“This Is Us” just explained where Kate’s mystery dog came from, but we still need to know its name

The moment was brief, but This Is Us just answered one of our *burning* questions in tonight’s episode! If you haven’t seen Season 2, Episode 3, “Deja Vu,” now might be a good time to skedaddle because #SPOILERS. Last chance, because we’re about to get into plot details…

This week’s This Is Us saw Rebecca take Jack out on a romantic date to try to work through some of their marital difficulties.

She makes a move, but he rebuffs her advances so the pair head back to their home pretty quickly. Once there, Jack tells Rebecca that it’s been difficult to open up to her as of late, but that he wants to keep talking to her. Rebecca throws their burgers into the grass, and follows him back into the car so they can continue their date.

That may seem like a little detail about the burgers, but as we’ve learned time and time again…there are NO small details on This Is Us. That burger attracts the attention of a dog, who starts chowin’ down. And not just any dog. No, no, no, this is the dog we saw Kate clutching at the end of the Season 2 premiere. This is the dog that appeared out of nowhere, but is a potential clue about Jack’s death.

Rebecca wonders if it’s a stray, and Jack picks the dog up. It looks like love at first sight if you ask us, which means there could be a lot of sentimental value attached to that dog, WHICH MEANS Jack could, IDK, be willing to run into a burning house to save it??? Just some food for thought…

Our guess is that the Pearsons adopted the dog in this moment — or pretty soon after. In any case, we finally know *where* the dog came from. Now, can we learn its name already? And we need to know what connection, if any, this pup has to Jack’s death. But also, can we learn its name already?! For now, we’re just going to think of it as Sparky Pearson.

And here’s hoping we learn that darn name when This Is Us returns to NBC next Tuesday.