This Is Us writer breaks down Rebecca's surprise decision, Thanksgiving drama

Thanksgiving is a day for celebration in many households, but for the Pearsons on This Is Us, it is a high holiday on which to observe the highest drama. Stranded in a motel with just cold hot dogs, cheese, and saltines? The biological mother of your adopted daughter shows up to reclaim her daughter? Find out that your mother has been hiding critical information about your biological father from you? It's all part of the tradition of revelation!

This year's festivities, airing at the festive time of (checks calendar) early March, also aimed to serve up heaps of drama – much of it surrounding Pearson matriarch Rebecca (Mandy Moore). In the late '70s, she nervously prepared her first T-Day meal for her parents, Dave (Tim Matheson) and Janet (Elizabeth Perkins). Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Dave would watch the mother-daughter rollercoaster from afar as Janet micromanaged Rebecca and her eating habits until Rebecca lost her cool, but the two comically made up on the spot when Rebecca tearfully learned that her parents were moving to Connecticut.

Two decades later, when Rebecca hosted a Big Three-homecoming Thanksgiving, Rebecca and Miguel's feelings for each other turned into a surprise menu item during a game of Taboo, making for an awkward situation with their helpless dates, Matt (Matt Corboy) and Marguerite (Elena Evangelo). A drunk, self-loathing Kevin guilted Miguel about his feelings for Rebecca, even invoking the spirit of Jack (who he claimed would be "churning over in his grave"). Soon after, Miguel and Rebecca stood on the porch, trying to come to terms with their true feelings. Alas, Miguel revealed that now that Rebecca was "back up on her feet," he was moving to Houston. With Rebecca in tears and Miguel in conflict, all he could utter was: "It's just, I don't know what else to do. You're my favorite person."

The present-day story line, though, featured Rebecca (and, for that matter, Mandy Moore) in full command of her power. The family gathered at the Pearson cabin, where Kevin (Justin Hartley) was plotting the new family "mecca." With the specter of her Alzheimer's hanging over the proceedings, Rebecca gathered her children, breathed deeply, and delivered a forceful, eloquent monologue that was built around three requests/demands: (1) Miguel would make all decisions based on her care. (2) Should Miguel not be around to oversee her care — and based on the flash-forward peek that did not have him at her bedside, this theoretical may become an actual — Kate (not Randall!) would be the one in charge of all decisions. (3) Her children were to take big, wonderful risks in life and to not make their worlds "smaller" because of her condition.

And while the Pearson geopolitics were shifting massively, relations between Kate and Toby (Chris Sullivan) deteriorated further when Toby tried to manage her management of Jack Jr.'s diet. How bad did things get? Kevin told Toby to remove the Pilgrim Rick hat.

Let's whip out an out-of-tune guitar, open an okay bottle of pinot noir, scream at each other with our eyes, debate the importance of the makeover scene in She's All That, and get our gobble on by interviewing This Is Us co-producer Laura Kenar, the writer who prepared the Thanksgiving feast that was "Taboo."

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Thanksgivings are hugely dramatic episodes for This Is Us, and this one centered on Rebecca finding her voice in three different eras. What was the biggest challenge in bringing this episode to life? I imagine that Rebecca's commanding cabin speech required a lot of discussion.

LAURA KENAR: That's such an important moment. My first script for the show was in season 1. I co-wrote an episode with Dan [Fogelman, the show's creator] that happens on the day of the pilot ["The Big Day"], where Rebecca forgets Jack's birthday and she's in this really horrible mood, and she gives this speech to her pregnant belly, and admits that she's not sure she's going to be a very good mother. In season 6, [I am able to] write this speech where Rebecca is so selfless and so brave, and it's such a powerful moment for Rebecca as a mother to just allow her children to feel unburdened by her sickness, to create this plan -- she knows her children, she knows that they'll move heaven and earth to take care of her, and she's saying to them, "Live your lives," and has come up with this plan B.

