‘This Is Us’ Season 3 Finale Recap: Viewers Left With Questions As Show Fast Forwarded Into Future

Last night’s season three finale of NBC’s This Is Us left viewers with a million questions after the show closed with a revealing flash-forward scene.

Rebecca appears to be at her deathbed, Nicky’s brother Jack is at her bedside, and Kevin has a son but we don’t know with who. The big burning questions that viewers were left with was all apart of the producers master plan to have its viewers invest in the Pearson family and watch the twists and turns of their lives that reflect people in the real world unfold.

“Whenever we go to that (future) timeline, we try to give enough answers that people are satisfied they got some information, but also enough exciting questions that you’re left wondering,” executive producer Elizabeth Berger said. “We know that we left a lot of (questions) and there’s language to parse and people to consider being there and not being there, and those are all answers we can’t wait to fill in as we move forward.”

And This Is Us seems to have a lot of time to answer to its big cliffhangers and questions, as executive producer Issac Aptaker revealed that the show is “roughly in the middle, in terms of our story.” NBC and 20th Century Fox are currently negotiating a three-year renewal of the show that will most likely take it to its final sixth season end run. “The exact number of episodes (and) years is still a little bit undecided.”

But before even attempting to think about more seasons of the drama-packed show, we need to unpack the season three’s finale which took a dip into the past, present, and future and set the stage for what’s to come next. 

At the beginning of the episode, titled “Her,” viewers are in the future and Beth is seen getting ready to join the rest of the Pearson family to visit Rebecca. The Pearsons are notably unexcited for the family gathering, and that’s when we are then brought back to the past where Rebecca is seen driving happily while listening to the Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love.” All seems to be going well until she gets distracted and then gets into a car accident and is hospitalized. And as Jack and the kids try to cope with her accident, the episode takes us to the three big storylines in the present.

Throughout the episode, we see Chrissy at the edge as Rebecca continues to be super cautious about how she is caring for baby Jack and how she plans to move to California. Meanwhile, Kevin is seen acting like he’s totally fine with not having kids with Zoe. When the pair is asked to watch Tess and Annie, but Kevin clearly wants to have kids despite what he told himself and Zoe is completely aware of this. And as a result, the two break up and Kevin moves back to California. Bringing us to the biggest story in the episode involving the fate of Randall and Beth’s marriage. It seems that the pair’s foundation is crumbling and heading for a split. But as viewers began to brace themselves for one of the show’s biggest break-ups, the show encourages viewers to not give up on them just yet. As after a heartfelt speech that left a lump in viewers throat from Deja to Randall, things started to look up. With Randall seen contemplating resigning from his city council post in an effort to save his marriage while Beth heads to Philadelphia to see her options.

When the two finally meet to hash things out, Randall tells Beth that he’s going to resign and she says that he isn’t. She wants to move the family to Philadelphia because of her new job and she wants to open her own studio. Randall voices his concerns about the risks of the move, but Beth simply responds, “We bet on us.”

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In the final moments of the episode, viewers are then taken back into the future as the Pearson family gather at Kevin’s house. But this is intercut with a montage of the present showing Randall and Beth packing to move out of their house, Kate and Toby coming home with baby Jack, and Zoe moving out of Kevin’s apartment and Kevin moving to California.

Back into the future as they are all at Kevin’s house, Toby shows up separately from Kate and baby Jack, with Randall saying, “I’m glad you decided to come,” suggesting that the two may have split. Viewers also find out that Kevin has a child, but there is no hint on who the mother is. But during the last two minutes of the show, Randall says, “I’m going to go say hi,” and walks to Rebecca’s room. This intercut with a scene of young Randall in the past walking to visit Rebecca in the hospital after her car accident. And as an added twist of the final moments of the finale, Jack’s brother Nick is seen in the room with them.