🚨 There are MASSIVE — and I mean MASSIVE — spoilers ahead for the This Is Us final season and series finale! 🚨
After six seasons and 106 heartbreaking and heartwarming episodes, the Pearson family said goodbye this week when This Is Us aired its series finale.
Over the course of six years, the show revitalized the network TV drama and gifted us with some amazing TV moments we won't be forgetting anytime soon. The series also scored countless award nominations, notably earned Sterling K. Brown, Gerald McRaney, and Ron Cephas Jones Emmy Awards, and the cast took home the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2018 SAG Awards.
The This Is Us series finale really began in the penultimate episode, when the Pearson family gathered together to say goodbye to Rebecca before she died. It was a tear-jerker of an episode that gave us an award-worthy performance by Mandy Moore.
So, the final episode picked up after Rebecca's death, as Kate, Randall, Kevin, and the rest of the Pearson family attended Rebecca's funeral and began to process this monumental loss.
Despite the present-day setting being Rebecca's funeral, the This Is Us series finale really felt like a big hug and included some happy moments, like Deja telling Randall that she's expecting a baby boy.
Meanwhile, the flashback for this episode was simply a rainy Saturday in the Pearson house, as Kate wanted to hold onto her childhood, while Jack taught Kevin and Randall how to shave.
I was 100% weeping when Kate explained how she always pins the tale perfectly on the donkey. It's fine.
The flashbacks made up a large portion of the This Is Us series finale, and those scenes were actually filmed at the beginning of Season 4, since the original little Big Three — Lonnie Chavis, Mackenzie Hancsicsak, and Parker Bates — are now much older.
Speaking about filming a large portion of the finale years ago, creator Dan Fogelman told the Hollywood Reporter, "We shot [the flashbacks] years ago, primarily to capture them in a moment in time when it would feel nostalgic to us and to the audience. It's like watching an old home movie. [The flashback tells] a really simple story to make people think of their own families and the stuff that we forget to sit inside of and be present for."
Alongside the Saturday afternoon scenes, the This Is Us team also filmed a sweet moment between Randall and William way back in Season 1, and it was incorporated into a moment of present-day Randall reflecting on becoming a grandfather.
This Is Us ultimately came to a close perfectly by focusing on the Big Three, Jack, and Rebecca. In the present day, the Big Three did their chant and talked about sticking together, while in the past, Jack took in his family, with the final shot being a look at Randall.
For a show that has been known for its twists, This Is Us ending on simple moments with the Pearsons was ultimately perfect. Talking about the final scenes of the show, Dan Fogelman told Deadline, "I always felt that that was the ending of the show and that, amid all the talk of twists and turns and death and house fires and appliances that cause house fires, where the show really lived was just with the family and with stuff that the family was exploring."
"I always thought that the boldest and most confident step and ending for the show would be pulling out one final magic trick at the end. And then one big, emotional, sad ending and allowing the final episode to be a simple reflection on family and time."
During and after the final two episodes of This Is Us, fans and cast members quickly shared their favorite moments from the episodes and reflected on how this was a perfect series finale:
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As we close out the final chapter, let me leave you with this…”Take the risks. Make the big moves, even if they’re small moves. Forge ahead with your lives in any and every direction that moves you. I’m asking you to be fearless.” - Rebecca Pearson #ThisIsUs
A little note to those who watched. #ThisIsUs
To my brother and sister, @justinhartley & @ChrissyMetz I love you guys so damn much! It’s been an absolute pleasure to be your brother! Let’s all go do wonderful things, & if you need anything, I’m here! Ta ta for now! #Big3 #ThisIsUs #WeDidSomethingGood🥹
I’m going to miss seeing these faces every day. #Big3 #ThisIsUs
Final scene we shot with Milo. True story: after two-seasons of dealing with screaming babies in every timeline, this child ended things by sitting contentedly in Milo’s arms like this for the entire scene. #ThisIsUs
I love how quiet this finale is. Just quiet family moments. Thats always been this show at its core and its the best thing to show as we wrap up the story. #ThisIsUs
This Is Us makes me think about the small things in life… and helps me realize that it’s the small things in life that matter the most. I hate that this show is coming to an end. #ThisIsUs
Every second of this episode has had me in tears 😭 This has been such a phenomenal story #ThisIsUs
THE BIG THREE CHANT #ThisIsUs
seeing the original little BIG 3 is bringing tears in my eyes I missed them so much #ThisIsUs
Every time I see William I am done. I really love that man 😭 #ThisIsUs
This show inspired me to contact my estranged father. He never wrote me back but it helped me move forward. For that I’ll always be grateful. #ThisIsUs
He really became everything she thought he would be.. #ThisIsUs #ThisIsUsFinalChapter
This finale was the perfect reminder to live in the moment and to cherish them all. The perfect ending to a perfect series. #thisisus #ThisIsUsFinale
I have been thinking about #ThisIsUs since yesterday and how they used the train and the Caboose (the first word Bec forgets due to Alzehimer) as a metaphor for her life and the end of her journey and that’s poetry.
Mandy Moore deserves allllll of her flowers for her role in #ThisIsUs. I mean this is her avenue. She fucking shined. She embodiessss Rebecca like…the writers wrote the hell out of this. they casted the hell out of this. this is a flawlessly executed series.
Dear @TheEmmys, Don’t screw this up. Sincerely, everyone #thisisus @TheMandyMoore https://t.co/P3wZXcU69S
Omg, Jack looking at his adopted son Randall and Randall looking at his adopted daughter, Deja has me in shambles 😭#ThisIsUs
#ThisIsUs shooting half this series finale years ago, knowing they were building to this day, just shows how genius the writers are
This show had a beginning and end since inception. Finale shots from years ago prove that. It’s why the storytelling has been tremendous. Care and attention to the small details and also the big picture. Bravo @ThisIsUsWriters #ThisIsUs
People wanting some big grand dramatic send off episode are missing the entire point of the show. Life, like the finale, at the end comes down to a random collection of stories and small moments. Those small things are what we are. Not the big ones. #ThisIsUs
I think the best thing This is Us taught me is that there is no timeline. Kate didn't find true love til after 35. Kevin didn't get his act together til 40. Randall changed careers close to 40. No timeline. No pressure. #ThisIsUs
This show has to go down as one of the best shows ever written. Been watching since the beginning and it's been an incredible journey. Never has a show made me think about my own mortality and what mark I'm leaving on the world. Bravo #ThisIsUs! You will be missed. https://t.co/MZl930iAbc
I just watched the finale of what was probably the most artistically wholesome family show I have ever watched. It reinforced beliefs like empathy, togetherness, nostalgia, ambition, and male affection. There will be no other like it. I’m sad to see it go. #ThisIsUs
The Pearsons are my forever family 🥺 #ThisIsUs
“Collecting these little moments. We don’t recognize them when we’re in them because we’re too busy looking forward, then we spend the rest of our lives looking back, trying to remember. Strange the things you remember.” -Jack Pearson This show was, and is, everything. #ThisIsUs