Those Three Big Twists From the This Is Us Fall Finale, Explained

This Is Us aired its fall finale tonight, November 19, so of course there was going to be a shocking twist during the last five minutes. What we didn't expect, though, was three shocking twists. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Here's what happened: The fallout from Rebecca and Randall's argument over her physical health/memory carried over into tonight's Thanksgiving-themed episode. Not wanting to be around her son while they wait for everyone to arrive for the meal, Rebecca goes outside for some air, leaving Miguel in the kitchen to cook. She goes to the park, where she confuses a young man for a young William, and then ends up at a Chinese restaurant instead of at home with her family. It's a heartbreaking series of events—made all the more powerful by Mandy Moore's incredible performance—that confirms she's suffering from a form of Alzheimer's.

When Rebecca finally realizes that she left her phone somewhere and doesn't have Randall's number, the local police help escort her home. Turns out, that isn't Randall's place in the present day—instead, we've been watching Rebecca nine months in the future, when her condition has worsened. The police bring her to the Pearson family cabin, where it's late August 2020 and Kevin and Kate are celebrating their 40th birthdays.

The twists keep coming after we learn that Kevin—who declared over Thanksgiving 2019 that he wanted to find a wife and start a family by the time he turns 40—is engaged and his fiancée is expecting. Who that fiancée is remains a mystery. What we do know, however, is that Randall isn't at the cabin because he and Kevin aren't on speaking terms. Meanwhile, Toby isn't anywhere to be seen at the birthday gathering even though Kate's wearing her wedding ring. And a solemn-looking Miguel comforts Rebecca while Kate fills out the paperwork from the police.

Back in the present day, Rebecca returns from her outing (she ended up going to see the three-and-a-half-hour film The Irishman) much to Randall's relief. She also admits that something's wrong with her memory and needs to see a doctor. That's where the episode ends, setting up a tumultuous nine months ahead and an even more difficult road in the future.

But in other present-day developments, Kevin helps Tess come out to her peers; Beth meets Nicky for the first time; Deja's biological mom, Shauna, is doing better than ever; Kate confides to Beth that she hates Toby's Crossfit makeover and attitude; adult Jack is celebrating Thanksgiving with his pregnant fiancée; Toby is upset with Kate for failing to tell him baby Jack had his first solid food without him; and Annie continues to have the best one-liners.

With so much to unpack, we called This Is Us executive producer and co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker to get the lowdown and what to expect when the show returns in the new year.

Glamour: After tonight's episode, can we say that Rebecca has Alzheimer’s, or a form of it?

Isaac Aptaker: We’ve been learning about it in the room, and there’s so many names for conditions that look and sort of mimic Alzheimer’s. But yes, she definitely has some type of Alzheimer’s-esque dementia, I think it’s safe to say.

How hard was it to weave back and forth between Rebecca's dual storylines between the present day and nine months from now?

It was very complicated. It was really hard for our director, Ken Olin, and our production team. Not only did they have to protect that it was two different times and two different seasons, but also one story is taking place in Philadelphia and the other is taking place in their cabin out in the rural Poconos. Choosing locations that would be able to play for both and not give away where Rebecca was geographically was really challenging.

Randall called Rebecca at the grocery store, which we later found out was nine months in the future and had nothing to do with where she was in the present day. It's those little details that must have been so hard to keep track of.

Yeah, exactly. We had to make sure because we would get confused when we were writing it and we would have Rebecca get a text from Randall and then say, "Oh, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, that’s the wrong timeline! She wouldn’t be getting that text!" It’s just a process of constantly remembering where you are in space and time to make sure that it all makes sense when you look back on it.

We know Rebecca lives another 10 or 12 years into the future, so how much will the show explore the journey of how her health progresses?

That’s a really good question. We’re committed to telling this story really accurately and as medically honestly as possible. We always have our experts and our consultants, both anecdotally people who have experienced it personally and also doctors and experts in the field. That said, we also are very aware of how sad this story is. Whenever we tell a sad story, we’re always looking for the silver lining for the moments of joy, for the moments of triumph. We’re going to be both accurate and as uplifting as possible while telling something that is incredibly, incredibly sad.

