"Day of the Wedding" is an episode of This Is Us that first aired on April 19, 2022. Directed by James Takata. Written by Jon Dorsey.
Five years in the future, the Pearsons gather for Kate's wedding to Philip. Kate is worried about Rebecca performing at the wedding reception as her dementia has progressed to the point that she has begun to confuse Kevin with the late Jack. Randall notices Miguel has a slight tremor in his hand.
Beth and Madison try to figure out whom Kevin slept with the night before; they narrow it down to his ex-wife Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge), his plus one Cassidy (Jennifer Morrison) or Arielle (Katie Lowes), the main wedding singer.
Tropes
- Audience Surrogate: Randall serves as one, with his recent election to the United States Senate having taken up so much of his time that he’s playing catch-up when it comes to Miguel and Rebecca’s health.
- Call-Back: Kevin goes through with his speech referencing The Princess Bride that was previously teased during the previous season finale. Appropriately, Sophie is the only one who finds it funny, as the film was previously established to be a favourite of hers as a child.
- Cliffhanger: A recurring theme throughout the episode is members of the Pearson family noting they lost track of Kevin the previous night; in the final moments of the episode, Randall asks Kevin point blank what happened, and the viewer is shown that he had some sort of encounter with Sophie, Cassidy and the wedding singer the previous night.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Rebecca sings a song titled "The Forever Now" at the wedding reception, which incorporates the piano piece that has served as the end credits theme for the series.
- Dramatic Irony: Rebecca's dependence on a routine to keep her from losing track of things due to her dementia is contrasted by Rebecca as a young mother desperately wanting to get away from having a daily routine as she goes about her day.
- Failed a Spot Check: Because of her dementia, Rebecca keeps mistaking Kevin for the late Jack.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Rebecca mistakes Kevin for Jack as they take the wedding photos, Kevin can be seen trying to get Randall's attention before he unwittingly makes things worse by correcting her.
- The Ghost: Tess, Annie and Deja don't appear in the episode, by virtue of the episode being set five years in the future and subsequently requiring the actors be recast to be more age appropriate.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Miguel and Randall’s conversation about how quickly things have changed for the Pearson family, considering there was a five time skip over the course of the previous episode.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Despite being 10 years removed since he played the role, and apparently five years into a reboot where he plays the father, Kevin is still remembered as the Manny.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Joked about as Kate brings up the Super Bowl in her vows, and then jokes that she'll explain what it is to Philip later — lampshading the NFL's relative obscurity in Philip's native England.
- Porn Stache: Rebecca jokes that she can't decide whether Jack looks like a pizza delivery man or a porn star after he shaves his beard into a moustache.
- Shout-Out:
- Randall jokes that his daughters are his security detail; Kevin responds by joking that Annie's not exactly on par with Kevin Costner, alluding to his role in The Bodyguard.
- Rebecca's new haircut is likened to Peter Pan, Jamie Lee Curtis and He-Man. Rebecca's hairstylist was actually going for Princess Diana as seen on the cover of People magazine.
- The Big Three are shown watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe on television.
- Kate says Jack looks like the title character from Magnum, P.I. after he shaves his goatee into a moustache.
- Miguel quotes a line Sideways when Merlot is mentioned before he and Randall head to a wine tasting, but no one else gets the reference.
- Rebecca, Miguel, Nicky and his girlfriend are shown watching an episode of The Golden Girls.
- Kevin’s speech at the reception references The Princess Bride.
- Phillip jokes about singing Céline Dion’s "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic (1997).
- Traumatic Haircut: When Jack comes home, Rebecca's wearing a Steelers cap to cover up her haircut. Kate reassures her mother that hair grows back, while Randall complains that he wants his "old Mom" back.
- Whodunnit: Beth and Madison spend the majority of the episode trying to work out who Kevin slept with the night before; they narrow it down to his ex-wife Sophie, his plus one Cassidy, or the wedding singer.
