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‘This Is Us’ finale didn’t tell us how Jack died, but it did show us how he met Rebe…
“This Is Us” wrapped up a seriously stellar first season with another twist ending — just not the one we were expecting.
Just when you thought Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) was going to die in a fiery, drunken car crash on his way to see Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) first show, it turns out he made it to the bar after all, only to get progressively drunker waiting for his wife to go on stage.
That’s the perfect state of mind for him to find out that Ben (Sam Trammell) made a move on Rebecca, right? Wrong.
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The drunken brawl that ensued effectively ended Rebecca’s singing career and maybe their marriage as a result.
The scene that will obviously go down in “This Is Us” history is the fight between Rebecca and Jack after they got home. Rebecca screamed at him about his sudden and convenient “relapse” of drinking now that she had a life of her own, Jack low key accused her of cheating after finding out Ben kissed her, and Rebecca admitted a harsh truth that she could never take back — she had become a ghost in her own house, raising kids who didn’t need her anymore with a husband who didn’t seem to love her anymore.
From the kitchen to the den to the living room and back again, Jack and Rebecca’s argument was a marathon of a scene, only made more impressive by the fact that it was all done in one take. All parties involved should feel justly proud of their absolutely amazing work.
While we watched Rebecca and Jack’s relationship end, it was only fitting that “This Is Us” also showed us how they started. As youngins in their mid-20s, these two were set up on blind dates by a family friend. It would have been an adorable way to kick off their relationship, but “This Is Us” is never that simple.
Rebecca’s blind date turned out to be with someone else on the same night that Jack stood up his own date so he could rob a bar’s cash register. Life of crime not adding up? It makes a little more sense when you factor in that a backroom poker game at said bar ended up robbing him of his winnings the week before.
The plan goes disastrously awry when — after walking out of her date — Rebecca appears on stage and utterly captivates Jack’s attention with her voice.
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It was a decidedly odd finale choice to have the episode exist almost entirely in the past, with very little time devoted to Randall (Sterling K. Brown), Kate (Chrissy Metz) or Kevin (Justin Hartley), but we suppose there was a lot of ground to cover, given how long Jack’s death has been looming.
Speaking of that death …. COME ON, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Jack’s death was not the horrific result of a drunk driving accident after all. It’s still a total mystery.
While it’s understandable if you’re feeling a little tricked, it’s hard to be too upset. This means we get another season of Jack and another year of trying to figure out what killed him, which has frankly been half the fun of this season. We’re also still totally curious why Kate feels so responsible for it. And if all goes well, Jack and Rebecca’s love story is just getting started, like Jack told her the morning after their fight.
But seriously, if we don’t find out how Jack kicks the bucket in the first half of Season 2, we’re going to be so pissed.
“This Is Us” is scheduled to return in the fall of 2017.