‘This Is Us’: 10 Things We Know About Season 2’s Upcoming Episodes

This Is Us just announced a hiatus while NBC airs the 2018 Winter Olympics, but fans are already dying to know what happens in the remaining episodes of season 2.

The show has been building toward Jack Pearson’s death and the resulting turmoil his passing caused.

Now it is time for the Pearson family to move forward (and look back) from the patriarch’s death with the remainder of season 2.

Scroll through see everything we know about the remainder of season 2.

Return Date / Episode Count

The key thing to remember with all this info is the time frame producers are working with.

The show is off for three weeks with a return date of Feb. 27. That gives the audience a breather after two hard-hitting episodes and allows the minds behind the scenes to move past Jack’s death without seeming jarring.

Furthermore, when the show comes back, there will only be three episodes left to air in season 2.

That maybe surprising to fans, but that hs been NBC’s plan all along, since they revealed the 18-episode order back in January 2017. That 18-episode plan will also apply to season 3, which was ordered at the same time. 

A Return to Jack’s Early Years

The preview for the rest of season 3 offered glimpses of what’s to come for the NBC drama, and the most interesting tidbit was a promise to show more of Jack’s early years.

There’s a promo of a youthful and clean-shaven Jack working on a car. This possibly comes during an episode where we learn more about Jack’s brother and their lives at home.

Ventimiglia recently teased more details on Jack’s early life will be revealed while chatting with The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s been a question, what Jack’s younger life was like, what his influences on having a positive family experience were,” Ventimiglia said. “A lot of that relies on his relationship with his brother and what they experienced in the house they grew up in.”

A Glimpse at Vietnam

Viewers know that Jack served in Vietnam alongside his brother Nicky, who presumably died while overseas. Jack does not talk about his time there much, besides a conversation with Randall while visiting Washington D.C. shortly before his passing.

No only will Jack’s tour of duty be discussed, it will actually be shown.

An Episode About Toby and Kate’s Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties

The promo also offered several shots of the Toby Damon (Chris Sullivan) and Kate Pearson (Chrissy Metz) celebrating before their wedding day.

Toby is shown with an unknown group of guys romping through either Las Vegas or Atlantic City, with future brothers-in-law Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) showing up later.

Kate is also shown out with friends, including sister-in-law Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) and new friend Madison (Caitlin Thompson), at a strip club.

Deja’s Second Stay in the Pearson Home

One of the biggest surprises in the “Super Bowl Sunday” episode was the return of Deja (Lyric Ross) into the fold.

Deja was Randall and Beth’s first foster child who went back to her mother at the end of season 2 first half. However, she made a surprise return after her mother presumably got into more trouble.

Her return will be a welcome one, but it will surely cause more drama between the couple and Deja’s mother.

Kevin’s Continuing Battle With Addiction

Kevin has been battling his addiction to pills and alcohol since he was arrested for a DUI at the end of season 2’s first half.

However, he will face some challenges as season 2 concludes.

In one of the preview shots, Kevin is shown doing push-ups in a hotel room, presumably during Toby’s bachelor party. There is a slew of alcohol available to him, and he is shown eyeing the numerous bottles in the preview.

A Possible Return to Memphis

Randall was slated to return to Memphis in what would be an emotional second trip to the hometown of William Hill (Ron Cephas Jones), his biological father.

The adopted member of the “Big Three” visited the city in one of season 1’s most emotional episodes, with William ultimately dying on the trip. Randall was poised to return for the latest Thanksgiving episode, but the plans were scrapped last minute.

In separate interviews with Deadline, Brown and show creator Dan Fogelman offered different takes on if Memphis would come back into play this season.

“We have a lot of real estate from Memphis, and we’ll find our way back there,” Fogelman said.

Brown downplayed the option and said, “I don’t know if it will happen this season. There’s a potential for it to exist in the future. This season they’re almost done with breaking story on how we end in 2018. We’re shooting Episode 214 right now, and we have four more episodes.”

No More of the ‘Immediate Aftermath’ of Jack’s Death

With the one-two punch of “Super Bowl Sunday” and “The Car,” This Is Us is done showing the immediate aftermath of Jack’s death, for the time being.

Mandy Moore, who plays Jack’s Wife Rebecca, revealed that the conclusion of “The Car” will close the book on the time surrounding Jack’s death for now.

“I can tell you that we’re putting a pin in this moment of time for the rest of this season,” Moore told Entertainment Weekly. “We’re going to go back in time a little bit and we’re going to stay more present-day, but we’re not going to revisit the immediate aftermath of this funeral in season 2.”

More Flash-Forwards

“Super Bowl Sunday” offered a first for the series: a look into the future.

In what was a first for the series, the show flashed forward in time and offered a glimpse at the lives of Randall and his oldest daughter. In this future, Tess is a social worker that helps find homes for foster children. Randall is proud of this and meets up with her weekly to get dinner.

There will presumably more of this as time goes on, and Brown shared a photo of himself back in older makeup for another scene set in the future era.