This Is Us
NBC, Sunday, (10:15 ET/7:15 PT, time approximate)
This is the episode fans have been waiting for. After teasing viewers for a season and a half about how Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) died, the post-Super Bowl episode promises to finally fill in the rest of the blanks and rank as one of the series’ most heartbreaking episodes yet.
After 31 episodes, many clues and one attention-getting misdirection, This Is Us will finally reveal how patriarch Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) died in Sunday’s post-Super Bowl episode.
“All of the stuff people might be theorizing about regarding Jack’s death will get wrapped up in this episode,” creator Dan Fogelman tells USA TODAY. “I think people are going to be satisfied, and in … ways they don’t see coming, they’re going to be really surprised.”
The fact of Jack’s death, an unexpected reveal in the hit NBC drama’s first episode, obsessed many fans — who analyze hints and and seek clues about the cause — and annoyed others, who complain the mystery has dragged on too long.
The new episode, titled “Super Bowl Sunday” (10:15 ET/7:15 PT), shifts between the 1998 Super Bowl, the day of Jack’s death, and this year’s big game as Randall (Sterling K. Brown) hosts a Super Bowl party.
In the earlier timeline, “it’s a continuation of where we left off (in the episode Jan. 23) with the fire starting to spread” after a slow-cooker shorts out and ignites a curtain, Fogelman says. “In the present day, we’re connecting with characters as they’re contemplating the 20th anniversary of that fire.”
Us fans will learn more about how Jack’s tragic death affected family dynamics: why Kate (Chrissy Metz) blames herself and Kevin (Justin Hartley) has trouble processing the loss of his father.
“Kate is self-examining; Randall is, in his own way, celebrating his father and Kevin (considers) his history with his father,” Fogelman says.
Fogelman always planned to resolve Jack’s death late this season, hoping to link the tragedy to a holiday “that we could build into family lore.”
When he realized the audienceboosting post-Super Bowl slot was available, he called NBC executives and pitched the Pearsons as “a football family.” He probably would have received the slot anyway: The series, one of TV’s buzziest, is broadcast TV’s No. 3 drama, averaging 15.5 million viewers, and the top scripted series among young adults.
Many fans reacted strongly, and negatively, to Season 1’s penultimate episode, in which Kate first claimed responsibility for Jack’s death and a drunken Jack was seen driving erratically, leading many to expect that would lead to his demise.
“We thought that was a cool cliffhanger. We didn’t realize it was going to set the Internet ablaze,” Fogelman says. “We’ve become careful” parsing out details.
After the Season 2 premiere revealed Jack’s death was connected to a house fire, the show focused on other storylines. “While Jack’s looming death was always in the background, I thought it dissipated a little bit, in a good way,” Fogelman says. “It only built up again recently.”
Besides “heartbreakingly sad” moments, the new episode is “in parts hold-your-breath thrilling,” especially the opening six-minute scene, he promises. “We have something looming with (Kate’s) dog that we’ve been setting up for quite a while.”
Fogelman doesn’t worry that postgame newcomers will be left in the dark. “This isn’t Lost. It’s not so complicated. I think it’s pretty easy to dive in if you want to,” he says. “I think it’s very possible to watch this as the first episode you’ve ever seen, and then (go to) Episode 1.”
Will the heavy subject matter prove too much of a downer after the game?
“Our show is made by optimists and romantics, and even in our hardest episodes, that comes through. Even our saddest stuff is not ugly. It’s done with love,” Fogelman says.
“At the end, I think there is a degree of, ‘It’s going to be OK.’ ”