta three, which ain’t bad, but we need to know how the blind musician ties into the story. And then–FOR THE LOVE OF ALL–we know. It’s baby Jack, Kate and Toby’s preemie, all grown up and singing like an angel. You guys, I got full-body chills. And then I started blubbering all over the place. “He got his voice from his Grandma and his mama and he is Jack’s grandson and ….and…” I couldn’t handle it. It was just so perfect and gorgeous and his voice... Then all at once, it made sense how he kinda reminded me of Kevin and Toby at the same time. Once I stopped crying I started clapping. These writers have set us up for an astonishing Season 4.

Well, what did you guys think? Favorite performance? Best line of the night? (Mine was Randall (HEY RANDALL!) when Deja floated in the house after the barbeque, looking like she swallowed a moonbeam. “What’s happening to your face?” he asks. (Oh, Dad, you are going to flip a biscuit when you find out who is behind that crazy glow on your girl’s face. )

Alright, talk to me? Did you love it? Did you hate it at first and then love it? Who is the most intriguing new character?