‘This Is Us’: Happier Times Are Finally Ahead for the Pearson Family
While This Is Us is notorious for making fans cry, there’s no denying that the most recent two episodes of the series were maybe the saddest yet.
“Super Bowl Sunday” and “The Car” gave a look into Jack’s (Milo Ventimiglia) death and funeral, leaving viewers completely gut-wrenched. So with three episodes left in Season 2, what more can we expect? Tears, of course, but this time, they aren’t caused by heartache but rather joy.
The final episodes, beginning Tuesday, February 27, will feature joint bachelor/bachelorette parties, the “Big 3” preparing an anniversary celebration for their parents, and background on both Jack and Déjà (Lyric Ross). Not to mention, we’ll have Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby’s (Chris Sullivan) long-awaited wedding. A drastic contrast from the season’s ominous beginnings.
Instead of dwelling on the past, these episodes will begin to look to the future, according to executive producer Isaac Aptaker. The showrunner recently told The Hollywood Reporter of the time jump, “It’s not a one-time thing. We didn’t just do that to be splashy during the Super Bowl episode… Now that we’ve visited that time, nothing’s off the table and we will certainly be returning there in the future.”
But for now, most of the show will focus on the present. “We’re going to Vegas, so things definitely get a little crazy,” Aptaker said. “Of course, it is This is Us, so there’s some family dynamics and we do get to an unexpected place like usual. But overall, the episode has a fun-ness to it and it has a lightheartedness to it that we have not had in our last two [episodes].”
Fans will also get a peek into Jack’s past when the show revisits his time in Vietnam, something that has only been teased before.
As for Vegas, Toby will be taking on the town with soon-to-be brothers-in-law Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown). Meanwhile, Kate will be hanging out with sister-in-law Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson).
We’ll also learn more about how Déjà ended up in the foster care system, which will hopefully answer questions about her initial behavior towards Beth and Randall. This should help viewers to understand why she returns to them.
In the finale, which documents the wedding, we catch a glimpse at the whole family together, with an emphasis on “whole family.” This may mean Jack will be there—of course, in ghost/hallucination form, because he’s definitely dead—but fans will have to wait and see.
Though it’s sad to think that there are only three episodes left, the promise of some happiness for the Pearson family is all we need.
This Is Us, Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC
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