WARNING: The following contains spoilers for This Is Us Season 5, Episode 15, "Jerry 2.0," which aired Tuesday on NBC.
This Is Us Season 5, Episode 15, "Jerry 2.0," is the penultimate episode of the season, setting up what will be the wedding-themed finale next week. The episode starts with Jack and Kevin at the movie theater watching Jerry Maguire before cutting to younger Kevin home from Los Angeles with his family and Sophie. Randall is there with Beth who is contemplating a summer internship in Boston which would force her and Randall to maintain their relationship long distance. Kevin is flippant about the difficulties of long distance, which Sophie doesn't agree with. On that note, Rebecca brings the two couples and Kate up to the cabin for the weekend.
In the present, Randall gets ready for Kevin's bachelor party weekend, which is also up at the cabin. While he's there, Beth is going to Madison's bachelorette party. Beth and Randall are as strong a couple as ever in this episode. While they prepare to travel, Kate is packing goodie bags for the bachelorette party. Toby says Madison is lucky to have her and Kate says she and the kids are lucky to have Toby, who is reluctant to receive the compliment. Also going to the parties are Rebecca and Miguel. Rebecca helps Miguel pack for the bachelor party and he's worried about leaving Rebecca alone. Rebecca assures him that she'll be fine as she's going to the bachelorette party and won't be alone the entire time. Miguel tries to play off his worry, but his concern reads plainly on his face as she turns her back.
Nicky wants to bring a jigsaw puzzle for the bachelor party but Kevin won't let him, which causes Kevin to ask Madison if he's going to have a lame bachelor party. Their babies require attention so Madison leaves Kevin to ponder his strange guestlist when he gets a call from Sophie. She called to leave a voicemail to say she saw the engagement announcement in the magazine and she wanted to say congratulations. She says that Madison is beautiful, it's amazing Kevin has this new family and that she's happy for him. Kevin asks why Sophie changed her number, and she doesn't explain. The conversation is interrupted when Madison needs baby help and Kevin says he'll call her back.
Back in the past at the cabin, Kate takes note about how tense things are between Kevin and Sophie. Sophie asks Kevin how their marriage is going to work moving forward and Kevin has no plans other than pursuing acting, which includes spending large periods of time in LA while she is still in New York for school. Kate takes Sophie's side and goes after her when she storms away, upset at Kevin's attitude.
At the bachelorette party, Kate has planned a whole girls day with Beth and Rebecca, which includes COVID-safe adult entertainment for their first activity. Kate hired a painting instructor who models in the nude as part of the class, and also turns out to be Madison's ex-boyfriend.
Randall is waiting at the cabin for the rest of the bachelor party, and when the rest of the guys arrive, Randall reminds Kevin of his plans to be married with kids by age 40. Then an unexpected rain storm cancels their fishing plans and turns it into a movie day instead. So Randall puts on Jerry Maguire -- one of Kevin's favorites. This prompts the return to the flashback where Randall also plays the same movie and Kevin chooses to watch the movie instead of talking to Sophie. The episode flashes between Kevin watching it in the present and in the past, and it's clearly an important movie to him.
While the movie plays in the flashback, Beth talks to Rebecca in the kitchen as Rebecca peruses old family photo albums. Rebecca congratulates Beth on her internship opportunity in Boston and advises that Beth and Randall are strong enough to be apart, but Beth admits she's not worried about her and Randall. Instead she's worried about the potential for failure at the internship; a very prestigious and intense opportunity. She is anxious about failure because of her failed dance career, explored in the previous episode. Rebecca tells Beth to chase her new dreams and gives her confidence to do so.
At the bachelorette party, Madison reveals that Joe actually ghosted her, but has to explain that concept to Rebecca. Madison admits that she thinks she and Kevin only ended up together because they got pregnant and shares that initially Kevin didn't seem that interested in a serious relationship after they had hooked up. Madison seems fine with this reality, but Kate seems concerned.
After the movie ends at the bachelor party, Randall asked Kevin how he felt about it, knowing how moved he was by it in the past, as seen in the flashback when Kevin ran off to his room feeling inspired by the film's triumphant ending. Nicky jumps in to say that the movie has a lot of similarity to Kevin's life and says that Kevin is Jerry 2.0, implying that Kevin is only marrying Madison because he got her pregnant.
