WARNING: The following contains spoilers for This Is Us Season 5, Episode 14, “The Music and the Mirror,” which aired Tuesday on NBC.
Kevin Pearson faces the fallout of his actions in This Is Us, Season 5, Episode 14, “The Music and the Mirror,” as he learns that his reputation in the film industry has been destroyed.
In the episode, Kevin attends a screening of his latest film with Foster, his director, and while Foster thinks the film is a masterpiece, Kevin knows it’s a disaster. As a result, Kevin calls an emergency meeting with his agents to figure out his next move. At the meeting, he learns from his agents that his reputation in the industry is that of a flake and generally not dependable.
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Kevin’s plan is to book a new project and get started on something new as quickly as possible to reduce the blowback of the terrible film he just completed. So when he arrives at his agent’s office for an emergency meeting, the main focus is reviewing potential scripts. He is unhappy with his options and wonders if the industry already knows how terrible the movie is going to be and that’s why his choices are so limited. However, his agents explain it’s a different reason all together.
Kevin learns that he has a reputation for walking off of projects and people don’t want to work with a lead actor who will flake out on them. They cite the three instances of Kevin walking out, seen over the course of the last five seasons of This Is Us. In Season 1, Kevin walks off the set of his hit sitcom “The Manny” and abruptly quits with no notice. He quit the show because he found the material vapid and unfulfilling.
His other two walkouts had much more noble explanations. Also in Season 1, Kevin walks out on opening night of an off-Broadway play. He leaves the show to go comfort Randall who is in the middle of a breakdown and desperately needs support. Then in Season 5, Kevin walks off the set of his most recent movie and flees Vancouver to return to California to be with Madison for the birth of their twins. Even though both of those reasons are honorable, and understandable, they still contribute to his reputation as a flake.
The rest of the industry doesn’t know the specific details for why Kevin bailed so many times, and at this point it doesn’t matter. Kevin’s reputation as an actor has absolutely been ruined and he is left struggling with finding his next project as a result.
Uncle Nicky left the meeting with Kevin and his agents carrying a stack of scripts with the intentions of reading them all, so maybe Uncle Nicky will find Kevin’s next project. Or, maybe Kevin will be floating unemployed for a little while as he tries to find some way to repair the damage to his reputation. Either way, Kevin has to face the consequences of his actions.
Created by Dan Fogelman, This Is Us stars Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown, Chris Sullivan and Susan Kelechi Watson. New episodes air Tuesdays at 9pm ET/PT on NBC.
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