When is the next time we'll revisit the storylines set nine months from now?

That’s the Big Three's 40th birthday, which every season has started with, so that will be the beginning of our fifth season. It’s not going to be a superlong wait to get the answers to all of the questions that we just flash-forwarded to. It’s really by the end of this season and the very beginning of next that we’ll be caught up to that moment.

In the scenes set nine months from now, Kate’s wedding ring is still on. Is it accurate to say that even though she might be having trouble with her marriage, so far it's still intact?

Yeah. I think even if things are bad with Toby, nine months is an incredibly fast time to go from married to divorced, especially when you have a young child. I think people should definitely be aware and concerned about the fact that Toby wasn’t in that flash-forward but, yes, she is wearing a ring. I think that would be awfully fast for them to be divorced.

Moving to the present day, let’s talk about that text message from Lady Kryptonite to Toby in the Crossfit group chat. Will we meet Lady Kryptonite, and will it happen this season?

Whether we meet her or not, I think we’re going to be dealing with the immediate fallout from that text message right when we come back in our next episode. I mean, that’s an upsetting and scary moment for a wife to find out that her husband is not only venting and complaining about her and their marriage to a group of friends, but that there’s some mysterious woman responding and giving him counsel and marital advice. What Kate does with that troubling information is something we’re going to be addressing right away when we’re back in January.

Okay, let’s talk Kevin. Is he living in the cabin in the woods nine months from now? Is that his home now? Or was that just where they are celebrating their 40th?

[Laughs] That’s funny. Maybe people will think that, but that wasn’t our intention! We’re imagining that this is just them all gathering to celebrate their 40th birthday, not that Kevin has moved into the cabin.

When we go 10 to 12 years into the future to Kevin’s house, it looks like he’s living in a nice house that’s somewhat rustic. It seems in line with what he likes now, which is living out in nature.

It’s a totally fair point. It’s just funny, I never thought about it before. [Laughs.] You’ve started to draw connections that no one has ever drawn before.

[Laughs.] But back to future Kevin nine months from now, we know he's engaged and his fiancée is expecting their first child together. How soon will we meet her?

Episode 501 is where we’ll pick up their 40th birthday. So by the end of this season, beginning of next, we’ll know who the woman is off-camera.

And what do you want to say to fans who are hoping that Kevin is engaged to Cassidy?

Well, we love Jennifer Morrison. She knocked it out of the park for us, so nothing’s off the table.

Jumping ahead to Thanksgiving some 25 to 30 years down the line: We see adult Jack setting up dinner with his pregnant wife, and there are lots of table settings. This could be for his friends or her family, but are there plans to see old Toby, Kate, or Kevin show up?

[Laughs.] I mean, you’re right, there are a lot of chairs there. Nothing’s off the table. It could be the elder Big Three or his band, you never know.

Were you always planning on inserting adult Jack into this episode, or was that a result of fans loving him so much and the actor that plays him?

We knew fans loved him, we loved him, and we knew he did such a great job. We’ve always been spitballing where it makes sense to jump back to that timeline. But it was really the shrimp that made us in the writers room convinced this was the right moment, seeing the introduction of a new tradition to the family right up against this moment where we’ve seen that it’s become part of the fabric of their Thanksgivings and carried on for decades. It felt like it was very much keeping in the themes of this show and how things carry on across generations.

As for Kate, in the past we learned something really terrible might have happened to her when she was dating her college boyfriend. When will we revisit that storyline?

That will be a big part of the back half of our season.

And where will we pick up when the show returns in January?

We will pick up in real time as we tend to do with our present-day stories. We’ll be covering what happened over the holidays, where Kevin is on his quest for a significant other, Randall and Rebecca are dealing with the next step of figuring out what is wrong with her, and Kate is deciding what to do about those text messages.

This Is Us will return on Tuesday, January 14. Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. You can follow her on Instagram here.

Originally Appeared on Glamour