This story contains details from the Season 5 finale of “This Is Us.”
You weren’t really expecting a straightforward wedding ceremony for Kevin and Madison on “This Is Us,” were you?
Tuesday’s Season 5 finale of the emotional NBC drama focused on the couple, who recently became the parents of twins, but their wedding wasn’t the only one featured. Viewers also got a glimpse of the cute family wedding Jack and Rebecca staged to soothe their young children years earlier and flashbacks of Kevin’s sister, Kate, when she took her vows with Toby.
And, in one of the series’ signature switcheroos, there’s a surprise future wedding revealed at the end, a moment that will keep fans talking until the show’s final season, which premieres in January.
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In the season finale, “The Adirondacks,” there’s plenty of family drama enveloping the Pearson wedding guests, but let’s focus on matters relating to marriage.
The episode opens with Kevin (Justin Hartley) primping in the mirror on the day of the wedding. In a long-ago timeline, his mother, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), plans to watch a VHS recording of the infamous “Dynasty” wedding massacre, only to find out that Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) taped a Pittsburgh Pirates game over it. Her anger at her husband, while completely understandable, upsets the children, so Jack and Rebecca pull out the film projector to show them their wedding before staging a make-believe ceremony in their living room.
In the present day, you’d need more than a weddingcake knife to cut the tension. Toby (Chris Sullivan), anxious about being unemployed, takes a job that will require him to be away from his family three days a week in San Francisco, which upsets Kate (Chrissy Metz). She wants to keep her job in Los Angeles as a music instructor and isn’t excited about having to raise their two young children in Toby’s absence.
Meanwhile, Kevin, obsessed with making every wedding detail perfect, nicknames himself Groomzilla. His behavior further proves that he’s not certain Madison (Caitlin Thompson) is the right one for him, a cloud that has long hung over their union.
Perhaps more important, Madison senses Kevin’s hesitation. The episode details elements of her backstory, how her mother abandoned her to be raised by a father who taught her to settle for less. She knows Kevin is committed to her and the children, but she wants to be loved.
Later, Kate, remembering her own wedding ceremony, reconsiders her opposition to Toby’s new job and calls her boss, Phillip (Chris Geere), to quit. But the Englishman has changed his tune on Kate, praising her teaching skills and refusing her resignation. Kate then rejects Toby’s offer to turn down the new job, saying they’ll figure it out.
All those matters eventually take a backseat to the main event. Before the ceremony, Madison tells Kevin she’s in love with him and wants to know if he feels the same about her. It’sa question that has gnawed at her. He talks about loving their children, their family, but he can’t say yes to her question.
Madison calls off the wedding and tells Kevin she’s finally reached a point where she won’t settle for less.
Rebecca, Kate and Randall try to comfort Kevin, with Rebecca advising him that everything will be alright. She also assigns her son a task: Build her the house his father once promised her. (Think of that as a Season 6 plot point.)
The season finale reflects the show’s essence, “mixing the tragedies and the heartbreak of life, but also the joy and the beauty,” creator Dan Fogelman says. “They have to be able to coexist in order to capture what we’re trying to capture on this show. Marriages don’t always survive. People don’t live forever.”
And then comes the episode’s final marital surprise. Kevin is back looking in the hotel mirror again, primping for a wedding, in a repeat of the earlier scene, but this isn’t for his wedding with Madison.
It’s in the future, as an opened edition of The New Yorker features a photo and article about Randall, headlined “Rising Star.”
Kevin heads to another room where he sees a welcoming Madison, but she’s not the bride. Instead, it’s Kate, resplendent in her white dress for her second wedding. As he leaves the room, he greets the groom-to-be: It’s Phillip, the work colleague who once wanted nothing to do with Kate. Viewers will learn more about him next season, Fogelman says.
He acknowledges the initial shock of that final segment, but says it ultimately plays into the program’s optimism.
“Despite multiple reveals of marriages not quite working out, when you cut to that period in the future, everyone feels good,” he says. “On first view, you’re registering the shock of what you’re seeing, but on second view, you can see the feeling and smiles that exist in that moment.”
That scene also means yet another timeline to add to the Pearson universe, but Fogelman says writers and the audience are ready.
“We always knew that Season 6 would be ambitious in terms of the way it jumps time, even more ambitious than other seasons. Our audience has been so devoted and hopefully, we smartly set up the contained areas where these future timelines live, you’re going to have a real sense of resolution and completion for this family,” he says.” It’s where the mixed-up VHS tapes of this family’s existence will coalesce and speak to one another in completion.”
