The Pregnancy Test Gaffe On This Is Us Is Finally Explained
A moment during the November finale of the NBC show This Is Us had fans flocking to social media to express their confusion. As People reports, the incident that didn't make sense had to do with Kate's teenaged character, played by Hannah Zeile, and of course Chrissy Metz when she's older, taking a home pregnancy test. Okay, this plotline was dramatic enough without the puzzling element viewers noticed in the scene — the box the test came from clearly said "ovulation test."
As many women are aware, an ovulation test detects when in a menstrual cycle one is most likely to get pregnant (via MedlinePlus). Although the test is also used by measuring hormones in the urine, in no way would it help a woman determine whether she was pregnant.
Fans were quick to question the seeming mistake on Twitter, with one pointing out in a tweet, "Not to be THAT guy but Kate's pregnancy test on This Is Us was in an ovulation test box and those are VERY different products."
Some fans wondered if teenage Kate was trying to get pregnant, and that is why she was using an ovulation kit — until they noticed she was wearing the same clothes in the scene where she takes the actual pregnancy test. To that end, one Twitter user posited, "Interesting take! I just assumed it was a screw-up, but maybe not! These guys don't miss much!"
Well, except maybe this time.
Producers end speculation about the This Is Us scene dividing fans
According to This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker, editors actually missed the discrepancy fans are buzzing about online, telling EW, "It'll be good to put it to bed because our fans are so awesome and pick up on every little hint." He went on to explain, "As soon as we saw that people were misinterpreting, of course it drove us crazy. So let the record officially show: That was [meant to be] a pregnancy test box."
Aptaker blames the mistake on COVID-19 restrictions the crew had to follow during filming and post-production, saying, "This one, unfortunately, was just a casualty of how absolutely impossible it has been to make television this year." He elaborated, "Despite the dozens of people who stared at that scene countless times before it went to air, we were all just so fried from all of the COVID [filming conditions] that we missed that one."
Executive producer Elizabeth Berger seconded that notion, telling EW, "You can chalk this up to Zoom editing. Usually we're all in a bay together looking at these giant monitors. And this is the one where we were like, 'Ah, if we had just been there, someone would have seen it!'"
Well, someone did — the fans! But we forgive you,This Is Us. We can't wait to see where Kate's journey leads her.