Warning: The following contains spoilers from the This Is Us season finale.
Iâve made my attachment to the Pearsons clear. They are the TV family we all wish we were a part of, and thatâs largely due to Jack and Rebecca. Their loving and unique yet seemingly attainable relationship grounds not just their family but the entire This Is Us universe.
Tuesdayâs season finale, which focused mostly on the Pearson parents, left us hanging on the coupleâs fate, with Jack, at his wifeâs request, leaving home to stay with Miguel after a blow-up fight.
Throughout its season-long run, many, myself included, have compared This Is Us to Parenthood, another NBC weeper made good by its real world take on family. But shift your focus to a different real-as-it-gets drama (Hint: Parenthood EP Jason Katims had a hand in it, too) and youâll see the very reason why Jack and Rebecca canât break upâŠEVER.
That series is Friday Night Lights. FNL told a lot of great stories, but none as rich as Coach and Tami Taylorâs marriage. They had hard times, even times when I thought this is the moment their relationship is going to break. But it never did.
If you watch much TV, you know the drill: couples get together and they break up. Sometimes they get back together and break up again. Itâs the nature of TV relationships, and itâs something Iâve come to terms with. But every once in a while, a rare couple comes along that is untouchable. Thereâs no storyline where they donât exist together, and if the show chooses to ignore this and split them up anyway, a major misstep is immediately evident.
Friday Night Lights was wise enough to see this in Coach and Tami. I see it in Jack and Rebecca. Knowing that Jack has limited time with his wife and children makes the marital tension cringe-worthy enough. I would argue, though, that even if Jack wasnât headed for death, he and Rebecca are still a virtually extinct type of on-screen couple that cannot and will not end things.
We wonât know the state of Jack and Rebeccaâs relationship until This Is Us returns for Season 2, but I hope the show makes the brave choice and follows FNLâs road less traveled.