NBCAy. This one's gonna hurt. Tonight, NBC airs the penultimate episode of Parenthood—an amazing episode that left me in tears too many times to count (some happy, some sad, some super unflattering ugly hiccup tears that may or may not have inspired a 3-year-old to run and grab his toy doctor kit).
And now, Peter Krause and Monica Potter are giving a very strange message to fans about next week's series ender.
"When people watch the finale," Peter told E! News, "reactions will be really mixed. I think some people will be really satisfied and I think other people…won't be."
Aaaaand there's that lump again.
"I think they'll have a flurry of emotions, just like we did," Monica added. "Honestly it's going to be…They're going to feel like Sybil. 'Cause I felt like that, too."
Fun fact for anyone born in the 00's: Sybil was the landmark 1976 film in which Sally Field played a woman with dissociative identity disorder, whose multiple personalities had driven her to a state of delirium. It was an example so extreme, Peter immediately burst out laughing.
"What? They're going to have split personality disorder?" He guffawed at his TV wife.
"Absolutely," Monica insisted. "See what's in store for you on Parenthood, kids?"
She ended that line with a cute little wink, but let the record show: Given all the emotions going in to the final two episodes—not just the health status of the Braverman's patriarch Zeek (Craig T. Nelson), but the engagement of Lauren Graham's Sarah, and Amber's (Mae Whitman) impending motherhood—it's safe to say the finale will probably leave us all in pieces. Teeny tiny ones.
Peter and Monica also revealed where they shot their very last scene ever.
"We were trying to film a scene on a baseball diamond," Peter told us his final day on set.
"It was a weird day," Monica added, "because it was overcast and rainy so it was reflective of how we felt."
"Yeah, and when I looked up," Peter recalled, "all the people who work on the show were crying, filming us, and I thought, ‘How am I supposed to go on with this scene when I'm seeing dozens of people in tears with their cameras shaking?'"
"That was just a testament to the writers and the crew and everyone who worked on the show," Potter explained. "How much this show meant to them. It wasn't like, ‘Oh, we're going to miss you guys.' They would say, ‘We really are invested in this show and we love you guys and we are going to miss you.' And it's heartbreaking. There are so few shows like this on the air and that's what fans are going to miss the most."
"We all know each other so well," Potter added. "And we all knew each other's personal lives. We're going to miss seeing each other and celebrating stuff on screen and off screen. It has been a once in a lifetime experience."
Everyone stop talking now because. Tears.
Let's just wrap this up with a Pro Life Tip: Watch Parenthood's penultimate episode tonight on NBC—Just not in front of anyone you don't want to see your ugly cry face.
This show.