'This is Us' saves another surprise for the season finale's wedding episode.

"This is Us" incorporated "Dynasty's" infamous 1985 wedding-massacre cliffhanger into its wedding-episode season finale, demonstrating both a sense of humour and TV savvy. The show then delivered another pair of unexpected twists, less paving the way for its final season and more reinforcing the sense that it's probably time to go.

The fifth season's final chapter had built toward Kevin's (Justin Hartley) and Madison's (Caitlin Thompson) wedding, a slightly awkward union that had followed the birth of their twins. However, Kevin's response to a marriage quiz in the final hour confirmed Madison's fears that his heart wasn't truly in it, leading to a confrontation that seemed unavoidable as the hour progressed.

"I can't marry someone who isn't in love with me," Madison finally said after Kevin couldn't say those three little words.

"I couldn't say it to her," he admitted to his family after the entire thing was called off. "I couldn't possibly lie to her."

But, as is so often the case with this Emmy-nominated NBC drama, there's more. The plot then jumps ahead several years to another wedding, this time involving Kevin's sister Kate (Chrissy Metz), who is dealing with her own real-life crisis with her current husband Toby (Chris Sullivan).

Hasn't the less interesting that this show brought to the fore in this complicated year, when serial creator Dan Fogelman and his team took on the pandemic of coronavirus in its history — these two tracks, which took centre stage over parts of the season. They reflect the efforts of the show to conjure twisting as it springs back and forth over time, which may have inevitably begun to produce reduced revenues.

The final highlights were smaller, but not less important in the dense narrative of the show. After a latest leg of his personal journey, Rebecca (Mandy Moore) apologised tearfully to her son Randall (sterling K. Brown) for disclosing information about his parents and brought him information about his mother.

"Far too many times, I let you let me off the hook," she said.

Others, after the stress placed on their relationship since Tess was born out as a lesbian and began to date an unbinary class-mate, Randall's wife Beth (Suzan Kelechi Watson) took a sweet exchange with her son Tess (Eris Baker).

These sequences represent the exchange, which is beautifully performed, tear-speaking, for which the show is famous, and are usually overshadowed by more flamboyance for the fences, as Kevin remains on the altar.

It's worth noting that the VCR argument between Rebecca and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) probably won't be a problem since this missing "Dynasty" episode would have streamed somewhere the next day.

"This is us" still has plenty of scope in its sixth and final season with its various crooks into the past, present and future. However, even though the Pearsons didn't run out of difficulties, the final season simply shows why certain audience - including this - welcome the idea of the show ending before they're patient.