‘This Is Us’ Series Finale Ending Explained: The Pearsons’ Story Ends With A Simple, Hopeful Episode

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the last few episodes of This Is Us. Proceed with caution.

For six seasons, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman and his writers have taken us on a twisting, turning history of the Pearson family, jumping back and forth in time as the show told us the love story of Jack and Rebecca Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore) and the lives of the “Big 3”: Randall (Sterling K. Brown), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley).

The gut-wrenching penultimate episode “The Train”, where the Pearson kids said goodbye to Rebecca as she finally succumbed to her decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease — punctuated with a younger version of Rebecca being led through a train full of family memories by William (Ron Cephas Jones), Randall’s birth father, until she was reunited with Jack in the caboose — could have served as the finale. But Fogelman wanted to end the series on a simple, hopeful note.

How Does This Is Us End?

We actually start “Us,” the series finale, in the past, around the time when the “Big 3” are 11. Rebecca wakes up next to Jack in a similar position to how they were in the caboose at the end of the previous episode. In an early episode, Rebecca had expressed that she didn’t want to forget the days where the family did nothing but watch home moves and play games like Pin The Tail On The Donkey. And, because the Mathlete competition Randall (Lonnie Chavis) was going to was cancelled, this Saturday is wide open.

Scenes of the Pearsons’ wide-open Saturday — in a conference call, Fogelman said most of these scenes were shot about four years ago — are interspersed with the adult Big 3 and their families on the day of Rebecca’s funeral. Randall, struggling to come up with a “perfect” eulogy, plays one last round of “Worst Case Scenario” with his wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson), where she speculates he’ll be so grief stricken that they’ll drive an RV to every one of his parents’ graves.

Kate is told by her now ex-husband Toby (Chris Sullivan) that Rebecca was proud of her, and that he is too. He expresses love for her in that “we’re family” sort of way, and never regrets that day they met each other in that weight loss support group meeting. Kevin looks over the family after the funeral and is jokingly told by Nicky (Griffin Dunne) that “you f-ed up my life” by pulling him out of his trailer — and his depression — all those years ago.

We see the funeral, but not the speeches. After it’s over, a distraught Randall sits on the steps of the family cabin and expresses to his daughters how pointless life seems, considering things will go on without Rebecca. But his daughter Deja (La Trice Harper) gives him hope again when she tells him that she found out she and Malik (Des Epps) are having a boy.

Kevin and Kate join him and they all talk about what Rebecca encouraged them to do when she knew that she was in decline: They have all lived their lives and taken big swings. Kate hopes to open music schools for the visually impaired all over the world. Kevin has decided to continue his non-profit that employs veterans as contractors; he likes having Sophie (Alexandra Breckinridge) and his family close, and this will allow him to do it. Randall is contemplating going to the Iowa State Fair, being touted by the DNC as a future presidential candidate.

Back in 1991, Randall and Kevin (Parker Bates) are bored, but Kate (Mackenzie Hancsicsak) just loves being with everyone. Jack teaches the boys to shave, and he gives them a speech about how he’s been appreciating moments as they happen lately. Then they all play Pin The Tail On The Donkey. Why do they have the game? Because during a flashback to when the kids were babies, Rebecca noticed that the kids on the box looked just like their kids.

We also see Rebecca on the train where we left her in the previous episode. Lying next to Jack, she says “There are so many things I wanted to do with them.” He reassures her that “You will. It’s hard to explain it but you are going to do all those things with them. You’ll be there.” In their last bit of dialogue with each other, they tell each other “I love you.”

What Is The Last Shot On The This Is Us Finale?

The last shot is a simple one: As his family goofs around while playing Pin The Tail On The Donkey, Jack and Randall exchange knowing looks about enjoying the moment, just like adult Randall exchanged looks with Deja as the family gathered after Rebecca’s funeral. We then focus in on Jack, taking everything in.

“I just wanted the simplicity of the shot of the child taking in the parent at a moment when the parent is taking in something bigger, and knowing that that child will carry it forward in their own lives. It was less about these two men, who have been cornerstones of our show, obviously, but it was less about Randall and Jack and it was more about a child and parent in that moment,” Fogelman told reporters.

Why Weren’t There Any Twists In The This Is Us Finale?

For a show known for its twists — we waited for over a season and a half to find out how Jack died, for instance — Fogelman wanted the show to end on a simple note.

“Amidst 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 a family,” Fogelman said. “I always thought that the boldest and most confident ending for the show would be pulling out one final magic trick at the end and then one big, obviously emotional, sad ending in death, and then allowing the final episode to be a simple reflection on family and time.”

Where Can I Stream This Is Us?

The last few episodes of Season 6 can be found on NBC.com and on Peacock, and the entire series can be found on Hulu.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.