This Is Us star breaks down latest emotional death

This Is Us spoilers follow.

By now, This Is Us fans are pretty used to the time-hopping family drama choking them up and tugging on their heartstrings – and as expected, its sixth and final season doesn't look to be letting up when it comes to those more emotional moments.

The show's most recent episode, titled 'Don't Let Me Keep You', was certainly a tearjerker, as it flashed back to the 1980s and Milo Ventimiglia's Jack losing his mother, Marilyn.

Guilt-ridden by the fact that he didn't get to know her more after she left his abusive father, it saw the Pearsons attend Marilyn's funeral before returning home, and Jack whipping up a meal that his mum used to make for him when he was little.

milo ventimiglia as jack pearson in this is us

NBC Universal

"I remember just looking at the kids, and it's all scripted, you know... I remember looking at Kaz [Womack, who plays Young Kevin]. Kaz looked up and smiled at me while he was eating, and it just crushed me – as it was intended to," Ventimiglia recalled to TV Line, noting how affecting the instalment's final moments were to shoot.

"But I think the man that Jack is, the product of the '40s that he is, the man who went to war in the early '70s, you know, he's never going to show his emotion."

Well, never show it in front of his loved ones if he can help it, anyway, as shortly after that, Jack excused himself and headed into the other room. Ultimately, though, he broke down when wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore) came in and placed her hand on his turned-away shoulder.

"It's all just very heavy and overwhelming, and even though Jack has been the stoic lion rock that he is in making sure that nobody else suffers or deals any discomfort or anything, you know, he's not impervious to it," the actor continued. "He's going to experience things the same as any other person.

this is us season 2 pearson family mackenzie hancsicsak as kate parker bates as kevin milo ventimiglia as jack mandy moore as rebecca lonnie chavis as randall

NBCU Photo Bank/Maarten de Boer//Getty Images

"So, going back in a very childlike way and saying to his wife, 'I don't have a mom anymore', it's pretty heartbreaking."

Ventimiglia went on to admit that he was pre-warned about Jack's sob-worthy storyline way back in season three, and that ever since he recorded the episode, he's found himself really cherishing the time he spends with his real-life parents.

"I remember I was just watching my mom. I was just watching her eat. She kind of looks at me, she's like, 'What's up, buddy?'" he said. "'Oh, nothing.' Just enjoying watching my mom eat, you know?"

This Is Us airs its final season on Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC, and can also be streamed on Hulu. Viewers in the UK can watch every Thursday via Amazon Prime Video or Disney+.