“You will not make your lives smaller because of me,” Rebecca said in a stirring speech to her adult kids as she grapples with her own health issues.
No stranger to dramatic moments, "This Is Us" was revisited in Tuesday's episode when Rebecca gives a sentimental instruction to her children as she comes to grips with their mortality while continuing to deal with their Alzheimer's. Is.
The episode focused on three Thanksgivings - one when Jack and Rebecca are engaged, one after Jack's death and one in the present day, in which the entire Pearson clan (minus Nicky) was converted into a family cabin.
Rebecca calls Kevin, Randall and Kate to a meeting one evening in which she says she has one last request that is actually more demanding. She says her illness will have a lot of "ugly twists and turns" and she fears it will be harder for her than her children.
“I need you all to hear my voice right now, your mother’s voice with all her faculties. You will not cut your life short because of me,” she said.
Then he inspired them to be bold.
"This thing that is happening to me is not going to be the thing that holds you back," she continued. "So, take the risk. Make big moves, even if they are small moves. Move on with your life in whatever direction leads you. I'm your mom and I'm sick. And I'm telling you to be fearless." And if that sounds like a tall order, well, guess what? It is, but the only acceptable response is a resounding, 'Yes, ma'am.'"
"Yes, ma'am," replied each child.
Viewers are teased about Rebecca's fate, with images appearing on her death bed in flash-forward scenes. His speech is a powerful sight and the show's creator Dan Fogelman said it serves a different purpose as the show ends its six-season run.
"It's pretty much the setup for the back half of the season," he told reporters during a special cast panel that was part of NBC's Scripted Press Day in February. "It was one of those scenes that we knew would take seven minutes of our 42 minutes and 30 seconds of screen time that we're allotted each week and felt worthwhile."
Moore said she appreciates being center stage in a moment like a show that has so many of them.
"I mean, scenes like that, I think we can all speak it," she said. "We all have those moments on this show. It's such a gift to be a part of the show. Going to work every day and telling these stories and reciting these words is such a gift. It's never lost on us." And it's not particularly lost on me as we start to wind down the show."
In the scene, Moore's attempt at Sterling K. Brown was blown away.
"We all sat around the table watching Mandy do her job," he said. “And my first reaction was just to applaud. I clapped on my seat, as if not too loudly, trying not to distract my actor. ,
"He's a killer and that scene really, really touched me," he said.
Justin Hartley said the monologue is the latest example of him seeing one of his co-stars shine.
"One of the things that happened on the show that happened to me for that scene when I read it, you know the cast and you know the caliber of the actor that you're going to deal with, whether it's Sterling or Milo ( Ventimiglia) or Mandy or John (Huertus) or Chrissy (Metz) or Chris (Sullivan) or whatever," he said. "And when you read something like that, you look forward, you read it and go 'I can't wait to see what she does with it.'"
Moore said working with her co-stars on 'This Is Us' has been a true blessing.
"I get to look into the eyes of these extraordinary people like Justin and Chrissy and John and Sterling and I am honored and privileged to see these words and the relationship I have with everyone," she said. “We are really a family. And so, in that sense, it seems that it is very easy to be able to look at each of them and tell them the truth of what these words really are.”