We also thought it was very interesting that so much of it is about them finding themselves after Jack's death. The fact that Rebecca is taking this horrible disease and creating this silver lining by talking through with her family and having these difficult conversations. So, yeah, it was definitely a lot to talk through. But I remember Dan saying, "This is her Braveheart moment." [Laughs] It was one of those big speeches. And I remember Mandy coming in; it was the day before our Thanksgiving break, and you could feel this electricity. It was the first scene that we shot that day and she just killed it from the beginning. Everyone was in tears. I just feel very proud to have helped show the evolution of Rebecca, the mother. [It] was very moving for me.

In choosing who will oversee her care if Miguel can't, Rebecca tells Kate, "It was always you." If that's indeed the case, how much of Rebecca's decision was cemented after the vicious fight between Randall and Kevin that began over her care?

We talked about that a lot. [During] pretty much the first decision, Randall and Kevin have a blowout fight and don't talk for months after that — it kind of ruins their relationship for a time. I think that's definitely a huge part of it, just thinking about how to keep the peace. She knows all of her kids are coming from the best possible intentions for her, but she also knows the dynamics that [are] in play, especially between Randall and Kevin.

She knows by picking Kate, it'll just alleviate a lot of stress, and she's come so far with Kate. Their relationship has evolved so much. A couple episodes before, we see Rebecca slap Kate in the teenage years. But they've had so many beautiful moments and have just come together so beautifully in the last couple years. So it's a combination, but I think Rebecca is very wise with her choice.

Randall was a logical, if not leading, candidate to oversee Rebecca's care. The camera lingers on his reaction after she chooses Kate, and the audience is likely just as surprised. Rebecca has had a special connection with Randall, and it would be a nice way to show how far they've come after the season 1 Thanksgiving revelation about William [Ron Cephas Jones]. In her calculus, did she factor in that she did not want to further burden him, knowing his perfectionist personality and anxiety issues?

Off of this episode, we're going into these big trilogy episodes for Kate, Kevin and Randall. In Randall's trilogy episode, it's a really beautiful Rebecca-Randall story. I think you'll get some answers in that area.

It sounds like this might elicit the same answer, but Randall expresses to Beth [Susan Kelechi Watson] that he's already feeling disconnected from Rebecca a little bit. Can you hint at how he'll react to this decision?

The [tenth episode of the season] pretty much starts with that conversation that Randall will have with Beth after this talk. Randall, first and foremost, is just disappointed. It's more just trying to figure out why she made that decision.

Rebecca makes her kids promise that they will not make their lives smaller because of her condition. It's a lovely sentiment. How realistic is it, given the impact that Alzheimer's has on the surrounding family members?

By Rebecca saying to the kids, "Miguel's the captain of the ship right now," he's taking on — and she's allowing him to take on — a lot of the burden in these next couple years. And, of course, it's going to affect the Big Three in their lives with her. But by her having this plan, she's really, for better [or] worse, putting a lot of pressure and a lot of burden on Miguel to take care of her. And then there could come a point if Miguel passes or whatever that they would have to step in an even bigger role. So we have to see.

It does not appear that Miguel is there to carry out her care in the future, at least based on the deathbed scene with Rebecca and Uncle Nicky (Griffin Dunne) that we've glimpsed. Is that a fair assumption? Also, can we rule out the theory that Kate isn't alive in the future? Because that would be awfully grim.

I would say there's a couple people we haven't seen yet, including Kate.

Can we rule out the theory that Kate isn't alive in the future? Because, well, that would just be awfully grim if neither of the two people she picked to oversee her care were there.

[Laughs] We'll have to wait until we jump to another future scene with Kate, if she's there.

Is Rebecca's affirmation of Kate in this episode — along with Kate asserting herself with Toby — another empowering step in her journey of owning her power and coming into her own, much as Rebecca has been doing?

Yeah. Kate has come a long way. This episode is so much about food and her shame over dieting and binging and her cycle and trying to break free from those toxic ways of looking at food. There's so many family traditions tied to food, and it's more meaningful than just too much sugar, too much fat. So she's really finding her voice, the same way that Rebecca has found her voice in these different chapters of these Thanksgivings.

