I'll say it: This season of This Is Us has been traumatizing. From the first few moments of the pilot, the series has succeeded in making me, as well as the rest of America, a weepy disaster. Most of this emotional wreckage is due to the fact that Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) is definitely going to die. (This is not a spoiler. This is a devastatingly true fact.) In the present storyline, which follows the adult Pearson triplets Kevin, Kate, and Randall, Jack Pearson is definitely dead. In fact, we've seen his ashes. But in the past storyline, which follows the Jack and Rebecca Pearson, the patriarch is still very much alive. This means that we, the viewer, have been watching in horror, awaiting the day we lose Jack Pearson.
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I come bearing good news, though. Jack Pearson isn't going to die — yet. In an interview with Us Weekly, Ventimiglia revealed that he hasn't filmed his "death" just yet. Because there are only two more episodes left in season one, this means we're probably not going to see him die just yet. (Unless, of course, This Is Us has a really slapdash shooting schedule, which I doubt it does.) For the time being, we can sleep easy: Jack Pearson isn't going to die anytime soon. Don't get me wrong — he's going to die. Surprise: We all are! But the show won't feature his demise just yet.
Unfortunately for the showrunners and writers, though, the longer they put off this death, the more we're going to expect. At this point, Jack Pearson's passing is the show's favorite reveal to tease. There are more than a few fan theories surrounding it. It's the This Is Us version of a whodunit, only it's "in what tragic, terrible, devastating way did Jack Pearson pass?" And as far as exciting fan speculation goes, this particular one is pretty morbid. Justin Hartley, who plays Kevin on the show, told Us Weekly that for all our efforts, the fans are probably never going to hit the nail on the head.
"You'll never guess it," the actor said. "[Jack's death is] unexpected and it's extremely heartbreaking and sad and deep and moving and, ugh, it's painful. It's painful. It'll stay with you."
Oof. Ventimiglia, in this most recent interview, claimed that his character's departure is immeasurably depressing. When asked how emotionally distressed fans would be upon the reveal, Ventimiglia said ominously, "I don't think it's scaleable — I really don't think it's scaleable."
He continued, "[The show is] making people fall in love with Jack and Rebecca and the relationship with these kids and everything, that I really feel people are going to be crushed when that moment comes."
All this depressing hullabaloo makes you wonder: At what point is all this emotional manipulation detrimental? Even as a dedicated fan, I'm never sure if I should keep watching This Is Us or if I should just re-watch You've Got Mail, a predictable movie with daisies, love notes, and absolutely no soul-crushing deaths.