This Is Usreturned to the air on Tuesday night, immediately giving viewers plenty to buzz about adoption!
but it was the final sequence of the season 2 premiere that truly fired conversations and imaginations.
Next to Kate, Randall (Niles Fitch) was sobbing, being comforted by… a red-headed girl?
Ron Batzdorff/NBC
Miguel (Jon Huertas) looked heartbroken as well.
This time for real.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: That was quite a wallop.
What kind of statement did you want to make with that scene?
So we had a plan from day 1.
It wasnt like I went through every episode, but I said, Heres how Jack dies.
Heres how were going to reveal how Jack dies.
Heres when were going to reveal it.
And this was all very much part of the plan.
And I said, Heres how he dies.
Heres what happens to his family.
So that was the plan from the moment I turned in the first script.
Whether right, wrong, or other, this was exactly what we wanted to do.
There are so many clues planted in this scene.
For starters, Rebecca is wearing a Steelers jersey.
First and foremost is the question of: What state was their marriage in when this happened?
Secondly, there are a zillion clues that are all over.
Our hardcore dramedy fans can study the last two minutes of the show like a Zapruder film.
And they wont be disappointed.
Weve carefully constructed this, so, yes, I think its a hopeful sign.
But then the look on her face is concerning because she seems blank.
But what Mandy channels in that final shot is raw grief.
You dont have that kind of grief with someone youre in a broken marriage with, necessarily.
Theres a lot of questions to be answered.
But yeah, we can look at all of those details.
But the Steelers jersey is one.
The Steelers jersey is a clue.
NEXT PAGE: Fogelman lists the five big mysteries of that scene
Whose dog is that?
Clearly, the house is a big mystery.
Was he in the house?
Was he out of the house?
What exactly transpired on that night?
Theyre staying at Miguels.
Youve got Kate holding a little dog that weve never seen before.
What is that dog?
Where did that come from?
Youve got Randall seemingly being comforted in profile by a red-headed girl weve never seen.
Who is that person?
What is going on?
And then youve got…
Kevins cast?Kevins cast.
And then in that flashback, she said, We have to find Kevin.
He has to hear it from me.
So theres a lot to unpack.
Like whats in Rebeccas back seat.
It didnt look burned.It didnt look burned.
Any red herrings in this sequence?No.
Theres no fake-outs here.
And theres no fake-outs in last season.
Kate said she feels responsible for her fathers death.
Thats a big thing that people have latched onto.
Weve not done anything by accident.
This has always been the plan, so everything weve constructed has been for this.
How long will people have to wait for the next clue?
Itll be somewhere in between.
Peeling an onion is the best way to describe it.
for fully understand that year of their life, you dont just do it one episode.
Once weve done that, then well see everything we need to know about Jack.
And it will be this season.
As a fan of the show, intrinsically you know that.
But we could be misleading people.
You have said that youre always approaching this show and this couple through an optimistic lens.
Rebeccas move to repair the relationship happened faster than we might have thought it was going to happen.
Im sure you talked about having it happen a couple episodes later.
I will tell you, theres going to be surprising things that happen this year.
Rebecca and Jack have a marriage thats fraught with more stuff.
Theyve got some stuff to do.
The theme of this show with marriage is Rebecca showing up you cant encapsulate it any clearer.
We make our decisions together.
And that is the mantra by which the show operates.
Did you plant any clues in that scene?No.
Thats not something were abandoning, and its a big part of all of it.
I dont think tonight necessarily addressed that.
Rebecca says Get in the car, Jack, which is the new take-charge catchphrase for this show.
Is she going to have more agency in the relationship and take the reins more moving forward?
Jack is so desperately in need of help right now.I think so.
I find Rebeccas character, long before tonight, intrinsically heroic and beautiful.
But thats not to say that patterns dont get reestablished as well.
She shows a lot this year.
As an actress, Mandy has a lot to do this year.
Id be hard-pressed to think of a character that goes through more than Rebecca goes through this season.
And thats a big part of what were doing this season.
What was it like for him back then versus how is he going to handle it now?
And what is at the core of his problem?
We get into all of that with Jack in episode 2.
Eventually, they embark on this big story.
Im very excited about it.
We have a young actor or actress I wont give away gender joining our cast.
And we get to some really interesting, surprising places in the course of the season.
Its just slightly different.
And theyre going to go through all of that together.
We thought that that was the best way to do it.
Thats not how life works.
Anything that Chrissy does is so tactile for people.
They latch onto that journey.
Its also exciting for me knowing for me whats coming ahead.
Tonight she got cut off; next week Chrissy really belts and shows what she can do.
Was that something you were looking for when casting that role?No.
That was one piece that evolved a little bit with the casting.
Kevin (Justin Hartley) tells Toby (Chris Sullivan) that hes not a great actor.
But its actually very truthful.
Kevins been this very breezy character.
Hes getting into the weeds this year in a lot of different ways as he explores himself internally.
You used a codename for the burned-down house.
What was it?The code name was the marble.
We called the fire the marble.
In anything we would refer to it as the marble.
What was the craziest security measure that you took in this process?There were multiple.
We drove hours away from Los Angeles to film it with fake signs that didnt sayTIU.
Honestly, its been quite an undertaking.
Theory: Is it possible that one of Randalls fake cigarettes caused the fire?I love it!
… What causes the fire is going to be heartbreaking.
Thats part of our story.
This Is Usairs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
