'This Is Us' Season 6 Episode 1 ending explained: Is Rebecca able to remember the word from her memories? (Spoilers)

Still from NBC's This Is Us Season 6 Episode 1 - Rebecca (Image via NBC)
Still from NBC's This Is Us Season 6 Episode 1 - Rebecca (Image via NBC)

Leave it to NBC to give its viewers the best show along with real tears for its sixth season of the popular family drama, This Is Us.

The sixth season of This Is Us premiered today, and the Pearsons have a lot going on in this final chapter of the series. Rebecca's cognitive health is declining, Randall is still trying to do good and help people around him, Kate is trying to manage her long-distance with Toby, and Kevin is trying to adjust to the new co-parenting life. This season definitely has a lot in store for viewers - emotionally and otherwise as it will answer the burning questions with its last hurrah.

Without further ado, let's dissect and understand the ending of NBC's This Is Us Season 6.

Note: This article contains spoilers.


Analyzing the end of 'This Is Us' Season 6 Episode 1

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This Is Us Season 6 Episode 1 opens with a flashback of January 1986. It's the day of the space shuttle launch, and the Big Three are excited. But things take a different turn when the shuttle explodes in the sky on national television. As kids, that scenario left quite an impact on the three, adding to their personality and becoming something they still carry with themselves to this day.

It's the Big Three's birthday, and viewers will be greeted with little flashbacks from the very first episode of the series. These parallels show how far each of them have come in the past five years - from Kate not being able to control her eating, Kevin being a playboy, and Randall trying to find his biological father, to all of them being a bit more content with their lives.

This episode of This Is Us Season 6 sees lots of revelations as it unfolds. Randall found the guy who robbed them in Season 4, Kevin is living in Madison's garage just to stay close to his twins and things seem to look fine for Kate and Toby at the moment.

As for Rebecca, her health is declining and in a very bad way. According to her PET scan, her brain has plaques building all over and in the entire episode, all she did was try and remember a particular word from her memory while being on a kiddy train with Hailey and Jack.

This particular word in This Is Us is embedded in Rebecca's head with many memories attached to it. A train ride with her dad and a bedtime story she read to her kids, but since her memory isn't so great anymore, she feels frustrated blanking on the word 'caboose'. She ends up shouting about it during the Big Three's birthday celebrations, further revealing her recent brain scan results to her kids.

As this episode of This Is Us nears its end, viewers will see Kevin bringing the twins home, expecting to decompress with Madison. But to his surprise, her fellow book club member, Elijah, is still at the house and they are watching the show Madison and Kevin watch together. This jealousy towards Elijah makes Kevin realize that living in Madison's garage isn't exactly a good idea, so he ends up going over to Kate's house.

This episode of This Is Us sees yet another parallel from the time Kate and Kevin were kids. On the day of the Challenger disaster, Jack and Rebecca were concerned about how it affected their kids so they tried talking to them.

Kate was optimistic and told Jack that the heroes/astronauts were high enough to be closer to heaven, Randall was worried about the astronaut's children and as for Kevin, he initially showed no care and called it just another story on the television.

That very night in This Is Us, Kevin went up to Kate's room and the two slept in the same bed, he also says that their parents will die one day, expressing what he learnt from that explosion.

Back in the present day in This Is Us, an adult Kevin tells Kate that their mom is really sick, referring to how his greatest fear will soon come true. He further adds that he will join The Manny reboot to provide stability for his kids.

Kevin is mad that the world gets to continue as usual even though things are changing for the Pearsons, but Kate being the optimist reminds him that things are way better than they were five years ago.

The two are almost on the verge of tears as everything is becoming too real for them, so they hug. Kate is later surprised by Toby as he comes home and greets her happy birthday, melting all of Kate's worries away.

Back at Rebecca and Miguel's home in This Is Us, Rebecca is fed up with Nicky going on and on about Sally so she tells him to shut up and pack his stuff as they would leave in the morning to go meet her.

She believes that life is too short and Nicky is giving her a headache. At bedtime, Rebecca goes over her PET scans and finally remembers the word 'caboose' which she says out loud a few times and sags in relief.

This Is Us Season 6 Episode 1 is now available to stream on NBC, Hulu and Hotstar, with a brand new episode every Tuesday at 9:00 PM.

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Edited by R. Elahi
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