Kevin’s motivation was that his father Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) was there for all the major events in his life, and he wants to pattern his behavior after him. Jack, on the other hand, didn’t have a positive example to follow. He had to make it up as he went along because his father [Stanley, played by Peter Onorati] was an abusive alcoholic, and Jack was determined not to follow that same path with the Big Three. To explain that determination, Ventimiglia recalls a scene from this season. Jack was sitting at a bar having a meal with “kiddo” Kevin (Parker Bates) and in the conversation, Jack spoke about how his dad made his Little League days hell, but beyond that he added, “My dad. He wasn’t that bad.” “I personally hang on to that,” Ventimiglia tells Parade.com during a junket for the NBC series. “I really, truly hang on to that when I’m approaching Jack relating to his father." He continues, “I don’t think people, in general, are all bad or all good. We’re complex. We’re mixed of so many different things. I think if we can recognize the moments that are trying, if we can recognize the moments that are tough, if we can recognize the moments that we are not being our best, there’s the opportunity for change.” Ventimiglia’s positive look at the issue is a result of his own upbringing. He credits his parents with being an inspiration as to how he wants to live his life. He hopes that others who may not have had such a shining example find the wherewithal to escape the aftereffects of tougher parenting. “I know some friends who had a rough upbringing, but they’ve found a way to get out of that repetition and the patterns that would create bad relationships for them,” he continues. “It always upsets me when I see people doubting their own inner strength and falling short to the crutch of saying, ‘That’s how I was raised, so this is how I’m going to be.’ We all have it in us to be changed individuals. We all have it in us to break out of how we were raised.” The one downside of This Is Us for Ventimiglia is that Jack died so young, he doesn’t get to do scenes with grown-up Kevin, Kate and Randall. That means no scenes with Hartley, Chrissy Metz or Sterling K. Brown, just the younger actors who play those roles. But there have been exceptions when the writers have managed to create conversations for Jack from beyond the grave with Kevin and Randall, so Ventimiglia has his fingers crossed for the possibility of one with Kate as well. “If there was an opportunity for Jack and adult Kate to share some time, of course, I’d embrace it,” Ventimiglia says. “It would be wonderful. Just like the time I got with Sterling and Justin, I absolutely want that with Chrissy. I think the dynamic between Jack and Kate has always been so strong that maybe people are wanting to see that, but also with the writers, it’s got to come in naturally. There’s nothing that ever feels forced or intentionally put on us as an audience of this show.” Most actors don’t know the death dates of their character, but that’s something Ventimiglia has lived with since the beginning of This is Us and he explained it doesn’t affect how he plays the character. “If anything, I think it puts some bookends to where I understand where I need to go with Jack trajectory-wise,” he says. “When I get to play him as a younger man, I get to help form him and shape him. When I play him a little older, I try not to let that impending death creep in too much. I don’t know if I play him more reverent when I get older, fighting for time with his kids.” Ventimiglia notes, “There’s the old joke, ‘They can always kill you off to get you off a show,’ but I don’t know that you can kill Jack twice.’ Job security feels pretty good.” This Is Us airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Next, find out when This Is Us will end.
