TV and Movies

[AuntG]

The fire theory makes sense. I'd feel a lot of guilt if I begged my dad to rescue my dog from a burning house.  

[beach-mom]

This was the song that was playing at the end, when they showed the kids and Miguel crying and Rebecca driving up to the house:

"One" by U2

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now 
You got someone to blame
You say...

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you 
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to 
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we 
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to 
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...life

One

[muttmom]

I must be the only one that likes to watch things happen in real time.  I do not like reading into or looking for clues about future show events.

[chessylady]

I watched this show for the first time last night. I like the storyline with the twins and also the black couple who are adopting. The separated husband and wife storyline is really confusing. But after reading some of the entries here, I am not sure I will continue watching. I don't want to work hard looking for "clues" about what happened or will happen.

[MyShadowLove]

Wow, that was one heck of an opening episode!...I actually watched it again tonight before coming here to read everyone's thoughts and perspectives....I had to rewatch the ending over and over a few times....It was amazing even though it left us with a lot of "speculation"!....It keeps us thinking and that's what I love about it so much!

I didn't see anyone mention something very interesting in the scene where Rebecca goes to Miguel's house to bring Jack home so that they could work everything out together....Did you notice that, after Jack initially closed the door on Rebecca, the screen went black for a few seconds...and then we were brought back to the same scene, except it was done differently... with Rebecca telling Jack to "get in the car" and he leaves with her....I think the writers are playing with us again, as usual, and left us with two options of what could have happened?....Jack either stayed at Miguel's house or he did go home with Rebecca?...So, it is possible that they were still separated at the time of his death...Am I making any sense here?...I just found the  screen going black to be an interesting way of breaking up that particular scene...perhaps?

As far as the house that was totally destroyed by fire, it had to be Jack & Rebecca's as it showed the red mailbox with their name on it....although I don't recall their house being that large?...The children, except for Kevin, were at Miguel's house and I think the girl with the red hair may have been one of Miguel's daughters?....Also, Rebecca wearing the Steelers' jersey made me think that perhaps she was somewhere watching a football game when the tragedy occurred and was called and had to rush to the hospital to be with Jack...That would explain his personal belongings in the plastic bag and Rebecca driving by the house and breaking down at the sight?...I don't think that she was there when it happened?

I'm not really convinced that Jack's death was caused by the fire, although the writers certainly did a good job of leaning us towards that direction?

Oh, one more thing....the "fake smoking" by Randall & Beth....This is the first time I have seen it, as I don't recall it during the first season....What is the meaning there?

Okay, I think that is it for now!...I'm so confused and Iove it!...lol

Absolutely brilliant in the way this show is done! 

[beach-mom]

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@muttmom wrote:

I must be the only one that likes to watch things happen in real time.  I do not like reading into or looking for clues about future show events.

---

@muttmom - I know you're definitely not the only one! There are many others like you! This forum, as it says in the title, is for people like me, who like spoilers and figuring out what might happen in the future. It's fun! 

[Annabellethecat66]

Here's what I found regarding this subject:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/entertainment/this-is-us-season-premiere/index.html?utm_source=feedbur...

In the first episode of the sophomore season, "This Is Us" unveiled a huge piece of the "How did Jack die?" puzzle in a flashback to the night of his death. In the scene, a distraught Rebecca (Mandy Moore) sobbed in her car parked in front of the Pearson house, which was burned down to its frame, indicating Jack's death is somehow related to a house fire.

Before you ask, no, this isn't a misdirect.

"That is the cause of his death," "This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman told CNN at a party following the show's Los Angeles premiere screening. "[The fire] is directly responsible."

Still, many pieces of this puzzle remain unsolved.

For example, leading up to the reveal of the burned house, viewers saw Rebecca, wearing a Steelers shirt, driving with a bag of Jack's belongings in her passenger seat. Does this mean Jack made it to the hospital? And what was the status of Jack and Rebecca's marriage at the time of the fire?

