"This Is Us" imagines a world where Jack is still alive, and this is what love feels like

A few weeks ago, images from the season finale of This Is Us hit the internet, and they were rife with spoilers — just like this post, which is about to talk about the season finale of the NBC show. These circulating pictures showed a happy wedding day, which we all assumed was Kate’s wedding day since she’s marrying Toby, after all. However, there was also something incredibly OFF about these pictures, namely the fact that Jack Pearson was very much alive, and breathing, and old.

Considering we watched Jack die five episodes ago, how was Jack alive and at Kate’s wedding??

Well, settle in for this and also get all the tissues you can find. For the season finale of This Is Us, “The Wedding,” we’re not seeing Kate’s wedding. We’re seeing Jack and Rebecca’s 40th wedding anniversary where they renew their vows in front of friends and family. In this scenario, Jack is very much alive, and loves his wife so goddamn much, and can’t stop crying about everything. This is the This Is Us future we deserve.

However, it’s all too good to be true. The renewal ceremony is not actually a real thing, but a dream Kate’s been having for the past few weeks. She can’t seem to cope with the fact that her father *won’t* be there for her wedding, and she’s, understandably, pretty upset about it. In dreams, she doesn’t necessarily imagine her wedding with her father present, but rather just a happy future for the Pearsons.

This Old Jack — take a second to appreciate that Milo Ventimiglia looks good at every age, even in old age makeup — talks about how happy and full his life has been. He tells the most adorable story about starting Big Three Construction with Rebecca by his side, and how that’s all he ever wanted in life. Later, at the reception, Rebecca sings “Moonshadow” for the crowd. It’s cool if you’re crying; everyone is crying.

If you’re hoping to see more of this Old Jack in future episodes of the show, don’t hold your breath like the Big Three. Ventimiglia has hinted that this is a one-off thing, and this ~dream~ does serve a purpose to the story — the purpose is to break our hearts into a million, tiny little pieces, and it definitely gets the job done.