If there’s one thing you can count on about NBC’s megahit family drama This Is Us, it’s that it’ll inspire a flood of tears. The intergenerational dynamics of the Pearson family make audiences and cast members alike cry openly and forcefully. The sobfests have become something of a meme, with dozens of cry-worthy moments in the first season prompting the This Is Us cast to apologize for making fans tear up.

But out of the first season’s 18 episodes, now streaming on Hulu ahead of the season 2 premiere tonight, which made fans wail the most? We set off to find out in a survey of almost 150 This Is Us fans. The results may surprise you. Of course, spoilers for the first season of This Is Us follow.

William’s death inspires the most widespread tears



While plenty of episodes made fans cry in droves — the midseason finale “Last Christmas,” for example, inspired 77.7% of fans polled to well up — nothing inspired sobs like the death of Randall Pearson’s biological father, William. The two-episode arc involving his death and the following memorial, “Memphis” and “What Now?”, made the greatest percentage of those surveyed cry. 81.8% of respondents cried at the former, while 89.9% did at the latter.

To further illustrate the emotion-inducing power of this show: When asked which season 1 episodes made them cry, only three fans surveyed said they don’t cry watching This Is Us.

“Pilgrim Rick” is the most cry-worthy single episode



Despite “Memphis” and “What Now?” making the highest percentages of our surveyed fans cry, neither episode came out on top when we asked which season 1 episode made them cry the most. That episode, somewhat surprisingly, was “Pilgrim Rick,” the eighth episode of the season. What is it about that episode that made it come out on top? Surely it wasn’t Kevin and Miguel’s tense standoff over who would play the strange Thanksgiving titular character.

Recall that “Pilgrim Rick” is the episode where Randall finds out that Rebecca, his mother, knew his birth father for decades, and never told her son about him. That scene in particular was singled out by 58 survey respondents as the single moment that made them cry the most. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that “Pilgrim Rick” made these fans sob.

Fans love crying at This Is Us



Despite cast apologies for all the tears, fans aren’t mad about their emotional reaction to the show. Among those surveyed, 91.2% said they enjoy crying at the NBC drama.

“I think they make each character relatable enough so when something bad happens, I start crying,” one fan said when asked what about This Is Us makes them cry. “Something bad happens to at least one character every episode so of course I cry. If I need a good cry I watch This Is Us. It’s cathartic in a way!”

The idea of relatability came about a lot in responses to this question — perhaps not surprising for a show literally called This Is Us. “Characters are very real,” one fan said. “It feels like I’m a part of their lives,” added another. One fan boiled it down simply: “It’s the modern day struggles of life and love.”

So while it may be funny to joke about This Is Us‘ crying culture, it’s clearly something that helps fans of the show. It may be painfully earnest, but in the cultural and political climate of 2017, we could all use a good wail.

Kevin O’Keeffe is an entertainment writer and RuPaul’s Drag Race scholar based in Los Angeles. He writes for Into magazine and hosts the Will & Grace & Kevin & Tara podcast. Follow him on Twitter @kevinpokeeffe.

Watch This Is Us on Hulu