Admit it:Ā you were doing fine during the Season 2 premiere of This Is Us. You were thrilled for the showās returnĀ but were pleasantly surprised that you werenāt having a huge emotional reaction to it. āGreat!ā you thought. āTheyāre easing us into the sad stuff this year.ā
Cue the episodeās last two minutes, which revealed a heartbreaking key detail in Jack Pearsonās greatly discussed death. Presumably several months after Rebecca coaxed Jack to come home after their fight, she pulls up to their house alone to reveal it’s been completely destroyed from a fire. If Rebeccaās gut-wrenching reaction to the sight doesnāt get Mandy Moore an Emmy nomination, thereās no justice in the worldājust saying.
However, this reveal isnāt as black-and-white as we would have hoped. The scene included several little details that point to Jackās death being far more complex than just him passing away in or from a fire. Who is that dog Kate was cuddling? Why does Rebecca have some of Jackās spotless possessions with her? Who is that girl comforting Randall? Why is Kevinās leg broken? Why are the kids with Miguel?
Since the truth will definitely be drawn out as long as possible this season, here are four possible circumstances of Jackās death to keep us guessing.
1.Ā Jack starts the fire in a drunken stupor
Jack confessed to Rebecca at the end of the premiereĀ that he was currently drunk and that he has been more reliant on alcohol than ever before in the past few weeks. We saw that the Big Three are busy, social teenagers at this point in their lives, so it would be totally plausible for them to be out one night away from their parents. Perhaps Rebecca goes to pick them up and Jack accidentally starts a fire in his fog. As evident in that reveal, the house is completely charred, so whatever caused the fire was no joke.
2.Ā Kate forgets herĀ dog when the fire breaks out and Jack goes back to rescue it
When the triplets are 10, Jack is so in love with family life that he wants either another kid or a dog. Neither panned out, but perhaps in the ā90s, he convinces Rebecca to get a dog to rekindle the familyās closeness after the coupleās blowup. In present day, Kate has admitted that she feels responsible for Jackās death. People have guessed that the redhead comforting Randall at Miguelās house is his girlfriend, and since Kevin is with Sophie, Kate could become the closest to the dog with both brothers invested in relationships. Jack may successfully rescue the dog for her, which explains its presence in the episode, but he is critically injured, which could be why Kate says that she killed her father.
3.Ā Jack and Miguel accidentally cause the fire during construction work
Jack and Miguel work together, and Miguel is there for his friend at his lowest points. It would be totally feasible for the men to be working on the Pearson homeāperhaps to distract Jack from drinkingāand accidentally cause some kind of electrical fire. Perhaps Miguel escapes, but Jack isnāt so unlucky, which deepens the formerās distraught face when Kate and Randall are grieving at his house. Miguel feeling guilty about this could also explain how he grows closer to Rebecca and they eventually marry.
4.Ā The fire was totally random, but Jackās life was in limbo as a result, and heĀ passed away right before the closing sceneĀ
A TIME piece pointed out that in the first seasonās flashback to Jackās funeral, Kevin doesnāt have a cast on his leg, suggesting that some time has passed between his dadās death and the funeral. Perhaps Kevin and Jack were both injured in the fire, and Jackās condition had been steady enough for Kevin to feel comfortable leaving his family and hanging out with Sophie. Given the severe-looking aftermath of the house fire, I wouldnāt be surprised if legal matters prevented a funeral from occurring sooner, hence why Kevin is without a cast in the flashback.
You can likely find even more creative, complex theories to hold you over until the showās ultimate reveal. Perhaps if we all keep theorizing, Jack wonāt actually die?