This Is Us' central mystery is about to be resolved -- but expect to shed a lot more tears before it is.

In the Season 2 premiere last fall, This Is Us fans found out that Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) died in a house fire. And, after this week's episode, we now know that the fire was started by a faulty Crock-Pot igniting in the kitchen.

But in the show's next episode, airing after the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 4, all will be revealed -- and we have a theory that there's going to be one more twist that contributes to Jack's death.

And you're not going to like it.

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Are you ready? Here goes:

The present-day plot of Tuesday's episode involved Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan) adopting a rescue dog, something that proves to be very emotionally triggering for Kate, for reasons that are never fully explained.

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Also, we've seen in previous episodes that Kate blames herself for her father's death. But why?

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Because... we're about to find out that Jack died while trying to save teenage Kate's dog from the burning house. (Probably.)

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Think about it: We know that Kate is Jack's favorite of the Big Three (even though he'd probably never admit it), and he'll do anything for her. We know that everyone else in the house -- including, yes, the dog -- survives the blaze, but Jack doesn't. We've seen Kate tell Toby that Jack's death is her fault. And, most importantly, we've just seen that the very notion of owning a dog dredges up painful memories for Kate of her father, and specifically reminds her of his death.

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Also, and most importantly, of course Jack Pearson would sacrifice his own life to rescue his daughter's dog from a fire that he inadvertently started. Of. Course. He. Would.

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So, there you go. Thanks in advance, This Is Us, for once again shattering our hearts into a million tiny pieces.

This Is Us will air its next episode after the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 4 on NBC. Typically, the show airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c.

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