The midseason finale of This Is Us is upon us once again, and as as a loyal fan (read: a full-time, dues paying member of the Randall and Beth Hive) in a state of perpetual exhaustion from crying because of the emotional award-winning NBC series, I have to say that a little break is more than welcome. Tonight, the fall finale of This Is Us will centre around a giant reunion over a Thanksgiving dinner of smoked turkey, macaroni and cheese, and a heaping plate of Pearson family drama.
This season, every Pearson and Pearson-adjacent character is going through their own issues. Matriarch Rebecca is struggling with her deteriorating health, and her favourite child Randall has to balance that with his own changing family dynamic. Meanwhile, Kate and Toby are trying to figure out how to be parents to baby Jack, and Kevin is attempting to usher prickly Uncle Nicky into the fold.
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As if the personal lives of Pearson family weren't already beyond complicated, season 4 of the show introduced a group of brand new characters with brand new storylines to devastate us further. We've fallen in love with Malik, Cassidy, and Nicky, leaving us more open to the likelihood that their characters will bring us to tears.
Tonight, the Pearsons (and some special guests) will gather in Randall and Beth's gorgeous Philly home to celebrate Thanksgiving. If you've been watching the show long enough, you know that things will go the opposite of smoothly; Pearson holidays are notoriously fraught. Still, the trailer for the episode teases, it's the perfect stage to some of the series' most climactic moments to play out. Deja's mother will finally make her reappearance, the family will meet Uncle Nicky, and Rebecca...well, she might not even make it to the party.
Will everything be solved in tonight's episode? Of course not. That would be too easy — we've got a few more seasons left of the NBC dramedy in the pipeline before the already-filmed series finale, so things can't just come together yet.
While we don't have an exact date for the return of This Is Us next year, a look back at the previous seasons might clue us in. Season 3 picked up after its Thanksgiving fall finale in mid-January, so it's possible that we can expect to see the Pearsons again around the same time in 2020.
That gives you a few months to recoup from the fallout of tonight's episode...or come up with endless theories about what's going to happen to Rebecca. Your call.