Ron Batzdorff/NBC
This Is Us will air a special episode after the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 4. In this episode, that one question that fans of the show have had for two seasons will finally be answered: how did Jack Pearson die?
The This Is Us special will air at approximately 10:15 p.m. Eastern on NBC, immediately following football coverage of Super Bowl LII and the post-game on-field ceremony with the winning team.
On the last episode of This Is Us, fans were left with a sneak peek of this special episode, which is sure to require lots and lots of tissues. The teaser shows Jack Pearson (played by actor Milo Ventimiglia) going up against a raging fire that broke out in his home after a Crockpot shorted out and flames erupted in the family’s kitchen in the middle of the night. Pearson is seen battling against the flames and heavy smoke to ensure that his wife, Rebecca (played by actress Mandy Moore), and two of their three kids, Kate (played by actress Hannah Zeile) and Randall (played by actor Niles Fitch) got out of the home safely; Kevin (portrayed by Logan Shroyer) was sleeping at his girlfriend’s place.
This Is Us fans have long been speculating about Jack’s death, but things might not be as straight forward as some seem to think. While it does seem obvious that Jack’s death has something to do with the fire that broke out in his home, his death might not be so simply explained.
“It’s not Colonel Mustard with a wrench in the library. It feels like a game of Clue, right?” Ventimiglia previously told Entertainment Weekly. He went on to give a bit more insight into what fans might expect from that highly anticipated “moment.”
“It’s just an absolute soul-crushing event. Once you figure out the moment where it’s going to happen, you may get some hope — and then it’s all going to go away. I think the best thing I can say — or the worst thing I can say — is: It’s going to be f—ing painful,” he explained.
The show’s creator, Dan Fogelman, recently spoke out about the special Super Bowl episode and what fans can expect.
“Next week is a very, very heavy episode, and I think the end of this week’s episode and next week’s episode have a different kind of emotional reaction to them. The episode is alternately thrilling and brutally heartbreaking and sad. And then surprising. If you stick with it and can make it through it [laughs], it’s very rewarding,” Fogelman told Entertainment Weekly.
Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead
At this point, fans have been able to put some clues together and have narrowed down some of their theories. One of the most popular guesses is that Jack Pearson re-enters the burning home when his daughter, Kate, notices that the family’s dog is still inside. The clues that support this include the fact that Kate has blamed herself for her dad’s death for years, and the fact that there has been a focus on dogs, especially in the last episode when Kate adopted Audio.
