“This Is Us” is always good for dropping a heartbreaking plot twist in the last couple minutes of the show. [Spoiler Alert: Don’t read this if you haven’t watched the Nov. 14 hour.] After an episode entirely about Kevin hitting rock bottom, Kate is revealed to have suffered a miscarriage.

It’s not like Season 2 was low on heartbreaking moments. Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) apparently died in a fire, Kevin (Justin Hartley) is addicted to painkillers, and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) is fostering a young girl who has been abused. However, actress Chrissy Metz, who plays Kate, defended the writers’ choice to have the aspiring singer lose the baby.

“It's devastating, I know, but @ThisIsUsWriters take us on the journey of despair to express an important story line and situation we are often too afraid to discuss,” the actress told a fan on Twitter.

Showrunner Dan Fogelman also took to social media to explain the choice. He revealed that he hopes more people talk about how common miscarriage is after seeing the episode.

“We didn’t want it to happen to them. But we’re trying to capture real life, and it happens. A lot. Next week is a difficult, ultimately life-affirming [episode] about love & family. We hope you’ll watch it & talk about it — not enough people do,” the executive producer wrote.

Audiences don’t know much about Kate’s miscarriage yet. She was missing from “This Is Us” Season 2, episode 8, and Randall was the one who delivered the new to Kevin.

K.J. Steinberg, the executive producer who wrote Kevin’s episode, said the cliffhanger was designed to help audiences prepare themselves for the sadness of next week’s episode.

“The next episode, we’re gonna rewind and it’s gonna be the same day in the life but a completely different life-changing, dramatic experience,” Steinberg revealed on the official “This Is Us” aftershow. “We did think long and hard about this as an act of mercy because we love Kate so much. It’s almost giving people a week to prepare, to let that set in, to let people brace themselves a little bit for the journey of next week, which is something that we thought was important to do.”

Viewers will see how Kate handles the loss in “This Is Us” Season 2, episode 9, which airs Tuesday, Nov. 21 on NBC.

This Is Us
Kate (Chrissy Metz) will suffer a miscarriage in “This Is Us.” NBC
RELATED STORIES