The Best Jack Pearson Moments On This Is Us Ranked

Dan Fogelman's television series, "This Is Us," is one of the best family dramas on the small screen since "Six Feet Under." It follows an all-American family (the Pearsons), portraying their past, present, and future through several decades. It's as ambitious and creative as broadcast TV can get.

At its center, there's Jack Pearson — played to perfection by Milo Ventimiglia — the absolute heart and soul of the show. Jack found his purpose at 28 years old when he first met his future wife, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), in the 70s. There and then, he dedicated his life to creating a family with her, and they brought up three children (two of their own, one adopted) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His unique worldview and the influence he has on others are what makes this drama truly compelling, uplifting, and heartbreaking at times.

He's the almost perfect husband every woman dreams of: He's masculine yet tender-hearted, serious yet goofy, and confident yet vulnerable. There's no one like him on TV, or in real life, which also makes him the kind of dad every kid dreams of — and the man that every boy should aspire to become. Ultimately, Jack Pearson is someone who teaches us how to look at our family as the greatest achievement we've ever accomplished in our life.

Here, we've gathered and ranked his best moments on "This Is Us" so far.

(Warning – spoilers ahead.)

Teaching a rhyming chant to children about how they were born would be a cheesy and pretentious attempt in any other series — but not in "This Is Us." Fogelman's show somehow establishes this being a sweet trademark thing, which reoccurs throughout many different points in the story.

The first time we hear it is in the beginning of Season 1, when the kids are 10 years old and about to have breakfast in the kitchen. Their mom looks stressed and overwhelmed while preparing food for them when Jack enters the room. He's as upbeat as always, and not even a cranky wife or an empty coffee pot could change that. Before he shoots off to work, he makes the siblings chant with him. It totally delights them, and even Rebecca cracks a smile in the background. The whole sequence is such a seemingly artificial bit, yet we can't resist feeling joy by watching them. It's a wonderful example that defines Jack's general tendancy to lighten the mood and fill an ordinary day with bliss.

One of Jack's admirable characteristics is that he always knows what to say and do in adversity. In a Season 2 flashback, we see how Kevin suffers a nasty knee injury during a football match. After talking to his doctor at the hospital, Jack breaks the bad news to him: the injury is catastrophic, and it means that Kevin can't play football anymore. Understandably, he's crushed — the dream of becoming a professional athlete vanishes in a split second. Jack knows how devastating this must feel and tells his son that he'll take it on for him. He reassures Kevin that he'll find another path and a new purpose. He gives him hope that sport isn't the only thing he can excel at.

The supportive dad he is, Jack decides to give his chain with a Buddhist pendant he got in Vietnam to Kevin. There's a delicate and intimate depth in this father and son exchange that only the luckiest ones experience. An unbreakable bond with a parent who puts his children first and is always there to provide an emotional crutch when they're going through their worst setbacks. Memories like this are precious and last for a lifetime.

Until the end of Season 1, Jack and Rebecca's relationship is portrayed as a fairytale that seems too good to be true. Yet, in the finale, we learn that they're just as human as any one of us. It's the first time we see them genuinely fight, and every resentment bursts out of them like a raging tornado.

Jack is angry and jealous since he found out that Rebecca's ex-boyfriend, Ben (Sam Tramell), made a move on his wife and tried to kiss her. So he got drunk and caused a scene in the club where she was supposed to perform. She found the entire fiasco humiliating and unworthy of his husband. After the incident, once they get home, this misunderstanding turns into a heated argument. It's when we realize that Jack isn't as flawless as we thought. We find out that he struggles with his own demons and that drinking might be his biggest vice.

The reason this is among his best moments is that even in such an appalling state, he never loses sight of what's most important to him — family. Even at his most selfish, blindsided, and furious behavior, we can't not feel for him. Whether we disagree or take his wife's side, it won't change the fact that we can't hate him. But make no mistake, with the two equally breathtaking performances that Ventimiglia and Moore deliver here, this spiteful quarrel wouldn't be half as impressive.

When Jack and Rebecca find out they're having triplets, it isn't the best time. They barely make ends meet, and her parents strongly disapprove of their relationship. When Jack accidentally overhears Bec's crying in the kitchen — who's understandably freaking out about having three babies — he swallows his pride and decides to visit his vicious dad.

Stanley Pearson (Peter Onorati) didn't change much since the last time Jack saw him. He's the same malicious, bitter, and resentful person he always was. His son hates him with all his heart, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Jack puts his wedding ring in his pocket and walks into his father's house, ready to be humiliated. He falsely claims that he's got a gambling problem and needs money. He also admits that he's indeed the disappointment the old man said he will be. The trick works, though, and Jack leaves with a check that helps them buy their first house.

Since the beginning of the show, we know that Jack can make unthinkable sacrifices for the people he loves. But watching him give up his dignity and face the man who made his life miserable is another level of devotion — easily one of his greatest moments ever.

In the pilot, we witness the birth of the triplets. However, Kevin and Kate's brother, Kyle, doesn't survive the delivery. When Dr. Katowsky (Gerald McRaney) breaks this shocking news to Jack, he's understandably shaken by it. But after he gives a meaningful and encouraging speech to him about how the loss of his first child set him on a new path, Jack does the unthinkable. Later on, as he watches his twins in the hospital nursery, a firefighter walks up to him. He tells him that someone left a newborn baby at his fire station that morning, and he brought him here. Despite the loss of Kyle, Jack decides to convince Rebecca to adopt the baby, who later becomes Randall, as we know.

This twist in the pilot is a defining instance of Jack's character. He finds a way to take home three babies, just not the way he planned. It's Dan Fogelman's writing that deserves the praise here, really, but Milo Ventimiglia's performance is what completes it. The combination of the two is what made millions of viewers fall in love with "This Is Us" and Jack Pearson in 2016.

In Season 1, we learn that Randall suffers from anxiety since he was a little boy. At times, he puts too much pressure on himself, which can lead to panic attacks — as we find out in the season finale. In the episode "Jack Pearson's Son," we see how his dad teaches him a meditation technique when he's stressing over a school assignment. He puts his palms on his cheeks and tells him to slow down, stop for a second, and just breathe — essentially, helping him to regain control over his overwhelming thoughts.

It's a tender moment between father and son, which beautifully portrays how well connected they are. Naturally, Randall cherishes this memory throughout his life and uses the same method when he tries to comfort his biological father, William (Ron Cephas Jones), on his deathbed. It's one of Jack's loveliest moments, which adds to his affectionate personality throughout the series.

During his upbringing, Randall begins to seek out African-American role models. His curiosity leads him to join a karate class where the leader is a well-respected Black man. As his initiation, he asks him to step forward while all the fathers gather and sit on the mat behind him. He tells him to turn around and look at the other kids and their dads. He comforts him, saying that this is a community that holds each other up. Then he looks at Jack and says, "As Randall's father, you're his foundation. Come, lie down as if you were going to do a pushup." Then he instructs Randall to climb on his dad's back and tells Jack to begin the exercise. He starts doing the pushups and doesn't stop even when the man tells him to.

This sequence is one of the most heartfelt, and an inspiring example of Jack's dedication to his family. It shows that no matter what hardship, pain, or other obstacles he has to face, he'll never stop raising and pushing Randall to be the best man in the world he can be. If there is any doubt about whether Jack loves Randall the same as he does Kate and Kevin, this scene destroys it endearingly once and for all.