The Important Detail You Might Have Missed on the ‘This Is Us’ Postcard

Season three, episode ten of This Is Us dropped several bombshells last night (Randall’s win! John Stamos! Toby’s gift to Kate!). But some major plot details were revealed more subtly. Take, for instance, the key piece of information Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Zoe (Melanie Liburd) found hiding in a box of Jack’s (Milo Ventimiglia) old belongings.

When Zoe and Kevin were unpacking boxes in their new shared home, she came across a postcard addressed to Jack from someone named “C.K.” Earlier in the episode, they learned that Uncle Nick (Michael Angarano) had signed his psych ward release papers Clark Kent. So, when they saw a postcard that read, “Jack, last one,” and signed “C.K.” they knew it was from Uncle Nick.

Not only did the postcard reveal that Jack knew his brother was alive (and lied to his family about it), but also that Nick resided 164 miles, or less than four hours away, from the Pearsons.

On top of that, it appears Jack and Nick were in contact for a long time, because the note is postmarked 1992. The Vietnam war ended on April 30, 1975, and Jack met Rebecca (Mandy Moore) fresh back from the battlefield in 1972. That means Nick was back stateside by at least 1975, and he and Jack were in communication 17 years later. The “last one” component of the postcard also intones they had been writing back and forth for some time.

The questions remain: Why did Jack lie and is Nick still alive? TBD next week when This Is Us returns with season three, episode 11 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.