Maybe the show should be retitled This Is Heavy?
That's how This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman described the show's season 2 premiere to Entertainment Weekly, proving that the audience shouldn't let their guard down while watching what might be NBC's saddest drama to date.
A lot happened to the Pearson clan in the season 1 finale, both in the past and present. In 2017, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) told his wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) that he wanted to adopt a baby. Kevin (Justin Hartley) decided whether he was going to ditch the ex-wife he just reunited with in order to take a role in Ron Howard's new movie. And, in the past, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) made the decision to separate after a dramatic, blow-out fight.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
In a recent interview, Fogelman teased to Entertainment Weekly that the premiere will return to Jack and Rebecca, who will have to share the news of their separation with their children — a process which the TV writer called "scarring."
"I mean, they’ve said stuff they’ve never said. They’ve said stuff in the heat of the moment that clearly, they felt for a while. I think it takes a while to buy it back. The first episode is all about the ramifications of those things that have been said, and the regret."
The only bright side? Perhaps that regret will be short lived. In a recently released clip from season 2, Rebecca and Randall have a heart-to-heart, in which she talks fondly of her now-deceased husband.
"Someone has to be the one to push to make the big moves," Rebecca says in the clip. "Oftentimes in our marriage, yes, it was your father. Our marriage wasn't perfect, it's true, but none are. Your father wasn't perfect either, but he was pretty damn close. As close as they come."
Something tells me that Jack and Rebecca's marriage will survive...even if we know, ultimately, Jack does not.