In between bouts of weeping, This Is Us fans have tirelessly tried to figure out what really happened to Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), the Pearson patriarch who died before his three children became the adults we know them as today. Did he die in a fire caused by a malfunctioning washing machine? Did Kate's untrainable dog have anything to do with his death?
This Is Us has no interest in putting the clues on a silver platter for fans, but one clever Redditor does have an idea about when we'll get that ultimate answer about Jack's demise.
According to Reddit user MaineSoxGuy93, we may find out all the information we need to know about the Pearson father on the 20th anniversary of Jack's death.
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MaineSoxGuy93 writes:
"The Big 3 were born in 1980. They are now 37. Jack died in their senior year of high school. So that means Jack died somewhere between 1997-98. That means the twentieth anniversary of his death is coming up. We will find out how he died on the 20th anniversary of his death," the Redditor surmises.
It makes a lot of sense. Birthdays are a big part of the show, with the pilot episode and the season 2 premiere of This Is Us both opening with the Kate (Chrissy Metz), Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Randall's (Sterling K. Brown) big day. It's almost like the show wants us to pay attention to the specifics of the timeline, which, yes, would indicate that two decades have passed since they lost Jack.
Creator Dan Fogelman confirmed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that fans will learn the details of Jack's death in season 2. However, that doesn't mean we'll be spoon-fed the answer.
"In order to fully understand that year of their life, you don’t just do it one episode," the TV writer explained to EW. "You have to understand where they’re all at that time period, what had happened in the marriage, what was happening with those kids, what was happening with those kids vis a vis their father, before they lost him, that frames these 37-year-old people we’re seeing. Once we’ve done that, then we’ll see everything we need to know about Jack. And it will be this season."
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Should we actually get this anniversary episode, there won't be a dry eye in the fandom.