RELATED: 'This Is Us' cast breaks down season finale's unexpected turns

In the season premiere, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) admitted to his wife that he had a drinking problem, and Rebecca vowed to see him through it.

The flashback also hinted at major developments in the lives of teenage Kate, Kevin and Randall. Kate, for example, had a dog, Randall had a girlfriend and Kevin had broken his leg.

Fogelman promised all these small details will add up to a final picture that will fully explain the events leading up to Jack's end, but it will be "a slow-burning mystery."

"Hopefully, we've given people enough that they can focus on the show -- understand the big piece and, now, be watching a little bit of an onion unpeel as you see things ensue in the course of the [season]," he said.

Secret's out

The final minutes of the premiere were the result meticulous planning. In fact, what fans saw in the Season 2 premiere was "very much the plan since [the show's] inception," Fogelman said.

"Milo, Mandy, Sterling [K. Brown], Justin [Hartley], Chrissy [Metz] -- they've all known since day one of shooting that this is what happened. They kind of knew this is how the first episode of the second season would start," he said.

Keeping the deadly fire a secret this long has not been easy.

When filming the all-important burned house scene about a week and a half ago, the "This Is Us" team traveled several hours out of Los Angeles in hopes of keeping it under wraps. They built a replica of the Pearson house, used code words and kept anything relating to the show hidden from public view as much as possible.

Fogelman estimates it was six months of planning total. Though, he admitted in a panel after the screening, filming took mere minutes, as Moore emotionally delivered what they needed in the first take.

"She's so good," he said.

With the secret out in the open, Fogelman said he's breathing a little easier.

"The big thing we were protecting was [Tuesday night's episode], and now it's out there and I'm less worried," he told CNN.

Mandy Moore as Rebecca on "This Is Us."

The fire theory had been one of many floated by "This Is Us" fans since the mystery of Jack's death was built up in Season 1. Easily the most popular theory had Jack dying in an automobile-related incident, a hypothesis born from one scene in particular last season, involving young Kate and drunk driving Jack.

"We had a moment in our second to last episode where Kate reveals — which is very much at the core of our story — that she feels responsible for her dad's death as he gets into a car drunk to drive, and there was some blowback that we misdirected the audience," he said. "In our minds, it was something that happened. Jack did drive having drank that night, and she does feel responsible for her father's death, which is something we're going to see this season. But I understand that could have felt a little bit manipulative. That wasn't our intention."

So this season, they're being extra "careful," he said.

"Everything that has been said on the show regarding Jack, everything that they've seen [Tuesday night], is not a fake-out," he promised. "People will see it."

Also in store? Some major singing moments from grown-up Kate (Metz), more from Randall (Brown) and Beth's (Susan Kelechi Watson) adoption journey, a guest appearance from Sylvester Stallone and a deeper dive into what made Jack a loving, caring father and husband.

"There's always a darker sided to the lighter side," Ventimiglia teased. "There are reasons why he does these things and that's what we're going to unpack."

"This Is Us" airs Tuesdays on NBC.

[beach-mom]

HUGE CLUE:

Dan said to pay attention to the three clues. Remember in a previous post I wondered why Kevin's being in a cast was a clue.

Kevin was NOT in a cast at Jack's funeral. So just maybe Jack had died earlier and the house burning down was what they were all talking about and crying about. It may have been too much for Rebecca to lose her husband and then watch her house burn down. 

It's just an idea floating around. It may or may not be close to what happened. But the cast/no cast thing has to make us wonder! 

[beach-mom]

P.S. The writers must be having a field day hearing all of the speculation! Dan Fogelman said they have known exactly what would happen with Jack since the very first episode. He said they wouldn't adjust anything based on fan speculation! 

[Annabellethecat66]

I posted this because a lot of people are curious.  However, I am almost over this show.  I watch it because I adore Justin Hartley.

I don't like any show that I feel like disrespects the viewers.  Most people would disagree with me but it's like we were told (I saw every interview by all of the stars...pretty much every one) and they all said, "You'll find out how he died in the first episode".  Well, not really.