She definitely understands where Toby is coming from with his concerns, but I think she is also feeling empowered to know that shaming isn't necessarily going to make Jack his healthiest, either. So Rebecca, since the pool episode in season 4 when she was like, "You're fat, I'm ancient, we're gorgeous, let's get in the pool," Rebecca has always been there to support Kate and she's finding her voice, just like Rebecca. She's confused at first by Rebecca's decision to pick her as executor. But I think the connection between them is undeniable, and she also understands that she can do this role and do it well.

Kate really seems to be losing her connection with Toby, and the long-distance is taking its toll. But it's deeper than that, as she bristles at the thought that she didn't carefully consider Jack's diet. How close to the big fracture are we now? Once you are ordered to take off the Pilgrim Rick hat, it's not looking good.

No, that is, like, deep Pearson fighting when the hat gets involved. Off of Rebecca's speech in this episode, Kate is heading to San Francisco with Toby two episodes from now. They get into some deep realizations about their marriage and how they feel about each other. And there's some tough logistic stuff going on in their lives and what they both want out of their lives. So this is kind of the start of definitely seeing those cracks.

Food is such a complicated subject for both of them, in both of their lives. And that brought out some of the cracks in the relationship, but I think what you pointed to — of Kate concerned that Toby just isn't realizing that she does put a lot of thought into what she feeds her kids — it's just a huge disconnect. In their big talk with each other, they both say, "We keep having the same argument over and over again." Kind of like Kate's weight struggle and cycle, it's just like something you can't get out of. You're just in this cycle of having the same argument. So yeah, we're getting closer to some even more intense relationship episodes for them, for sure.

Viewers see why Kate and Toby have a specific reason from their past to have these differing points of view, with Toby not wanting Jack Jr. to struggle like he did, and Kate wanting to break that cycle of shame with Jack Jr. Can you break down those conversations in the writers' room about the Toby-Kate divide?

Well, I think the first part of the conversation was, "Who knows about She's All That?" [Laughs]. Dan wanted to make sure this was a popular enough movie. And we all said, "Yes, it was definitely a part of our childhood." But yeah, it's all so complicated — Kate, as we flash back to her and her teenage years, feeling the shame of eating in front of Randall, who's concerned about her appearance. For Kate, she knows that it's hard to exist when everyone's watching what you're doing, and I think you could feel the shame in her teenage years and her being really careful about what she's eating. And it took a lot of the joy out of Thanksgiving.

But for Toby, he's had so much success in the last several years with his re-understanding of how he wants to eat and nourish his body and move his body. He's had such a positive success with it that he's looking out for Jack in that way and trying to basically share his wisdom with his son. Like he says, they both dealt with weight, so Jack has that in his genes. But I think Kate knows that there's also a danger in this constant watching and constant criticizing, that even though Jack's really young, you don't know what kids are picking up on. So in the writer's room, there's all different points of view on the best way to nourish your body. And we just wanted to represent both of their sides equally.

There have been snide comments by Kevin and Toby in recent episodes. Here, Toby makes the "41-year-old manchild" crack and Kevin tells him to take off the hat. Are Kevin and Toby headed to a big throwdown showdown, too?

Kate and Toby are headed for a showdown and Kevin's going to be… in the mix, you know? So if Kevin's around, which he will be, the tension is building between Toby and Kevin.

In this episode, Kevin has again underestimated all the invisible work that Miguel does for this family. And he'll have even more responsibility running her care moving forward. Things seem to have fallen into place for how he and Rebecca drift apart, but we know only that they later reconnect on Facebook. What can you hint about the next chapter in the Redemption of Miguel?

Well, there's a very special episode coming up that is a full Miguel episode, where you get into more of his backstory, that 2008 reconnection on Facebook with Rebecca and Miguel, and how the Big Three during that time period responded. There's definitely going to be more in the show that digs into all that is Miguel and how Rebecca and Miguel reconnect.

