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The midseason premiere of This Is Us was everything fans hoped for and more. There were tears—as always—but there were happy moments, too. Let’s not even talk about that intense plot twist at the end. What fans really want to know is who the mystery woman is that Kevin (Justin Hartley) is engaged to, nine months in the future. Did the show give us the answer last night? Let’s take a look. 

Justin Hartley and Alexandra Breckenridge
Justin Hartley and Alexandra Breckenridge | Ron Batzdorff/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

‘This Is Us’ threw us a red herring with Sophia Bush in the midseason premiere

When Sophia Bush showed up as Lizzie, right after Kevin pronounced he was finished with the match-making service, fans rejoiced. The producers had almost everyone enthralled at this romantic meeting. The only problem was the fact that she kept texting “her mother.” 

Lizzie admits that she has to fly back to Chicago in the morning, but viewers still thought the pair could make it work. Kevin takes this new woman to the Hollywood Bowl and surprises her with her favorite singer, John Legend. It’s at this point that fans start feeling like this all might be too good to be true. 

“Do Kevin and Sophia Bush actually work?” one fan asks on Reddit. “Or is the show just messing with us?”

It turns out that it was all too much of a fairytale to be real. Lizzie is married, and The Manny is her one “hall pass.” If she ever met him, her husband allows her to sleep with him as her one free pass. Lizzie couldn’t go through with it, though, and ends up telling Kevin that she was texting her husband, not her mother. 

As Kevin is about to write off love altogether, he gets a phone call

Kevin is beyond mortified that Lizzie is married. He was painting a picture of his perfect love story—he tells her how his parents met and knew right away when they locked eyes.

He heads to the set he is working on and passes his phone off to an assistant to hold. Seconds later, the phone is ringing, and we see the name on the screen is “Sophie.” 

We know Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge) well. She is Kevin’s high school sweetheart, and many fans are hoping that is who he ends up with. The pair have had an on-again, off-again relationship through the years, but somehow he always goes back to her. 

Why are fans sure that Kevin is going to end up marrying Sophie (again)?

Kevin and Sophie were married once before when they were 18, but it didn’t work out. However, we got so much backstory on Sophie in the first half of season four that it would make sense that she is the one who is pregnant with Kevin’s baby. 

“It was always gonna be Sophie,” wrote one Redditor. “When he went to talk to her when things were going bad with Zoe, she made a comment about ‘you just have to decide what you want, Kevin. You always get what you want.'”

“I knew at that moment that they would end up back together,” the fan continues. “It wasn’t a ‘oh lucky Kevin always gets what he wants,’ but more of an ‘all you’d have to do is say the word, and I’d end it with this guy and give us another shot.'”

Many fans agree that Sophie always seemed like she was ready to be with Kevin. She was waiting for the moment when he finally realizes they are destined to be together.

“I’ve always had a feeling Sophie was Kevin’s one,” added another fan. “If you think about it—why would they introduce her in the first place 30 years in advance and then bring her back for him to break up with her in 15 seconds because he ‘had a bad dream’? They were always supposed to be endgame, in my opinion.”

Many fans are patiently waiting to see how things play out this time with Kevin and Sophie. We will know more when This Is Us returns next Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020, at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

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