10 This Is Us Moments Guaranteed To Make You Sob

This Is Us told viewers exactly what kind of show it would be from the opening episode, when Jack had to deliver the news to Rebecca that their third baby didn’t make it. It was the first of a long line of weepy moments, topped only by the new thing that happened in this timeline: Jack introducing Rebecca to the small orphaned child lying next to Kevin and Kate and persuading her to adopt him.

Jack and Rebecca’s marriage is full of happy tears moments: the trip to California, their wedding, their children’s milestones. But there’s also the downside of that — when the relationship hit the rocks. Jack and Rebecca’s breakup after he drunkenly ruined her chance at a singing career was a gut punch, but not nearly as bad as the follow-up, when Rebecca gave in and told Jack to come home, only to have him refuse in order to go to rehab.

Speaking of rehab, this list would not be complete without Kevin’s trip to in-patient recovery — the one when he brought the whole family to his session. In one of This Is Us’ top episodes ever in terms of performances, it was utterly devastating to see the siblings say the things to each other (and to their mother) that they’d held inside their whole lives.

It took a season and a half (and a post-Super Bowl timeslot) to finally show the passing of Jack Pearson. The moment the Pearson family shattered, which would take them decades to recover from, turned out oddly quiet, offscreen, as Rebecca went for a candy bar. Perhaps the show’s most devastating moment was when she returns and discovers it was all over, and she never even saw it happen.

If Jack’s passing was the moment the family broke, Randall’s collapse was the first step toward healing. Kevin’s heroic exit of his Broadway show to come to his brother’s aid and be there for him was the first time the brothers honestly admitted how much they loved each other.

Like the rehab episode, this was the moment Kevin and Randall said all the things to each other they’d never dared to, because they were the things that would hurt the other the most. Watching the knives come out on the lawn as they tested their bond by saying the most unforgivable things to each other they could think of was a heart-wrencher.

The loss of Jack may have broken the Pearsons, but William’s passing was a double dose of devastation for Randall, who had only just discovered his biological dad after decades of never knowing he was so close. Although the two only had a short time to grow close, this was a heartbreaker, made only more so a few years later when Randall discovered what William never knew that his mother had survived childbirth after all.

When Beth and Randall took in Deja, it was a complex discovery for Randall that adoption isn’t all babies and miracle families. By the time her mother came to take her away at the end of the season, fans were heartbroken to see her go, as were Randall and Beth. Despite the difficulties they all had — and will have when she comes back — Deja choosing to go with her mom was one of the most challenging moments to watch.

Another really hard-to-watch moment was the one that broke Jack and Nicky’s relationship when Nicky’s behavior in Vietnam accidentally led to the murder of a child.

At the time, it seemed like both were blown up in the explosion, as Jack, panicking, searched for them, his heart breaking at the loss of his younger brother. But the worst part was, Nicky wasn’t really gone. He just knew Jack would never forgive him for what he’d done, nor could he forgive himself.

The final heartbreak of the Pearson family hasn’t technically happened yet onscreen, but everyone knows it’s coming. In the flash-forwards to 2034, Rebecca is dying in the house Kevin will one day build, where the Pearson vacation cabin now stands. Although fans haven’t seen her pass away, at least not yet, knowing it’s coming is enough to reach for the tissues.