“It’s going to deliver. It’s truly, truly going to deliver,” MiloVentimiglia, who plays Jack, promised of the series finale during the NBC Winter 2022 Television Critics Association press tour. Then creator/showrunner Dan Fogelman offered up an even juicier tease when he explained that viewers will be spending a great deal more time at the house that Kevin is building for the family from the architectural plans left behind by Jack on his untimely death. “We’re definitely going to spend more time there in the course of the season than we’ve ever spent there,” Fogelman said. “Typically, our flash-forwards into the future, there’s actually three future areas we’ve been in. One is we’ve seen glimpses of Kate’s second wedding. We see [the Pearsons] in what we call the ‘death house.’ Then we also, obviously, have Jack Jr. [Blake Stadnik] in the much even deeper future as an aspiring young musician.” Fogelman added, “We’ve typically gone to those [three stories] for the most part as flash-forwards, like here’s an endpoint of a journey, but we haven’t lived there a time. It’s fair to say that in the course of the end of the season, we’ll live there more.” The beginning of the death house story began with Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) dementia diagnosis, and we’ve watched as she’s handled the knowledge of what’s to come and the preparations that she’s making. The biggest clue as to her future came in the flash-forward where the family gathered at Kevin’s home, apparently to say goodbye to Rebecca, who is bedridden with Nicky (Griffin Dunne) by her side. Missing is Kate, but Toby (Chris Sullivan) is there, and it is inferred that Kate is on her way. According to her fellow castmates, Moore is knocking it out of the park. Brown said of her performance, “She’s played [Rebecca] from about 16 to 80‑something without batting an eyelash, seamlessly going through time over the past six years. She’s a killer, man.” And the best is yet to come. In a separate flash-forward in the Season 5 finale, we discovered that Kate and Toby had divorced when Kate was preparing to walk down the aisle to marry her co-worker, Phillip (Chris Geere). As these final episodes play out, we will watch the dissolution of Kate and Toby’s marriage and the beginning of her new romance. “Chrissy and Chris, the s**t they got coming, it’s different,” Brown said. “Be wary. Be on guard. But it’s coming your way.” As for the third flash-forward topic, we have watched as Jack Jr. is at the beginning of a music career, following a path both his grandmother and mother attempted but were unsuccessful at. But the most telling flash-forward with Jack Jr. is the episode this season in which he is smoking meat in the Big Green Egg that Toby had purchased for the family for a weekend that was supposed to heal the rifts between him and Kate. We watch as Jack Jr. recalls that painful day and we meet his wife Lucy (Auden Thornton), who says that he should get rid of the smoker because it is “the literal symbol of the day your mom and dad’s marriage blew up.” This is Us airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Next, Grab the Tissues! We Finally Know When This Is Us’ Series Finale Will Air—Plus, All the Latest Spoilers
