'This Is Us' finale: What was that wild wedding twist and what can we expect in its final season?

This story contains details from the Season 5 finale of "This Is Us."

You weren't really expecting a straightforward wedding ceremony for Kevin and Madison on "This Is Us," were you?

Tuesday's Season 5 finale of the emotional NBC drama focused on the couple, who recently became the parents of twins, but their wedding wasn't the only one featured. Viewers also got a glimpse of the cute family wedding Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) staged to soothe their young children years earlier and flashbacks of Kevin's sister, Kate, when she took her vows with Toby.

And, in one of the series' signature switcheroos, there's a surprise future wedding revealed at the end, a moment that will keep fans talking until the show's final season, which premieres in January.

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In the season finale, "The Adirondacks," there's plenty of family drama enveloping the Pearsons, including Rebecca's long-delayed apology to Randall (Sterling K. Brown) over denying him information about his birth parents, but this recap focuses on the multitude of matters relating to marriage.

The episode opens with Kevin (Justin Hartley) practicing a speech in front of the mirror on the day of the wedding. In a long-ago timeline, his mother, Rebecca , plans to watch a VHS recording of the infamous "Dynasty" wedding massacre, only to find out that Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) taped a Pittsburgh Pirates game over it. Her anger at her husband, while completely understandable, upsets the children, so Jack and Rebecca pull out the film projector to show them their wedding before staging a impromptu family wedding in their living room.

In the present day, you'd need more than a wedding-cake knife to cut the tension. Toby (Chris Sullivan), anxious about being unemployed, takes a job that will require him to be away from his family three days a week in San Francisco, which upsets Kate (Chrissy Metz). She wants to keep her job in Los Angeles as a music instructor and isn't excited about having to raise their two young children in Toby's absence.

Meanwhile, Kevin, obsessed with making every wedding detail perfect, nicknames himself Groomzilla. His behavior further suggests that he's not certain Madison (Caitlin Thompson) is the right one for him, a cloud that has long hung over their union.

Perhaps more important, Madison senses Kevin's hesitation. The episode details elements of her backstory, how her mother abandoned her to be raised by a father who taught her to settle for less. She knows Kevin is committed to her and the children, but she wants to marry someone who is in love with her.

Later, Kate, remembering her own wedding ceremony, reconsiders her opposition to Toby's new job and calls her boss, Phillip (Chris Geere of "You're the Worst"), to quit. But the Englishman has changed his tune on Kate, praising her teaching skills and refusing her resignation. Kate then rejects Toby's offer to turn down the new job, but says she wants to keep teaching. Somehow, they'll figure it out.

All those matters eventually take a backseat to the main event. Before the ceremony, Madison tells Kevin she's in love with him and asks if he's in love with her. The question has gnawed at her. He talks about loving their children, their family, but he can't say yes to her question.

Madison calls off the wedding and tells Kevin she's finally reached a point where she won't settle for less.

Rebecca, Kate and Randall try to comfort Kevin, with Rebecca advising her three children that everything will be alright. She also assigns Kevin a task: Build her the house his father once promised her. (Think of that as a Season 6 plot point.)

The season finale reflects the show's essence, "mixing the tragedies and the heartbreak of life, but also the joy and the beauty," creator Dan Fogelman says. "They have to be able to coexist in order to capture what we're trying to capture on this show. Marriages don't always survive. People don't live forever."

And then comes the episode's final marital surprise. Kevin is looking in the hotel mirror again, preparing for a wedding, but it soon becomes clear it wasn't on the day of his ceremony with Madison.

It's four years in the future, as an opened edition of The New Yorker features a photo and article about Randall, headlined "Rising Star," and it appears lovelorn Uncle Nicky (Griffin Dunne) is now married.

Kevin, now 45, heads to another room where he sees Beth and a welcoming Madison, but she's not the bride. Instead, it's Kate, resplendent in a white dress, ready for her second wedding. As Kevin leaves the room, he greets the groom-to-be: It's Phillip, the work colleague who once wanted nothing to do with Kate. Viewers will learn more about him next season, Fogelman says.

He acknowledges the initial shock of that final segment, but says it ultimately plays into the program's optimism.

"Despite multiple reveals of marriages not quite working out, when you cut to that period in the future, everyone feels good," he says. "On first view, you're registering the shock of what you're seeing, but on second view, you can see the feeling and smiles that exist in that moment."

That scene also means yet another timeline to add to the Pearson universe, but Fogelman says writers and viewers are ready.

"We always knew that Season 6 would be ambitious in terms of the way it jumps time, even more ambitious than other seasons. Because our audience has been so devoted and because, hopefully, we smartly set up the contained areas where these future timelines live, I think you're going to have a real sense of resolution and completion for this family," he says. "It's where the mixed-up VHS tapes of this family's existence will coalesce and speak to one another in completion."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'This Is Us' Season 5 finale: Does Kevin marry Madison?