20 biggest TV moments of 2018 we’ll never forget
By Sundi Rose
The Crock-Pot kills Jack Pearson – This is Us
What happened: The NBC family drama landed on the lineup, dragging all the tears and feelings from our jaded and cynical 2017 hearts. The Pearsons, and their “big three” storyline about a mother and father adopting a baby after one of their triplets dies in childbirth, quickly became one of the most-watched dramas of the season.
One of the most intriguing things about the show is how they play with time, checking in on the family at many stages of their life. We immediately get to know and love the parents, Jack and Rebecca, but we also understand that Jack will die an untimely death, setting up one of the most acute bouts of dramatic irony in recent TV history. In one of the highest-rated episodes, we finally see how Jack dies: heroically trying to save the family dog from a house fired caused by a faulty Crock-Pot. Well, it wasn’t exactly the fire that killed him, but I’ll let you watch for yourself.
Why it’s important: Important might be a bit of an overstatement in the bigger sense of the culture, but This Is Us fans were highly affected. In fact, despite that fact that the slow cooker in question was nameless and brand-less, fans nevertheless took to the internet to take out their sadness on someone — namely the Crock-Pot company. Stocks tanked and the company got hate mail, proving how invested audiences are in this show.
It was also kind of a big deal because it was the culmination of a season-long “mystery” about how Jack would die. Knowing he would die, yet still watching his character develop and the relationship with his family grow, was tough. We knew it was coming, but we were very unprepared for how it would affect us.
How to watch it: All three seasons of This Is Us are on Hulu now. It doesn’t make much sense to jump to the episode in question, because you’ll miss out on all the dramatic buildup. But if that’s your thing, go to episode 14 of the second season, “Super Bowl Sunday.”