Coming off of two weeks of tear-inducing, emotional rollercoaster episodes “Memphis” and “What Now?”, it’s safe to say expectations for the This Is Us season finale, “Moonshadow” were high. In the end, the episode left me feeling slightly disappointed after it was done. It’s not that it was a bad episode – it centered on fan-favorite characters Jack and Rebecca. For the first time, we saw Jack and Rebecca in 1972, before they knew each other, with the episode’s flashback storyline culminating with the first time they saw each other. It was, of course, a classic “meet cute.” This storyline felt a little slow, with Jack trying to take revenge on a man who mugged him of his poker winnings and ending up in the bar with Rebecca, instead.
The other main storyline of the episode took place in 1998 – Jack following Rebecca to her tour, getting completely drunk, and hitting her bandmate in the face. The pair return home, and then have a long, emotional blow-out fight scene that left viewers feeling like they’d been slapped in the face. Jack’s issue with alcohol had been touched on in one of the first episodes of the season, and the issue had resurfaced. Rebecca argued that she no longer felt like she had a life, and that Jack hated she finally had something just to herself – her singing. Jack shot back that she was a “40-year old woman singing covers in pubs – [that’s] not a career.” When Rebecca asked Jack to name one thing he loved about her in that moment, and not an idealized version of her he had in his mind, he couldn’t. Rebecca slept upstairs, and Jack slept on the couch. In the morning, they decided they needed to take a break as a couple. Of course it wouldn’t be a This Is Us episode without a tear-jerking monologue, this time delivered by Pearson patriarch Jack. Jack gave Rebecca a meaningful speech about parenthood, their children, and finished it with, “And our love story – I know it may not feel like it right now – I promise you, it’s just getting started.” This line was particularly bittersweet to viewers, because it’s already been revealed that Jack’s death must take place soon after this fight.
Elsewhere in the episode, we got a montage of the present Big Three. Kate’s looking at old photo albums, and sees a photo of her mother performing. She tells Toby instead of calling her old boss to look for a job, she’s going to try and become a singer. The 70’s storyline of the episode had Rebecca trying to become serious as a singer, and it seems Kate will try to follow her mother’s footsteps. Randall is also looking at old photos, and sees one of him as a child with Jack. He finds Beth, and tells her that he wants to adopt a baby. Having just lost his biological father, Randall is reeling and ready to make big changes in his life. Meanwhile, Kevin tells his ex-wife and current girlfriend Sophie that he loves her before leaving to audition for a movie (which will film in Los Angeles, not where he’s based in New York City). I would assume these are the storylines that will further be explored for these characters at the start of season two.
Perhaps this episode wasn’t completely satisfying because we didn’t find out the cause of Jack’s death, one week after Kate’s admission that his death was her fault. Many viewers, myself included, felt that having him die in a car crash would be too easy. The creators and actors have repeatedly said that the cause of his death will be focused on in season two (This Is Us has already been picked up for two more seasons by NBC!). However, it felt like the season one finale left us far from finding out the true reason for his death, and instead left us to reflect on the sorry state of his relationship with Rebecca. Does he die while separated from her? Is that how their great love story ends, living in different houses, taking a break from being together? Or is a reconciliation ahead, and their final words to each other are sweeter than what we last saw? I’m sure these are questions the writers want us asking during the hiatus. For now, we have months to wait until This Is Us returns, and we start to get answers to some of these questions.
Here’s a shortlist of things I’d like to see in season two:
- How Randall and Beth met
- Why Rebecca and Miguel got together
- Sophie and Kevin’s marriage (and subsequent divorce)
- Kate as an individual, without Toby
- Jack’s death (Though it pains me to think about)
- More of the Big Three as kids, because those actors are great!
All gifs are from Giphy.