(Warning: this post contains spoilers for Tuesday’s “This Is Us.”)
After hearing the life story of his mother, Laurel Dubois, in the episode of ‘This Is Us’ tonight, Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown) had a cathartic experience screaming in the middle of a lake in New Orleans something fans only had Laurel learn when she was overwhelmed by emotion. And during Randall’s very hard night swimming session, he saw his biological mother face to face in a scene that Brown thinks was not just in Randall’s mind – or induced by absinthe, although Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) kept joking about the alcohol day – but a real spiritual moment.
“I choose to consider it a miracle,” Brown told TheWrap. ‘In a line cut, Hai [played by Vien Hong] Randall asks if he is a spiritual person. And Randall says, ‘If I can not see it, taste it, touch it, feel it or hear it, it probably does not exist.’ So I think it’s a real moment of transcendence in which he lets something penetrate beyond his physical senses. I feel like this encounter with his mother, I take it more literally and as a kind of presence of the possibility that something exists beyond that which is tangible. ‘
Randall’s encounter with Laurel comes in her younger (played by Jennifer C. Holmes) and older (Angela Gibbs) forms, as the two have a loving conversation that they could never share in real life.
Also read: ‘This is us’ abortion delivery prepares for new series lows in both demo ratings and total viewers
‘In my mind, and it does not have to make sense to anyone else, he got the chance to hear from his mother the words’ I love you’, and he got the chance to say it back to her , ” Brown said. . ‘And that’s why he’s so light. That’s why he wants to let go of all the bad things between him and his brother, Kevin, at the end of the episode. [played by Justin Hartley], because he knows there is something else. I think this is the first time in our context of our show where Randall had a real spiritual moment. ‘
As for the logistics of recording the lake, it was not exactly a spiritual moment for Brown, who worked closely with the episode’s director and co-writer Kay Oyegun to nail the shots.
‘While we were doing the lake scene, I basically had to shoot it twice, because I shot it with Jennifer and I shot it with Angela and they were not quite sure whose footage they were going to use and they wanted the have the option to use both, ”Brown said. ‘I think they put it together in a beautiful way. But we would just take the scene and scream my head off. I was like, ‘How many times am I going to do this, Kay?’ And she was like, ‘Almost done, Brown. Almost finished.’ After a few of them she would just come look at me, ‘Poor Randall’. I was like, ‘You wrote this s – t! Why are you looking at me ?! ‘ (laugh)‘
Also read: ‘This Is Us’ reveals the true fate of Randall’s mother
To get to the cathartic miracle in the lake, Randall had to go and look through Hai’s story of Laurel’s life – one in which he was not immediately interested, because all he cared about was finding out what happened after his biological father, William, thought she was dead. of a heroin overdose after giving birth in their Pittsburgh apartment.
But once Hai told Randall that she was resuscitated by paramedics after William left with baby Randall, and that she was then taken to a hospital, arrested for drug possession and was unable to to contact William before she faces up to five years in prison California – Randall started listening.
“The difference is that up to that point he had only really thought of his mother in terms of how her life had affected him, right?” Brown said. ‘She’s a side character in his story, as many people tend to think we’re at the center of our own stories. It was only until he realized, “Oh, jail, there were consequences for her actions.” And they could possibly have greater consequences because of her blackness than that she would not have been black. Not only did she go to jail, she spent five years on the other side of the country in jail. ”
Also read: Winter TV 2021: all the premium dates for new and recurring programs – so far (photos)
He continued: ‘And at that moment he realized:’ OK, maybe I should just sit down after her story. And her story is important because she lived. Not just because of how it necessarily intertwined with mine or interacted with mine, but here’s an opportunity to learn about someone who plays a role in my existence, and I need to know that. Not just because of how it affects me, but also because I would like to know. ‘”
“Once he could sit back and listen without worrying so much about the whole thing, he got exactly what he needed,” Brown explained. ‘Because it’s part of Randall’s story:’ Only two people who do not care about me, and who see no value in me, could have just given up on me and been absent in my life. “And now he knows it’s not true. That this kind of story he created in his mind is much more dimensional and that he is actually the product of love by two loving people with circumstances that conspired against them in a terrible way. ‘
So now you may be wondering if Randall is going to tell his mother, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), about everything he just learned from Laurel – or does he think it might be too much for her, since she’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
Also read: Here are the premiere dates for the new and recurring winter programs of Broadcast TV (update)
“I do not know. This is my honest answer,” Brown said with a laugh. “But we have the decline of Rebecca and I think there are questions Randall asks himself, which is really important for his mother to know about their relationship at this point ? Is there anything she needs to answer or resolve? I think at this point the answer is no. He was so hurt and so angry and frustrated at the idea that she denied him access to a relationship [with William] which could be beneficial in his life. I think he put it to bed, right? ‘
He added: ‘I think if he finds a way he can share it with her and in which she can see it as no accusation about anything that has to do with her as a parent, he will do it. I think if he feels she can feel any guilt, then he will keep it to himself. And that will be good, because at the moment it is most important that she enjoys the quality of her life, the time she has of the highest quality, for as long as she can. I do not think he is interested in confronting her with something that might make her unhappy. Honestly, I think she’s cool with it. That’s my two cents. Now you will later see an episode where Randall goes to town on Rebecca, like, ‘How dare you!’ (laugh) But that’s what I think now. ”
“This Is Us” airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 9 / 8c.