But it also gave us a death day.
As in, a funeral.
As in,hisfuneral.
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC
(Another line in the Jack portrait was drawn; many more pencil strokes to come.)
Even in Kates story.
Did we mention that Sophie is also his ex-wife from whom he was divorced 12 years ago?
You dont see it, but this is happening.
[Click here for a Q&A with Milo Ventimigliaabout the funeral scene.
And to read what Mandy Moore said about filming that funeral scene with Ventimiglia present,click here.]
How did you decide for storytelling purposes that that was the right age?
Ive always known when Jack died.
Thehowis going to take much longer to reveal.
What hath been loosened?A lot.
And its going to take a long time.
And its something that broke this family apart, not irreparably.
They all love each other.
The Big Three is amazing together.
But theres stuff here, and I think a lot of it is held with Jack.
Theres still and theres going to be for some time a lot of unanswered questions.
What was going on in their marriage whenever this happened?
How did it happen?
Those questions arent going to be answered for some time.
What Ive referenced in our writers room a lot is my mom died very suddenly and very tragically.
Its not something Im real capable of getting into, and I went briefly to therapy.
Were not just pulling this out of our ass in the 13th episode.
Weve seen this in bits and pieces with this family.
So, theres a long journey for the audience to go on, still.
But what can you say of the impact of thehow?Well, its full-reaching.
Weve seen it in bits and pieces in the course of the show.
Kate has moved across the country, lived in her brothers shadow, battles weight and confidence problems.
Kevin clearly harborshugebaggage toward his mother, toward Miguel.
Kate harbors stuff toward her mother.
This is all part and parcel of whatever happened there around 16, 17 years old.
Can you speak to the emotional part of it?
How devastating and tragic was his actual death?Its a complicated thing.
In terms of the detail of how he died, was it illness?
Was it something tragic?
Was it something else?
Youre not going to know that for a little bit because we want to show that in the show.
So thats going to take a minute.
Hopefully we havent done too much sad crying.
But the back half of the season its heavy, and its not just heavy on an emotional level.
Its dark, and theres some darkness that creeps into the show because thats what happens in life.
Were not trying to be edgy or cool, but perfect people act imperfectly.
A wonderful marriage faces serious tests.
People get sick and die.
So we cant just do a show where every week is this kind of emotional but very safe release.
We also have to dive into the heavy stuff.
I just wrote the finale today and… its a doozy.
He was relating to something in himself.
And I felt it was a little too early.
Its going to be looming.
That age is a big part of our series moving forward.
And it seemed he let her down on some level.
Are we now in a love quadrangle?
Because this is getting messy.
[laughs] Justins so handsome that I feel like a love triangle is not nearly enough for him.
Kevins romantic story will turn very much to Sophie for the rest of the season.
What can you hint about their failed marriage?
Sophie abandons Kate for Kevin at the birthday party.
So theres stuff long down the road to explore there, potentially.
Youre going to learn a lot about Kevin as we proceed.
A lot about how a Hollywood playboy becomes a Hollywood playboy.
I think youre going to like a lot about him with her.
Well see if that evolves in the weeks to come.
How fun was it for you to write that first Duke-Toby scene?
Because you know thats coming.It comes next week, and its… really fun.
Its really simple, and its a high point of the episode next week.
So, Toby and Kate broke up.
They got back together.
Then he had the heart attack.
Then they basically got engaged.
And now shes going away for a month?Everything about their relationship has been abnormal.
But we deal with that a lot.
But Ive been in those relationships where youre like, I also know this isnt completelygood…
Even though it is completely good.
But theres something about our pattern thats strange.
Will that create an opening for a guy like Duke if he reveals a softer underbelly?
It remains to be seen.
Jack tries to open Rebeccas mind to a fourth child or even a dog, which she initially resists.
Does this issue come back into their lives?
But maybe theres stuff to be explored earlier in their marriage.
Did you just like the idea of, You think their hands are full now?
Try four!Yeah, and I have a buddy who had three kids in succession in New Jersey.
He actually does what Randall does for a living, and he calls in and consults on the show.
Because he had a 1-year-old, a 2-and-a-half-year-old, and a 4-year-old.
And he said, Imagine drowning and somebody throws you a baby.
I always thought that was a great line.
But in terms of having another baby, it could come up back earlier.
So you thought, Marley and Memade you cry?
Are Williams driving lessons leading up to the road trip episode?Very possibly.
Theres a couple ways that can go.
It makes it kind of beautiful and scary all at once.
Congrats on the shows renewal, by the way.
Obviously this wasnt going to be a borderline renewal,but it ended being fortwoseasons.
So, what do 36 more episodes mean to the show?
So we can be able to say to people who work on the show, Youre solid for years.
You dont have to worry about it right now.
Im like, S, I had all these stories I wanted to tell!
In this case no, this is the amount of episodes we want to do, so were good.
