This Is Us Review: Day of the Wedding (Season 6 Episode 13)

This Is Us paints a picturesque wedding, beautifully contrasting the Pearsons’ strife as they slowly and painfully lose their patriarch.

Indeed, This Is Us Season 6 Episode 13, “Day of the Wedding,” handles Rebecca’s descent into Alzheimer’s with haunting elegance, utilizing the powerhouse of Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia with every deliberate step.

Despite their performance’s sorrow, this episode embraces a breezy, comedic tone that brings more laughter than tears.

The absurd, often deprecating humor is this episode’s crowning achievement.

This Is Us is a drama by birthright, but occasionally, it shows off its comedy chops in such lovely ways, and it makes me wish for more of the Pearson clan drunk on bubbly laughter.

The bits with Rebecca’s Diana-inspired chop are too much in the best possible ways. There’s the Big Three’s ruthless roasting, and then there’s Jack’s inability to hold back laughter as they obliterate his wife’s remaining shred of confidence.

Jack Pearson’s infectious laughter and a super sweet origin story for his ridiculous mustache (rip the beard era, you were a real one) make for one classic, comedic outing and the perfect cushion for Rebecca’s current struggles.

Throw in drunken sleuths Madison and Beth, and the hilarity reaches every corner of this installment as Kevin, devastated by his mother’s words, gets brutally mocked from a balcony. No remorse, no survivors — these jokes come fast and brutal.

It feels good to get back to the basics — the basics, of course, being the impending, all-consuming doom of Jack Pearson.

It is eerie to see Rebecca’s final days play to the strengths of Jack’s “Super-Bowl Sunday” storyline that epically tormented fans for two agonizing seasons. Both view Jack’s lack of presence as a powder keg of grief and shock that could cleverly detonate at any moment.

The mention of Jack’s name once again has us sitting on the edge of our seats, and one cannot overlook the power in that full-circle reversal.

When asking This Is Us to get back to what works, you do not expect to relive the most traumatizing death in recent television history. Yet, now that we have discovered this show’s ruthless endgame, I couldn’t see wanting to be hurt any other way.

As painful as it is to open old wounds, Jack’s legacy is tied so closely to Rebecca’s that relinquishing her to the past creates the worst ache. It’s a stab of superb writing, the orchestrated hit you can’t help but appreciate for its cruel beauty.

“Day of the Wedding” showcases the weight this heavy-hitting cast wields, but the trio of Hartley, Moore, and Ventimiglia step up to bat in ways we could never have prepared for.

It’s not until Ventimiglia enters the room that the impact of Rebecca’s slip-ups hits us. First, he ensures we see Jack’s face first and admire this illusion. Then we notice the gait and movements are all too Kevin Pearson, and the gravitas of the actor’s performance comes into chilling focus.

As the camera eventually pans back to Kevin’s true face, Hartley’s pain is devastating.

We witness Randall’s disdain towards Rebecca’s Jack fixation, but we don’t realize how much of that burden Kevin is taking on himself by enduring her confusion. Yet he braces for every stab with a chivalrous determination and a hallow look that cracks us wide open.

Both men deliver chilling, somber performances that will undoubtedly be series standouts thanks to Moore’s guiding hand. As Rebecca slips in and out of lucidness, her heartbreaking delivery of each line is just icing on this bitter-sweet story arc.

It’s clear Randall is playing his part, but sometimes I wish his part was more likable. It’s difficult to root for this man when he’s making the situation for Miguel so unbearable. Regardless of his admirable compassion, Randall still has the farthest to go of the Big Three, and I hope we see him find his peace.

One could say the same for Kevin’s playboy nature.

This episode cleverly sets up an episode-long mystery to reveal which woman will be Mrs. Kevin Pearson. And while we will no doubt eat that reveal up, the current situation does not inspire confidence.

As Kevin moves away from his womanizer ways, often choosing to have his mother on his arm, it feels counterproductive to put so much emphasis on two relationships that will only prove to hurt his character growth.

As they stand, Cassidy is very much removed from dating, and Sophie is still married. So, unless there’s a game-changing twist in the time jump, This Is Us is playing with fire here, and we all know how that ends.

This episode’s ability to bring the grief of losing Jack full circle to losing Rebecca is a melancholy masterpiece.

It’s even more powerful when you find the story has shifted agency, focusing much of its strength on Rebecca and Miguel, two characters we struggled in the early days to rally behind.

Miguel is just as much a driving force for this storyline as he showcases the heartbreaking reality of losing Rebecca to memories of Jack. Yet, even in the face of overwhelming heartbreak, the optimism he shows is a pivotal cracking point for this storyline to poke at.

Moore continues to wow in her descent from the throne. However, if this is the first low point for Rebecca, we are not prepared for what will follow that haunting performance. Her voice says more in one song than any dialogue could, with delivery as powerful as this episode’s execution.

This is the tragic triumph of a show we fell in love with all those years ago.

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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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