Just go ahead and make that all the hugs in the world.

(Now you know whyMandy Moore called it rip-your-heart-out sad and more gut-wrenchingthan Super Bowl Sunday.)

With renewed and determined spirit, Rebecca took her family to Jacks special tree to spread his ashes.

And to promise to Jacks tree that they were going to be okay.

As Mandy, Im worried about my emotional well-being.

I feel very drained emotionally.

Like, any sort of emotion has just been vacuum-sucked out of me for the last two months.

But poor Rebecca man, she really has been through the ringer.

This is a hole that will never get filled.

Not that it would have made any difference in a catastrophic situation like Jack suffered.

How might that guilt manifest in the days and weeks to come?Thats a very good question.

Im sure that it is something that does not go away quickly.

It does not recede quickly.

At the same time shes dealing with that, Kate is also wracked with guilt.

Its a brutal moment, as everyones in raw pain.

What is Rebecca thinking right then?

Does she not have the emotional fortitude to absolve her there?

Was she embracing a What would Jack do?

approach?I think its a little bit of the all-of-the-above.

I dont think she has the emotional fortitude to get into it at that point.

But also, like, That was your father.

There was no stopping him.

He was always going to go back in.

I think shes very convicted in that belief.

This episode sets up Rebecca to take the reins as a parent.

How does she try in the aftermath?

And theres limited time before the kids leave the house.

I dont know if you filmed it out of sequence?It was all out of sequence.

Yes, it was very important to end on that note.

I think people needed that respite, they needed that sense of relief.

The Pearsons needed it too.

They were on two separate nights.

But it was so loud so much traffic we were right by the Van Nuys airport.

The planes were landing all the time.

It was just so distracting, and I had to really work hard to get past that.

Im very impressed with the editing.

And the sound that they were able to make that work.

Bruce Springsteen rarely licenses his music for TV shows.I know!

What do you think Rebecca and Jacks favorite Springsteen song would be?You know what?

And I wanted to be like, Youre in the next episode!

But then, you know, he was talking to Taylor.

He was talking to Taylor about the band, which made my life.

And made Taylors life.

And I was like, You know what?

Im going to just let them talk about music and not interject my show in there!

I dont know what their favorite song would be.

I feel like just a total classic.

This episode also brought the return of Dr. K, who gave Rebecca that much-needed, heartfelt pep talk.

He always has just wonderful stories.

Its like going toe-to-toe with the champ of all-time.

I hadnt seen him since he won his Emmy [for his guest-starring work onThis Is Us].

Hes like, Did you hear?

I referenced you and Milo in my speech!

And he repeated back what he said in his Emmy speech, and I was so blown away!

Dr. K feels almost like an on-Earth guardian angel hes always there in the right trying moments.

But, you know, he could come back as a ghost, or in some sort of flashback.

yo dont say that Dr. K is going to die soon!I dont know!

Hes gotta be, what, in his late 80s, early 90s?

Maybe Dr. K will outlive everybody.

To read what else Moore had to say about Jacks death episode,click here.

To see why creator Dan Fogelman picked that ending for Jack,click here.

This Is Usreturns to NBC with a new episode on Feb. 27.