‘This Is Us’ Spoilers: Season 3 Kicks Off With Jack & Rebecca’s Awkward $9 First Date

This Is Us fans are just one month away from learning more about Jack and Rebecca’s origin story, but early spoilers reveal it was almost a washout. The first date of the future Pearson parents, played by Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore, will be detailed in the Season 3 premiere episode.

According to USA Today, a sneak peek of Episode 1 of the new season played during a recent Emmy panel showed Jack and Rebecca’s awkward first date, which took place shortly after he returned home from Vietnam. In the scene, Jack is seen driving Rebecca home after a drenching rain put a damper on their date at a carnival— and it appears she’s about to say goodbye to him for good.

In the scene, Jack explains that he didn’t buy an umbrella because he only had $9 in his pocket and he wanted to save his cash so she could play games at the carnival.

“If I bought the umbrella, I wouldn’t have enough to play any of the games. … You don’t bring a girl to a carnival and not let her play any games.”

Not only does Rebecca buy his excuse, but she is wowed by it—and him!—saying, “The way you look at me. Wow!”

The date ends with a kiss, and as This Is Us fans know, the couple stays together until Jack’s death in 1998, save for a very brief separation in the late ’90s.

During the first date, Jack also tells Rebecca up front, “I don’t like talking about the war or my brother. It makes me sad. It makes me angry. But I like talking to you, a lot.”

The reference to Jack’s brother, Nicky, comes on the heels of the announcement that Michael Angarano (Will & Grace) will play the role of Nicky Pearson, Jack’s younger brother who died in the war.

This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman previously told Variety the Season 3 premiere episode’s flashback storyline will be about Jack and Rebecca’s first date shortly after they first laid eyes on one another at a bar in the Season 1 finale, “Moonshadow.”

“Our first episode back is our past storyline, which is basically the first date, the first night following their meeting that Jack and Rebecca ever have together,” Fogelman revealed. “We’re really into early, early Jack and Rebecca incarnations, origin story.”

At the Emmy panel, Fogelman said the Season 3 premiere of This Is Us is one of his favorite episodes.

“There is joy in it, in a different way, because we’re playing different storylines and I’m really excited about it,” the This Is Us showrunner revealed.

This Is Us Season 3 premieres Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 9/8c on NBC.