HOLLYWOOD – While the season premiere of “This Is Us” was airing on the East Coast a private screening was taking place concurrently in the heart of Hollywood. The Emmy-winning drama is a monster hit for NBC so the network rolled out a literal red carpet for the celebratory event which featured a Q&A immediately following the shocking episode.
On hand to discuss the event were the entire cast including Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown (Randall, beloved), Mandy Moore (Rebecca, the show’s not-so-secret weapon), Milo Ventimiglia (Jack, this must be “his” year), Chrissy Metz (Kate, needs more interesting story arcs), Justin Hartley (Kevin, not staring in that Ron Howard movie), Susan Kelechi Watson (Beth, never enough for her to do), Chris Sullivan (Toby, the beard does wonders) and creator Dan Fogelman.
Again, this second season kickoff included some dramatic revelations about Jack’s eventual death (one of the first season’s unexpected and unexplained plot points) so if you have not watched, note there are major spoilers ahead.
After some everyday storylines set in contemporary 2017, the episode ended with a flashback to 1997 and the teenage versions of Randall and Kate sobbing over the death of their father. Kate has a dog (unseen in previous episodes) and while unaware of his father’s passing, Kevin is shown with his leg in a cast that has a lot of handwritten messages on it meaning he must have broken it weeks earlier. The episode ends with Rebecca, seemingly in shock, wearing a Steelers jersey and driving her car to the Pearson’s home which the camera pans up to reveal has burned down. Looking at the damage she has an emotional release and the episode ends.
In case there was any doubt, Fogelman made it clear this was the moment viewers had been waiting for.
“We flash forward to the day Jack died. And what you’re seeing is a lot of pieces come into play,” Fogelman says. “This was always the plan for the big three characters, Milo and Mandy, we talked about what happened to Jack and his family pretty much from day one of starting. You are seeing a lot of things that are going to reveal themselves over the course of the season.”
The show’s creator says the writing staff spent a lot of time together analyzing every bit of minutiae about this dramatic moment in the Pearson’s family history. And again, notes, “All the answers of how Jack died and seeing how Jack died. It’s all gonna happen in the course of the season.”
While “This Is Us” has been filming new episodes since at least August, Moore revealed that in order to keep the end a secret as long as possible the final scene of the season premiere was shot just a week and a half ago.
“We waited until the last minute to shoot this piece of the episode,” Moore says. “It’s incredibly emotional. They had everything set up. I got out there. I did what I had to do and we were done in like 10 minutes.”
Fogelman had nothing but praise for Moore in this particular scene. Especially as what you see in the show was essentially her first take.
“This was six months of planning. We built a replica of the house in five hours,” Fogelman says. “We had big signs [so people wouldn’t know it was our show filming]. We had code words. The president of our television network, Jennifer Salke, came to our edit bay to look at things because I was so neurotic. And then Mandy came to set and they put her in the car and it was literally the first take. After all that planning it was about thirty seconds of filming.”
That being said, how Jack dies in the fire (or because of it) is still a mystery.
Fogelman adds, “That’s what we are saying to people. ‘Did he die in the fire? Did he get out of the fire?’ We are not misdirecting. He didn’t die four years later.”
The episode also featured some memorable moments such as Watson and Sterling “fake smoking” after a tense meeting with an adoption agent and a subplot where Kate finds the courage to audition as the lead singer of a potentially lucrative wedding band.
Kate learns that despite her talents she still has a lot to learn, but fans shouldn’t take that to mean the Emmy nominee can’t sing. Notably, Sterling emphatically decreed, “Chrissy Metz is a beast.”
In fact, Fogelman says Metz is so good they have struggled to make it look like she’s actually struggling. He recalls, “Our biggest challenge in the editing bay was trying to figure out how in a way to make the other girl sound a little more tentative because it was like, ‘Oh, shit. She’s really good right away.’ She’s the real deal. People are gonna freak out.”
Metz is clearly grateful for the storyline adding that Fogleman has written her dream role and, “I enjoy singing very much.”
Of course, Moore, the former teen pop star, is no stranger to singing herself and her character will do more so during the upcoming season.
“Season four when we run out of ideas the whole thing is just gonna be a musical,” Fogelman jokes.
Considering Jack (Ventimiglia) might not be around past this season (beyond the occasional cameo) anything’s possible, right?
“This Is Us” airs on Tuesday nights on NBC at 9 PM ET/ 8 PM CT.