This is Us Fall Finale RECAP: Nick Pearson’s Fate is Revealed and We Know Who “Her” Is!

I don’t know about you, but my head is exploding after the Fall Finale of our beloved lifestyle, er, TV show. So many reveals, yet so many more questions! Way to hook us like little fishies, US writers!

Where to begin? Oh, I don’t know, how about with who “HER” is! I didn’t think it was her, not at all. And how about the fact that Nicky…

Well, let’s just go over everything before my head explodes again.

RECAP:

1. Jack is running out of time to help Nicky, who does not seem to want to be helped. The more he pushes Jack away, the more Jack tries to save him. Too bad Nicky has plans of his own. 

2. Kevin is starting to get antsy in Vietnam. He wants to find out what happened to his dad in the war. Zoe is a calming influence and tries to keep him positive in his quest.

 

3. Kate’s baby is A-Ok, so far. But Kate really shouldn’t be driving two hours each way to singing gigs. Madison suggests Kate fill in for a chorus teacher, who has been hit by a bus (but he’s FINE, just FINE because he was in another bus…Still doesn’t sound super fine to me.)

4. Beth has wisely quit Randall’s campaign and is now back to searching for work and being a supportive candidate’s wife. She gives her man a pep talk that includes Serena Williams and some good old-fashioned compliments: “You are fierce, dignified, and in top form,” she tells Randall, pumping him up to debate his political rival.

5. Grandma Rebecca tries to talk to Tess about her newly emerging wonderings about her sexuality, which is loving but probably a little misguided. (Nice, Aunt Kate. Way to keep your mouth shut!). So that obviously went super well.

6. Also not going well? Randall’s public debate with his opponent, Saul Brown, who is skewering my TV Brother from Another Mother! We loathe Saul Brown, do we not? It seems as if Randall is going down in flames, but then he pulls it out of the fire. When he was all wound up and belting out “Take a chance on me!” I was ready to vote for him right then and there! For anything! Very stirring, yes, but Jae Won says the numbers still won’t add up and Randall is doomed to lose.

7. Kate and Toby are chopping vegetables, as people on TV do, and they talk about their feelings surrounding the baby. Should they find out if it’s a boy or a girl? Toby is so funny. I loved when Kate teased him about freaking out when a guy jumped out of a cake that one time and he defends himself: “Human beings are not supposed to be in baked goods!” This is true. I love that ole lug of a Toby! Upshot: They’re both terrified, but at least they are together in it. And when they cut open the gender reveal cake, it’s all blue, baby. Any guesses on the name? JACK. Of course. I will jump out of a giant butter tart myself if it’s anything else. 

8. Kevin and Zoe walk into the sunlit past in Vietnam, arriving at Jack’s old village. They meet with a local historian who lived there during the war (and who I totally thought would be the little boy whose infected foot Jack doctored….but he WASN’T). The man doesn’t remember Jack or the mystery Vietnamese lady, but he does offer a grace: “Here we sit, happy, healthy, sharing a meal in the place where our fathers once fought.” Beautiful. Now if only we could arrive at that peaceful spot before a conflict even starts.

9. In the past, Nicky is spiraling further downward. He sneaks some meds in the night and Jack finds his brother higher than a kite. Later, a boat explodes nearby, and Jack assumes Nicky is on it. He jumps into the water and swims frantically to the explosion site. But what will he find? Obviously, something that convinces him Nicky is dead. Except of course…

10. NICKY IS ALIVE. We see an older Nick, shuffling into a trailer, dropping the mail on a table, mail addressed to Nick Pearson in Pennsylvania. Honestly, I had wondered if Nick somehow survived and was alive out there. Could the Vietnamese lady have helped him fake his own death? Pretty sure the next 9 episodes are going to involve Kevin, who finds out his uncle did not die in Vietnam, searching for his father’s lost brother.

11. I’m less excited about the other reveal, the one where we find out Rebecca is the one people are gearing themselves up to visit in some kind of hospital or home in the future. I don’t like that Toby was in that bed alone in previous flash-forward scenes. Does Kate die? And if so, where is the BABY? I mean, their grown-up baby. Oh, the mind reels. And then there are my beloved Randall and Beth, who have an ominous fight about Randall dropping out of the campaign. True, Beth just got a couple of shockers–Tess may like girls and Deja wants to see her birth mom–and she needs Randall more than ever. But I think she’s being a tad unfair. Why wouldn’t Randall see this campaign thing through? So they end the show deeply divided, and then we see Randall in the future, asking Tess if she had talked to her mother…

Oh, what does it all mean??? And where is Kevin in the future??? Have we ever seen him even once??

I know, I’m becoming hysterical. But I have so many questions, don’t you?

Any guesses as to what’s up with the Pin the Tail on the Donkey?

Well, what’s making your head explode?

How do you think Nick managed to fake his own death, if that’s what happened?

Could Randall and Beth be headed for trouble?

Is this it for the Vietnamese woman or will we find out more?