Warning! The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of This Is Us. Read at your own risk!
Jack is attending meetings and hitting the boxing gym in the latest episode of This Is Us, and it looks like the head of the Pearson clan is back on the path of sobriety. When asked if Jack's road to recovery will play into his character on Season 2 of NBC's hit show in an ongoing fashion, Milo Ventimiglia had this to say:
Yes, it does. That's the good thing about this storytelling is that when you introduce a new set piece, you're going to introduce a side of that person's life. Jack going to AA or hitting a boxing bag those are definitely sides you'll see in the future.
That's good news for This Is Us, and for fans of Jack Pearson as new characters related to his recovery will surely reveal more info regarding the details surrounding his death. Milo Ventimiglia teases Jack will gain a sponsor in A.A. that will almost certainly add more to the mix, especially if they're still around in the present to interact with the Pearson children. Either way, it sounds like fans are going to see more episodes regarding Jack's battle with alcoholism, which only bring the promise of more answers.
One little thing This Is Us lovers may not have picked up on is the difference in Jack's recovery the first and second time around. The first time we saw Jack head to a meeting, he didn't even make it past the threshold before bowing out to hit a bag at the boxing gym. This second time around, Jack appears to head directly into the meeting without hesitation as Rebecca watches from the car. Milo Ventimiglia shares with THR why things might be different for Jack the second time around when compared to the first in the quote below:
We're going to see a contrast... a man that in the past white-knuckled his way through addiction and now we're going to see him ask for help from his family and go to places where help is given. We're going to see him not do it alone, but take a path that other people have taken before.
Whether or not Jack is able to keep up this new way of recovery as opposed to what worked for him the first time around (for a while anyway) remains to be seen. There's still a big question mark as to how that fire got started and whether Jack's drinking had to do with it, and an even bigger question mark as to why Kate specifically blames herself for it. With this latest episode showing young Kate serving as a strong form of support for her father, the This Is Us plot is only thickening, and that likely means more tears.
This Is Us is new next week October 10th at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Next week's episode features Sylvester Stallone, who was reportedly a pleasure to work with on set, so check out some pictures of his time there to get ready for that! For a list of can't miss fall programming, visit our fall premiere guide.