Kevin denies this implication as Miguel temporarily breaks the tension by worrying about Rebecca, and then admitting he always liked Renee Zellweger. Randall keeps the movie conversation going by asking Toby's opinion, but when he doesn't really have one, Randall notes that Toby hasn't seemed himself. Before Toby can say anything, Kevin lashes out at Nicky for being rude, causing Randall to step in and suggest Kevin get some space.
Kate's next activity is a version of The Newlywed Game. She had Nicky record Kevin answering the questions so Kate could play it for the party to compare with Madison's real-time answers. As they set up the game, Beth excuses herself and checks an email, prompting Rebecca to follow. Beth explains to Rebecca privately that she's got some prospects at prestigious dance academies to consider for her next career move. She admits she's worried about joining a system that broke her spirit in the first place, but Rebecca gives her a pep talk and encourages her to join the broken system and fix it from the inside.
Back with the others, Kevin gets the first question of The Newlywed Game correct. However, the next question he gets wrong. The question is about Madison's dream for their future together after the kids move out. Kevin doesn't really answer it at all, and Madison, in the moment, says it's because Kevin has no plans to get older.
This cuts to Kate remembering the trip to the cabin. Kevin returns from his room after being inspired by the movie with a mission statement of his own. His statement is about his future with his wife Sophie, which includes a big fancy wedding, a couple of kids and their plans as a couple in their old age. In the present, Kate notes that Kevin doesn't say the same about Madison.
At the bachelor party, Randall talks to Kevin to tell him that Nicky is working on a fire as his version of a peace offering, now that the rain is letting up. Kevin tells Randall that Sophie called him and questions how someone is supposed to know the right person to marry. Randall brings Kevin to the fire to dispel his concerns. Randall opens up the circle for real talk, noting that no one seems themselves. Toby goes first and says that while he's a huge rom-com fan, he believes that Jerry and Dorothy from Jerry Maguire are never going to last. Then he admits that he's in a weird place and is desperate for a new job, but Randall tells him he's going to be okay.
Nicky jumps in to say that the movie put him in a bad mood -- all romantic movies do -- since he can't relate to them. He had one relationship, with Sally, and he blew it, and that was the end of it. His jaded view on love is why he was rude to Kevin earlier. Kevin admits that maybe Nicky had a point as he isn't sure he and Madison would've gotten together without kids. This is when Miguel jumps in and shares how he felt when he and Rebecca first got together.
Miguel says that he always thought that the relationship between Rebecca and Jack was written in the stars. So when his relationship with Rebecca was in the early years, he was filled with doubt because their relationship didn't have the same type of cosmic destiny. He later realized that it's okay because they had the other kind of love -- not written by the universe, but written together by them. Miguel finishes by saying he thinks Jerry and Dorothy will make it in the end when really he means that Madison and Kevin will last for the same reasons he and Rebecca work together.
While heading home after the party, Beth thanks Rebecca for the pep talk. In return, Rebecca thanks Beth for opening up to her and making her feel normal because everyone else is constantly tiptoeing around her and making her feel like a patient instead of herself. She feels disconnected from her family as a result of their gentle behavior towards her due to her illness. Her time with Beth at the party made her feel like herself again. As she leaves, Beth tells her to just ask Randall about the New Orleans trip he took to learn about his birth mother.
Inside, Kate and Madison clean up after the party and Kate takes the opportunity to confirm with Madison that she's happy and that Kevin is truly who she wants. Madison reassures her that her love for Kevin is exactly what she wants, and also promises her bond with Kate will never be broken. Kate looks worried as they hug though, probably remembering how Sophie was her best friend before Madison and Kevin got together.
Miguel calls Rebecca from the cabin and apologizes for all his worrying. Rebecca admits that their limbo of unknowing is hard for them both, which connects to the flashback when Miguel calls Rebecca when she's at the cabin. During this conversation, Rebecca admits that for the first time since Jack, she believes there may be another chance at love for her in the future. Miguel says that he's sure she'll find it if she's looking for it. This brings the story back to the present as Miguel and Rebecca talk about the night sky together.
As the guys call it a night, Nicky tries to look up Sally on his phone to see what ever happened to her, but he hides it from Miguel. Toby calls about being considered for a new job in San Francisco while Randall texts Beth goodnight and Kevin deletes Sophie's number from his phone. Back home, Madison re-watches Kevin's answer about their future and something about his pause before responding bothers her.
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.