This Is Us (NBC, 9 p.m., season six premiere): Everyone’s favorite tear-jerker of a TV show finally returns for its final season. The Pearson clan is ready to say goodbye in the premiere, titled “The Challenger,” as the Kevin, Kate, and Randall, a.k.a. The Big Three, celebrate their 41st birthday.
The A.V. Club’s Caroline Siede found herself reeling after the last season finale: “If you had given me 50 chances to guess what might happen in tonight’s This Is Us season finale, I never would’ve landed on this episode’s final tease: A flash-forward to five years in the future, where Kate is set to marry her uptight British boss Philip (Chris Geere)—a character I assumed wouldn’t even rival Jae-Won in terms of levels of relevance to this show. I’ve watched the final few minutes of this episode about half a dozen times to make sure I’m not being duped. But as far as I can tell, there’s no room for ambiguity. Kate’s in a wedding dress, Kevin is rehearsing a toast, and Philip gives him permission to make jokes at his expense by noting, ‘If you can’t take the piss out of your future brother-in-law, who can you take the piss out of?’ Unless next season is going to reveal there’s a secret fourth Pearson sibling Philip is marrying instead, it seems like we’re in for some seismic changes in This Is Us’ sixth and final season.”