‘This Is Us’ Season 2 Finale: Creator & Cast On Next Big Mystery — Does It Involve Beth?
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details about tonight’s This Is Us season 2 finale “The Wedding” ..
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details about tonight’s This Is Us season 2 finale “The Wedding” on NBC.
Out of all the flash-forwards that were the eeriest tonight on the season 2 finale of This Is Us was a moment between an older Tess and her father Randall in which the latter says to his daughter “It’s time to go see her, Tess.”
There’s been some speculation that the next big mystery to be solved on This Is Us centers around Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson); that there’s the possibility that she might die of terminal cancer during a time that’s roughly set 13 years from the present. In addition, some believe that they’ve seen the elderly Randall without his wedding ring. During a post-screening Q&A for the finale yesterday at SXSW, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman wasn’t ready to fully admit that was where the series is headed, but promised by “the end of next season, you’ll know where (this storyline) is going.” Fogelman also said “it’s not conscious that we’re not seeing his wedding ring.”
Fogelman also added that season 3 is “a big Vietnam season for us. We’re doing some cool stuff. Milo (Ventimiglia) will get a real showcase as younger Jack and there will be more Jack and Rebecca origin stories.”
The moderator of the Q&A threw the theory at Fogelman and the cast that Kevin is traveling to Vietnam with his new girlfriend, Beth’s cousin, Zoe to potentially pick up his half sibling, a child that Jack fathered and we never knew about. Fogelman responded to this wild notion with, “Wait, before you continue, Jack loves Rebecca.”
Justin Hartley acknowledged that after Kevin fell off the wagon in season 2, he’s now “in a healthy place. His stuff doesn’t go away, but he’s got this big support system and moving in the right direction.” Fogelman added that Kevin’s newfound romance with Zoe, “is a racial dynamic that’s interesting for us to explore.” Also, as we caught from tonight’s finale, Toby sinks into a deeper mental illness following his marriage to Kate.
In regards to the time lines next season, they’ll be on par to what we’ve seen according to Fogelman, “moving forward present day storylines, and continue past stories as they were.”
Toward the end of Monday’s SXSW session, Fogelman and the cast joked about the whereabouts of Jack’s ashes; whether or not Kate poured them all out.
“She left the big pieces,” quipped Fogelman to which Ventimiglia responded, “She’s going to make necklaces for the family.”
“This was a letting go for Kate; she let the ashes go,” said Fogelman.
“That tree wasn’t looking so good,” joked Ventimiglia, “She was spreading some hopeful life onto a place that needed it.”
Fogelman mentioned that This Is Us will return in September.
Shouted Ventimiglia to the SXSW crowd at the Paramount Theatre, “We need breaks!”
