‘This Is Us’: Was That Actually Joni Mitchell’s ‘Our House’ that Kevin and Rebecca Visited?
We finally found out what’s ailing Rebecca (Mandy Moore) on This Is Us on Tuesday, Feb. 25. However, the episode also included Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Rebecca trespassing on the grounds of Joni Mitchell’s old home in Los Angeles. Let’s take a look at whether or not that’s her real home, and if the story of how “Our House” was written is true.
[Spoiler alert: This Is Us Season 4 Episode 15.]
What happened between Kevin and Rebecca in ‘This Is Us’ Season 4 Episode 15?
In This Is Us Season 4 Episode 15, Kevin and Rebecca were bonding across the eras. In the 1990s, the matriarch of the family took young Kevin along to run errands after school. However, after much persistence, he finally gets her to take him to the baseball card shop.
After hearing that she was not the fun mom, Rebecca coincidentally shares a silly moment with Kevin. The two shove their faces with bubble gum while they methodically open packs of baseball cards searching for a ’91 John Candelaria card.
While, in the present day, their mother-son bonding is over tracking down Joni Mitchell’s home. When they finally get up to the house, Kevin tries to use his celebrity status to get invited inside. However, the owners are not home and then resort to trespassing instead.
Luckily, TMZ or the cops do not catch them, and Kevin still gets his mother to her test result appointment. On a more distressing note, we find out that Rebecca does indeed have a mild cognitive disorder that indicates she is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Did ‘This Is Us’ actually film season 4, episode 15 at Joni Mitchell’s old house?
“I hate to reveal it, but unfortunately it was not Joni Mitchell’s actual house,” This Is Us producer Isaac Aptaker regretfully admitted to Entertainment Weekly.
The episode was appropriately named, “Clouds,” after the Canadian singer-songwriter’s second album. However, the producers could not film at her real home.
“I believe, if I’m not mistaken, she still owns the actual house,” Aptaker said. “So we had to find a very similar looking house in the Laurel Canyon area. But it definitely captures the vibe and essence of Joni’s real house. And that story is also, to the best of our knowledge, true.”
The story he is referring to is how Mitchell inspired Graham Nash to write the song, “Our House” about their Laurel Canyon Cottage.
Did Rebecca have the story right in ‘This Is Us’ about how Nash came to write, ‘Our House?’
Nash told NPR’s Fresh Air in 2013 that the famous song came out of a very simple, yet a real moment. It was a typical morning for Nash and Mitchell out to breakfast at Art’s Deli on Ventura Blvd.
Afterward, she bought a vase from a nearby antique store. When they brought the vase home to their home in the Laurel Canyon area, the lyrics were born.
“It was a very grey, kind of sleety, drizzly L.A. morning,” Nash said. “And we got to the house in Laurel Canyon, and I said – got through the front door, and I said, you know what? I’ll light a fire. Why don’t you put some flowers in that vase that you just bought? Well, she was in the garden getting flowers. That meant she was not at her piano, but I was.”
Then he wrote the song, and the rest is history. Although This Is Us did not visit that famous house, Rebecca did tell the story correctly. This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 pm E.T. on NBC.
