Uncle Nicky Pearson (Griffin Dunne) will take center stage during the newest episode of This is Us titled One Small Step.
In a teaser which aired at the conclusion of the show’s March 16th episode, it was revealed that Nicky will conquer his fear of flying and make a cross-country journey to meet his namesake, Kevin‘s (Justin Hartley) son Nicholas and his twin Frances.
Upon learning that his brother named his son after their father’s brother, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) exclaimed, “Oh man, Uncle Nicky will be through the roof, and, uh Frances? That’s unique.”
Kevin replied, “I know, I know. Frances is named after Madison’s grandmother. She gave me Nicky. So we’ll call her Franny.”
The new parents will be surprised at the unexpected arrival of Nicky, who reveals it he had not been on a plane since the day he was medevaced out of Vietnam.
Kevin was stunned when Nicky arrived on his doorstep.
Nicky may have an ulterior motive for the journey
In a trailer posted by TV Line, a series of flashback scenes from Nicky’s younger life appeared.
Jack spoke to his brother, telling him he had to leave and asking Nicky if he would ever move out of their family home.
“You don’t want to be dad’s lap dog, fetching him beers the rest of his life?” asked Jack.
“I may get forcibly removed from the nest if I get drafted to Vietnam,” Nicky shot back.
Jack reassured his brother he would not be drafted and told him to “get a girlfriend or something.”
“There’s got to be a nice girl that works at the vet clinic with you?” he asked Nicky.
“Sally,” he responded to which Jack encouraged his brother to ask her out.
How does Sally, Nicky’s former love, fit into the picture?
In a prior season, fans learned that Nicky bought a trailer for Sally, the woman he was dating when he served in Vietnam. They lost touch when he withdrew from life after returning from the war. He eventually bought the trailer and drove to her house. She was not there, and he left and lost touch with her.
“We started dating before I got drafted. I was too chicken to ask her out, so Jack did it for me. We wrote letters during the war. We were gonna drive across the country when I got back, but after a while, I just stopped writing,” said Nicky, who spoke in an earlier episode of his lost love.
This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.