The “This Is Us” pilot actually *almost* spoiled the Jack twist for us, and we had no idea

Are you still crying about the events of this week’s This Is Us? Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen it, and this is NOT the This Is Us episode for you to miss. Over the course of the episode we learn that Kate loves football, and loves to watch football with her dad, Jack. For the past few episodes, we’ve been trying to figure out if present-day Jack is even still around because we’ve yet to see him.

This question was finally answered when Kate showed us that she loves to watch football with her dad…but sadly, Jack has passed away so Kate’s watching the game with her dad’s ashes in a urn, and oh god, here come the tears again.

It’s a huge third act reveal, and it hit us hard in the feels.

At one point, though, it wasn’t meant to hit us in the feels at all, because This Is Us originally included it as kind of a throw-away line. In the very first cut of the This Is Us pilot, this big Jack twist is actually revealed early on, when Randall tells his birthfather, William, that his dad has passed away, and simply states, “My father’s no longer alive.”

?

This revealing line was cut, and Jack’s fate stayed a secret for four episodes…but part of this reveal is still made it into the episode. YEAH! This Is Us subtly hints that Jack is dead, and we had NO IDEA.

According to series creator Dan Fogelman, “most people were missing [the reveal that Jack is dead], because it’s only once you connect in the pilot that Jack is Randall’s father [and you hear] ‘My father’s no longer alive,’ you’d go, ‘Oh, s—.’”

Everything BUT this one line stays the same, including William’s reaction: “Your dad must have been very proud of you.”

Kinda weird to hear “must have been very proud” rather than “your dad must be proud,” huh? This past tense should have tipped us off waaaaaay early, but at the time we were all probably crying too much to notice. The line is still in the episode, at 35:47.

Once again, this proves we should be watching each episode of This Is Us at least three times: One, to cry through it hysterically, a second time to cry through it jus there and there, and a third time to REALLY figure out what’s going on.