We Now Know How the Fire Started on This Is Us, and WOW — We Did Not See This Coming

Warning: probably the biggest spoiler about This Is Us, so proceed with caution.

After weeks of theories and unanswered questions about what caused the fire that led to Jack's death on This Is Us, we finally learned how it happened, and, well, we're going to need more tissues. It's the Super Bowl, and the Pearson family is full of emotions. Randall finally kisses Allison, Kevin celebrates Sophie's college acceptance, and Kate is learning to see herself the way her father does. But at the end of the night, there is a lot of leftover chili and even more unfinished business, as Kevin owes Jack an apology for the way he treated him after storming off in a fit of adolescent rage.

After the obvious nod at the home's smoke detector at the end of last week's episode, it was only a matter of time before we found out what exactly caused the fire. Let's just say we did not expect it to be a beloved Crock-Pot. In the final minutes of the episode, Jack loads up the dishwasher and writes a note for Kevin, telling him that if he doesn't see him before he leaves for work, he and Rebecca love him, but he owes his parents an apology. Then Jack gets back into bed, and we see the Crock-Pot light flicker and burst into flames. A damn Crock-Pot.

The appliance was a gift from the neighbors, who told Jack he had to fiddle with the switch to get it to properly turn off. There was no fiddling, and as the house catches on fire, we finally understand why "Dad" was the last name on Kevin's list of apologies. We'll have to wait until next week's episode, which airs after the Super Bowl on Feb. 4, to see how the heartbreaking story continues.