‘This Is Us’ Fans Thrilled As Dr. K, Malik & Uncle Nicky Return For Season 4 Finale
This Is Us will bring back three beloved characters for the Season 4 finale, titled “Strangers: Part Two.” In new photos posted to NBC’s press site, it is revealed that fan favorites Dr. Katowski (Gerald McRaney), Malik Hodges (Asante Blackk) and Nicky Pearson (Griffin Dunne) will be back for the final episode of the season.
A synopsis for the “Strangers: Part Two” episode posted by Futon Critic reveals that the Pearsons will gather to celebrate Baby Jack’s first birthday, but photos from the episode show that the storylines will be all over the place.
In the finale promo posted to Instagram, Dr. Katowski is singing the song “Blue Skies.” Dr. K. was an important part of the first season of This Is Us. He delivered Jack and Rebecca Pearson’s triplets and helped the couple cope with the death of one of their newborns, thus spawning their decision to adopt Randall who was born on the same day as their babies Kevin and Kate.
In comments to the Instagram post, fans got emotional over seeing the beloved doctor, with some saying just the image of Dr. K., even without any dialogue, was already bringing tears to their eyes.
“Dr. K IS HERE I’M CRYING ALREADY,” one This Is Us fan wrote.
A second Instagram post is a behind-the-scenes pic that shows Randall (Sterling K. Brown) posing on his front steps with his daughters Tess (Eris Baker), Annie (Faithe Herman), and Deja (Lyric Ross), with Deja’s boyfriend Malik hamming it up alongside them.
Commenters wrote that they were happy to finally see more of Deja and Malik.
“Aw I miss Deja and her boo,” one fan wrote.
“I was just thinking about Malik! Need to see more of that storyline!” another viewer said.
Several fans expressed frustration that most of Randall’s family storyline in recent weeks has revolved around him, and they noted that they are ready to find out what has been going on with the other people in his household.
“I miss the rest of the family,” one person wrote. “I like when the episode covers a lot of the characters!”
In photos posted by NBC, Uncle Nicky (Griffin Dunne) is also shown as a guest star in the episode. It appears that Nicky is sitting in his trailer in Pittsburgh.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, This Is Us executive producer Elizabeth Berger teased that for the finale, the show will be “all over the place” with a lot of timelines.
Indeed, just in the short trailer alone, past timelines with Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Dr. K. are teased, and Baby Jack (Blake Stadnik) is also shown as an adult in a future-set scene decades from now.
