Why Each Kid on This Is Us Feels So Damn Guilty About Jack's Death

When it comes to shouldering the burden of her dad's tragic death, Kate has blamed herself since day one. But in "That'll Be the Day," Kate leaves her cards on the table when it comes to the family dog. After catching Toby on Petfinder, Toby confirms that Kate is, in fact, really touchy on the subject by saying, "I know that dogs are a really sensitive issue for you."

Boom. Exactly what we didn't want to hear.

Pair that with the fact that the Pearson family dog follows her everywhere and she can be heard saying, "It's all my fault," in the Super Bowl episode preview, and we have a recipe for disaster. It also may be telling that we see Jack going into a door that's totally on fire in the promo. After all, why would he go back into a burning building unless he forgot something — like the dog?

But that might not be the only reason Kate constantly beats herself up. Once the Crock-Pot starts to go ablaze, the house is eerily quiet and no one hears the fire alarm go off until the entire Pearson home is engulfed in flames. While it's totally plausible that Rebecca and Jack simply forgot the replacement batteries at the mall, it's also possible Kate could have taken them out to use in her recorder or to smoke in the house to lose weight without her parents noticing. And honestly, the camera lingers on her recorder a little too long after Jack videotapes her singing, which is definitely suspicious.

Hate to say this, but Kevin could definitely be a jerk at times, especially when he's in high school. While Kevin and Randall's arguments steal the show in the first season, his tiffs with Jack and Rebecca take the cake in the second. You know what that means? There are probably a number of things he wish he didn't say to his dad.

Most recently, we saw that he got into it with his parents about having to go to community college after tearing his ACL playing football. And moments before that, he tells his dad that "no one cares" about the entertainment center he's building. You can see this really stings Jack, particularly because Jack mentioned how much Kevin used to like building things when he was a little kid. Although Kevin realizes the error in his ways and calls his mom to apologize about his outburst, our hearts ache knowing Jack never gets the apology he asked for in his note.

And how can we forget the scene with the amendments? After making his rounds to Sophie and Randall to apologize, Kevin breaks down after turning his list over and reading the word "Dad." This is particularly haunting if you think back to the fight Kevin has with his dad after the Pitt football coach leaves their house, when Kevin tells Jack he "knows the feeling" of being embarrassed well, trying to take a dig at his dad's alcoholism. Unfortunately for present-day Kevin, the tables have turned when it comes to substance abuse.

Kevin knows he was in the wrong, but struggles with the fact he was too late to say sorry.

Full disclosure: Randall is an especially tough nut to crack in this department. But between his constant do-gooding behavior and his ongoing battle with anxiety, it's clear that something's been weighing on his mind since Jack passed away 20 years ago.

Although we totally love Randall for his big heart, he takes the term "good deed" above and beyond. It seems like there's rarely a second he isn't trying to help someone. First, he welcomes William into his home and nurses him through cancer; then he fosters Déjà; and most recently, he invests in a building for lower-income residents in an effort to fix the place up. That's a hell of a lot of good deeds in a short time period, which begs the question: is he overcompensating for something? Although we don't know exactly what his role in Jack's death was just yet, the short answer is probably.

It's safe to assume Randall feels pretty terrible about skipping out on watching the football game with his parents to take Allison to see Titanic. But we wouldn't be surprised if his guilt simply stems from his personality. Randall is a perfectionist to a T and is quick to load himself up with responsibilities that he can't necessarily handle. Remember his panic attack? It's very possible he feels pangs of guilt because he didn't do more to help Jack during the fire. Rather than coping with his feelings by using drugs or overeating, Randall deals with his feelings by trying to fix everyone else's problems.