It’s a bigif.

In fact, it’s the biggestifthat surroundsThis Is Us.

What if Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia), a.k.a.

SuperDad, hadn’t died in the aftermath of the fire that claimed the Pearson home?

Well, not entirely.

(See: next week’s finale.)

Its an exploration of the ultimate question that has hung over the shows characters throughout its run.

Especially for a character like Randall, who holds himself so responsible for his father’s death.

We see the rosy version of the what-if scenario as well as the darker version.

Which one wound up being more fun and intriguing and emotional to plan out?

Im still processing earring-wearing playboy Randall.

We would be getting constant pictures and videos of the monitor: Ahhh!

He’s getting someone who isnt Beth!

He has a weird mustache!

Any interesting ideas in the writers' room that particularly pained you to cut?

BERGER:I think there were previous versions where Kevin was much more into cooking.

[Laughs]

APTAKER:Oh yeah, that was a much bigger part of the world!

APTAKER:Not because we didnt like it.

We were just kind of like, Wait, what are we doing?

I think it got too exciting for us to imagine what everyone’s lives were like.

We can’t just fill in random details about everyone in our universe.

We dont totally believe that Randall has imagined an alternate world where Kevin is a chef.

So that had to fall by the wayside.

Ive already lost three parents, he tells her.

I know that losing my mother would break me.

While its a heartbreaking thought, why is this binary for him?

Yes, of course it is not really binary in the world.

I’m not going to do that again, I don’t think it’s worth it for me.

This isn’t how I want to spend my time with her.

BERGER:It’s not even his priority right now to deal with her in that way.

But right now all he cares about really is just getting her to that trial by any means necessary.

Randall did weaponize those feelings in a way, telling Rebecca, Ive been a good son.

Ive let things go.

Things that were kept from me, never resented you because I knew it would be painful for you.

It gets results he wanted, but how unfair was is for Randall to guilt-trip her into this?

Is that the biggest question you hope people are walking away from that scene and asking themselves?

I think Randall would argue he does not care.

He just wants her to get better and he will do whatever it takes.

APTAKER:All is fair in love and elder care.

[Laughs] … We intend for it to be very divisive.

On set it was, at least.

And then the other half of people were going, That is so manipulative.

How could he use that against her like that?

And they found what he was doing to be very unpleasant and manipulative.

So our intention and our hope is that people will really be divided on it.

Is Dr. Leigh aware that he didnt fully stuff it down and they have hashed it out tosomeextent?

Is she possibly somewhat off-base and Randalls a little right not to want to relitigate this?

And they repaired very quickly probably more quickly than you would repair in real life.

And she’s really found a new connection with Kevin.

She’s enjoying being around her grandson every day.

Are we at the inciting moment of the fight now?

BERGER:We are definitely close to the inciting moment.

Kate wasn’t there she didn’t hear it right from her mom but Kevin did.

Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) is proud of Randall for finally deciding to attend therapy.

How might she respond to his choice with Rebecca, though?

APTAKER:She definitely has a reaction.

We’ll be seeing her wrestle with that in the upcoming episode.

Before we talk about the finale, there have been lots of delays and cancellations as the coronavirus spreads.

Can you walk us through how you finished filming the finale just in time?

APTAKER:We were so fortunate.

Our heart goes out to all of the productions that have had to shut down.

So we were able to get our last day in just under the wire.

Now we are on hiatus for the season.

And what’s the premise of the finale?

How many timelines are we in and will we see some new periods?

BERGER:Were in a lot of timelines.

We’re all over the place in this one.

How much of a cliffhanger does the episode end on?

I think people are going to be really satisfied.

What exactly happened between Kevin and Randall, we’ll get to that by the end of the finale.