Let's go behind the scenes of their porch scene. They almost get there, where they're speaking the same language, but not saying the words, and the specter of Jack kind of hangs over both of them. How did you go about calibrating that scene? Were versions where they said a little more or a little less?

That, actually, is exactly what happened. There's a version where they did say a little more, and Dan was like, "Let's pull it back. Let's have them not say all the things, but just kind of live in the subtext of their looks." There's the moment when Miguel interrupts Rebecca and says he's moving to Houston, Rebecca's just about to open up and say, "I'm having these feelings…."

There's obviously another chapter to this love story that we're going to return to in this season, so we didn't want to go too far here. But, yeah, we really loved living in the in-between moments with them where it's like, "Oh, they're almost so close to kissing, but not!" It's frustrating but exciting — that was another scene that I just felt the electricity where the tears in Mandy's eyes, the way Jon looks at her, is all so fantastic. I know the fans have been waiting a really long time to see them come together.

Young Kevin weaponized the guilt that Miguel was wrestling with. Does that conversation go much differently if Kevin wasn't an enormous jerk and hadn't played the ultimate guilt card of Jack rolling over in his grave?

I think so. The connection was felt during and at the end of the Taboo scene, and throughout the entire night. For Miguel it has been building; we see them watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? together and going to speed dating together. For Kevin to really just call it out so plainly [laughs] and to see the hurt on Kevin's face, it was easier for Miguel to not think about it and just keep going at this surface-level friendship, even though now he's [realizing], "Oh, Kevin is seeing that there's something perhaps more between us." Like, it's coming out, in front of the family. So, yeah, if that conversation didn't happen between Kevin and Miguel, it could have gone a whole different way, for sure.

Miguels says that Y2K is real and he's putting all his money in a mattress. Is the final straw in what leads to Miguel and Rebecca to part ways in this time period related to the fact that Miguel will become a Y2K doomsday prepper? That's my crazy theory.

You know, that's pretty good. Could be.

By the way, what is the secret ingredient that Rebecca's mom whispered in her ear, and that she whispered in Kate's ear? It's not a fakeout, is it? Like the secret ingredient is just… love?

Well, um… I wanted to keep it as like the Pulp Fiction suitcase, like a secret. Mandy and I talked about it, but I think, you know, we'll keep it a secret for the fans to contemplate for the next couple of years. [Laughs]

Take that one to the grave…. The biggest surprise of the episode may have been how well Jack and Dave got along. What was in Dave's Tom Collins? That was the nicest he's ever been to Jack.

I know! I think because Dave knew there was going to be so much tension between his life and daughter, he was like, "I better be on my best behavior and be nice to Jack." [Laughs] There was a very men-versus-women [dynamic] in that time period. Yeah, for Janet and Dave, it was actually kind of nice to show a softer side of them that you usually don't see.

There's a comedic whiplash reversal with Rebecca and her mother, where Rebecca tells her off, but immediately changes her tune when she finds out that her mom is moving. Rebecca hugs her mom and says she can't wait to discuss the details for the wedding. But we know that their wedding will take place at City Hall, without them. So do old wounds resurface? Will we get that story this season?

I don't know if we'll get that story. We haven't gotten all the scripts in.

How mad will Deja [Lyric Ross] be at Randall when she finds out why Malik ([Asante Blackk] isn't texting?

Yeah, pretty mad. [Laughs] That episode might be coming up shortly as well.

On the heels of this final Thanksgiving episode, will viewers get a final Christmas episode?

Yes? Possibly. Maybe not a whole episode, but maybe a piece of Christmas at some point in the Pearsons' lives.

What is your tease for next week's episode, which is the Kevin-focused episode of the trilogy?

Off of Rebecca's speech to her kids, Kevin spends some time at the cabin with the twins and reconnects with Cassidy [Jennifer Morrison] and Nicky as they work on building the house.

And what words spring to mind when describing those three episodes as a piece?

Empowering.... It's the Big Three figuring out what they want their next chapters of their lives to be off of Rebecca's speech. And it's different things for all three of them.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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