Randall's big episode of This Is Us, entitled "Birth Mother," continued the yearly trend of giving one major episode to all three kids. Last week we got Kate's abortion episode, and this week, Randall finally learns about his birth mother (looks like the family is growing in size next week during Kevin's episode).
Randall and Beth, who talked with Hai, Laurel's Vietnamese long-time companion/boyfriend, make the trek to New Orleans to hear the story of Randall's birth mother. Randall gets his first surprise before even stepping foot in the house. Hai, the man who tracked down Randall after seeing Randall's video that viral a few episodes back, informs Randall that this lakehouse/farmhouse and the entire property was Laurel's, and now it belongs to Randall. It was a weird take for me. The inside of the house, which is all we've seen to this point, didn't look nearly as nice as the spacious, serene outside.
Once inside, Hai, Randall and Beth are, for the most part, only in a few transition scenes as we get taken back to Laurel's past. Hai somehow paints incredibly detailed pictures of Laurel's life growing up in his telling of her story (okay, that's a cheap shot).
She came from a distinguished family of great stature. Side rant: Laurel was raised to know what respect means; when did parents stop doing that? Because kids today probably would look at the scene - when Laurel, as a little girl, got caught by her daddy in a lie - and they would think that the dad was too tough or wasn't a good father. I sure hope I'm wrong about that, but I doubt it.
When Laurel was a young lady, two military men arrived to inform her family that her brother was killed in action. To help her get through it, her Aunt May was tough on her, but she knew how important it would be for Laurel to process her loss instead of holding back. Laurel swam into the lake by her Aunt's house (which eventually became her house) and let out a heartbreaking scream.
Hai was a refugee, and when he came to the U.S., he learned to be a fisherman. He just so happened to be on the lake at the time Laurel was screaming. He actually dives into the water to rescue her, thinking she was drowning.
Later, their paths cross to mark a cute beginning to their relationship. He didn't speak English, but he was willing to make a fool of himself by dunking his head in a bucket of water to re-enact what he thought was happening on the lake. She then tells him her name, and he tells her his name is Hai, though she thinks he was saying "hi." It was such an endearing, tender moment with well-delivered bumbling, jittery dialogue. Watching them teach each other cultural things was enriching, and her telling him "I love you" in his native tongue was impressive.
So my wife and I are watching these scenes and we're wondering "How the heck did Laurel's life go from this wonderful love tale to the disastrous wrecked pathway she eventually goes down?" Why, her father decides to arrange a marriage for her, of course. The writers don't get into the reason he does that. Is it because a black man doesn't want his daughter marrying some Asian dude? Is it because he wanted her daughter to marry a man with far more nobility and stature than some fisherman? Who knows; all we know is his decision was enough to drive Laurel out of town. That's when she takes a bus all the way to Pittsburgh (on her way to Chicago), runs into William, gets pregnant with Randall, goes to the hospital after a drug overdose, then gets arrested for drug possession and sentenced to prison for five years.
Not only is that story somewhat flimsy, but to me, the way the writers justify Laurel losing all desire to find her son is not believable. Hai tells Randall that she felt she forfeit the right to be a mother. I just can't, in good conscience, think a woman, especially one who was raised with such family values (albeit a father who made her feel like crap her whole life), would just abandon all motivation to find her baby boy. If she's feeling that much guilt, it's because she does care. I suppose that's probably for the best, though, because the writers sure as heck wouldn't have convinced me that Laurel failed to find her son. That would be ridiculous, especially when, years later, all Hai had to do was look up a viral video on the Internet and, by sheer happenstance, come across Randall mentioning his father's name for Hai to know instantly he was her son. No way can both of those things happen and still make sense (my wife is less convinced that she would've found him, so I'm sure I'm way off-base here; but I figure, as someone who loves writing, I'm probably less forgiving of loose writing like this).
I was disappointed in how they handled Randall's reaction to hearing his birth mother's story for the first time. On one hand, I totally understand that such an emotional informational overload would send him into a catatonic-like state of shock. But this is Sterling K. Brown, man. Give the guy more time to shine! He mostly just stared blankly and asked questions cathartically throughout the episode. He finally had a great moment when he re-enacted his mother's lake scream and talked through his painful feelings. He definitely conveyed the levity Randall would feel in that moment and in the moments after (like when he was driving with Beth in the next shot). Honestly, I was more impressed with Jennifer C. Holmes, who played young-adult Laurel. You could tell how terrified she was of her father, how hurt she was when she lost her brother, and how full of life she became when she was with Hai.
Not the most well-executed story, but the episode was fine.
Overall, though, I've liked pretty much every other three-episode arc of the siblings more than what we've gotten from this one so far. Kevin's story next week might salvage it a bit, but I'm not holding my breath.