‘This Is Us’ episode 13 reaction: Show creator breaks down funeral reveal

Over the past few episodes of “This Is Us,” we’ve had a chance to learn a few details about some specific characters — and there were some revelations across the board tonight whether it be Kevin tracking down his “true love” Sophie or a love triangle of sorts starting to form with Kate.

While all of this was important, there is a good bit of it that fades into the background due to what we saw at the end of the episode: A quick look at the funeral of Jack, which happened when Kevin, Kate, and Randall were all teenagers.

So why have this happen at this point in the story? This is something that executive producer Dan Fogelman explained further in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“I’ve always known when Jack died. The how is going to take much longer to reveal. To me, even when you’re watching the pilot, long before you knew Jack may not be in the picture in the present day, this family always felt loving and good but broken. You’ve got kids battling severe issues, whether it be Randall and his anxiety, and Kate with many things of self-confidence and weight, and Kevin has gone off to Los Angeles, and clearly there’s strained relationships with Rebecca. There feels like there was a break somewhere, and it always felt to me, as I thought about this family, that something formative happened to them in those prominent late teenage years, when you’re really becoming an adult, and getting boyfriends and girlfriends, and forming as a human being in full.”

We are honestly not in any hurry to get any further information regarding what happened with Jack, if for no other reason than that it doesn’t matter why he died so much as the impact that it has on his children. This is a moment that defines the entirety of their lives — it explains their divisions, their insecurities, and their fears. It’s also such a moment of great tragedy in the midst of a childhood that, while challenging, still revolved around supportive parents.

What did you think of the way that the show presented the funeral, and does this make so much more sense now why the lives of the Big Three are so complicated? Share in the comments, and head over here to see a preview for what is coming up next on the show. (Photo: NBC.)