S05.E06: Birth Mother

[ljenkins782]

Hey guys, my grandparents met in a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania and moved to a bigger city for job opportunities before getting married...oh wait, you all don't care about the life story of people you've never heard of before this?? Can someone please slip this newsflash to the writers of the This is Us? Or should it be called This is Randall?

Sterling K Brown is an incredibly talented actor and this story could be interesting as a standalone movie or something, but it's so far afield of the original premise of the show that I can't really enjoy it. It's like biting into something you thought was candy and getting a mouthful of fish. I like candy and I like fish, but I don't want one randomly substituted in when I was expecting the other. 

[Blakeston]

12 hours ago, Adgirl said:

How long have people been talking about police brutality and "it didn't make sense" until they watched a police officer kill a man on camera this summer.  

If this had been about extreme police brutality, I would have believed it, whether it aired before or after George Floyd's murder.

The federal government stepping in to handle a simple possession charge is rather different.

If they wanted to show us that the police railroaded Laurel, they should have shown the cops planting enough drugs in the apartment that it would be considered intent to distribute. That I would have believed no problem.

[hookedontv]

12 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Randall called Hai at the end of last week's episode, and Hai said he wished he could show Randall his mother's favorite places. So Randall said he'd like to come visit and Hai was happy to hear that. That was pretty much all they showed.

I did have to laugh at the beginning of this scene when Randall and Beth were on the bed and he made the call.

Hai picked up and Randall said "Hi Hai," then sort of realized that it sounded silly and said "Hello Hai" (or something close to that.) 

[BrownBear2012]

11 hours ago, Aloeonatable said:

It seems like we aren't seeing much of the younger cast members because of the pandemic. We have yet to see baby Jack, and very little of the Pearson girls. However, I do agree that Randall's story is just tortuous now. 

We also may not see too much of Jack and Rebecca because of Mandy's pregnancy. Isn't her baby due in less than a month?

I guess it is going to be primarily the adult Big 3, at least for the foreseeable future.

Ugh.

[TV Diva Queen]

On 1/13/2021 at 8:18 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I rolled my eyes at the minimal COVID mention when Hai thanked Randall and Beth for quarantining and getting tested. So you're telling me that Randall, Beth, and the three girls all stayed inside the house for two full weeks? Now I know that I can do that but those five? And did Randall and Beth then drive all the way to Louisiana because quarantining, testing, and then getting on a plane does not mean you are COVID free.

As soon as Laurel went into the water, all I could think was "But that's how you get eaten by gators!"

Sometimes Randall drives me crazy. He wanted to know about his mother and his entire family speechifies like no other, yet when Hai was trying to tell him the story of his mother's life, Randall had to interrupt and ask questions. If all you wanted to know was why William said she died, you didn't need to go all the way to Louisiana for that. You could have asked that over the phone. But you went because you wanted the whole story, SO LET THIS MAN TELL YOU THE WHOLE STORY FFS. And stop being a jerk when this man is telling you how much he loved your mother. She was allowed to have a life that didn't involve you or William.

So Laurel got her aunt's cottage by the lake. What about the huge house that her parents lived in? Who owns that now? Not that I'm saying Randall needs TWO houses in Louisiana. I'm just wondering since Jackson died, that would leave Laurel as the only child of Chi McBride and the wife who had to go lie down because her husband went to the bank on Sunday (I was sure that was going to turn out to be a cover story for him having an affair). When Laurel came back to town, did she ever go see her parents? Or did she just stay with her aunt and never tell her parents that she was alive? I didn't think they were awful enough to leave them hanging like that for the rest of their lives, wondering if their daughter was dead or alive.

I was expecting that reveal too. Maybe the next "random person who's somehow related to the Pearson clan" story will be Randall tracking down the aunt's baby.

I think her parents are alive or maybe the mom.....you don't go and get Bernie Mac's TV wife and just use her for 3 minutes.  🙂

[ErinV]

17 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I especially hate the trope of them driving recklessly with the laboring mother in the car. In most cases by the time you head to the hospital, there's still plenty of time before the baby comes. Being in labor, in and of itself, is generally not a top-speed-lights-and-sirens emergency.

Speaking of tropes, the dad all, "Laurel?" on the phone when no one was speaking.  

[TV Diva Queen]

19 hours ago, Arcadiasw said:

If she didn't have enough money to go to Chicago why leave? She could've stayed with her aunt or Hai until she had the money or say yes to the engagement but plot her escape until she had the money. It's not like she will get married the next day. 

If they are alive they have to be in their 90s or 100s.

they would be the same age as Rebecca.  

[gonzosgirrl]

3 minutes ago, TV Diva Queen said:

they would be the same age as Rebecca.  

I don't think so. Laurel & William were closer to Rebecca and Jack's age, so her parents would be quite old now. The father looked old(ish) even in the 60's.

[Trillian]

I think that the writers wrote themselves into a corner when they decided that Randall The Great couldn’t possibly have sprung from the loins of two people with serious substance abuse and/or mental health issues living in the abject poverty that so often, tragically, accompanies those problems.   Laurel’s story made sense when she was a junkie who died in or shortly after childbirth.  It would have made sense if she had survived childbirth but was too doped out to care about her kid and/or too poor to have the resources to fight for him.  But those would make her look bad.  And William would look bad if he knew she was alive so they have her only seeming to die of an overdose.   And they couldn’t make the Womb that produced Randall look bad by using during her pregnancy, so they wrote the implausible post-partum relapse. And they couldn’t have her look bad by not seeking out her baby, so they had to send her to prison for five years across the country (because everyone knows that police, hospitals and jails didn’t start keeping written records until 1990?).  And she couldn’t have been born into poverty herself - because Randall obviously comes from upper-class stock - but then they had to cook up the story of her hiding in plain sight from her family while punishing herself eternally with unrequited love for the hot married fishmonger.  
 

In real life, sometimes successful people are born to total screw-ups, as well as vice versa. Spinning off this fairytale as they did just doesn’t work for me.

[Ohiopirate02]

10 minutes ago, Trillian said:

I think that the writers wrote themselves into a corner when they decided that Randall The Great couldn’t possibly have sprung from the loins of two people with serious substance abuse and/or mental health issues living in the abject poverty that so often, tragically, accompanies those problems.   Laurel’s story made sense when she was a junkie who died in or shortly after childbirth.  It would have made sense if she had survived childbirth but was too doped out to care about her kid and/or too poor to have the resources to fight for him.  But those would make her look bad.  And William would look bad if he knew she was alive so they have her only seeming to die of an overdose.   And they couldn’t make the Womb that produced Randall look bad by using during her pregnancy, so they wrote the implausible post-partum relapse. And they couldn’t have her look bad by not seeking out her baby, so they had to send her to prison for five years across the country (because everyone knows that police, hospitals and jails didn’t start keeping written records until 1990?).  And she couldn’t have been born into poverty herself - because Randall obviously comes from upper-class stock - but then they had to cook up the story of her hiding in plain sight from her family while punishing herself eternally with unrequited love for the hot married fishmonger.  
 

In real life, sometimes successful people are born to total screw-ups, as well as vice versa. Spinning off this fairytale as they did just doesn’t work for me.

I would rather have seen Laurel attempt to find Randall and fail because of poverty instead of this episode.  I think it makes her look worse, that Laurel had options that she was too proud to use.  One word to her daddy and Randall would have been raised by his maternal grandparents.  She spends the next 30 years thinking about her son, but doing nothing about it.  Then the show doesn't show us why.  Why did she just give up.  

[ljenkins782]

4 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I would rather have seen Laurel attempt to find Randall and fail because of poverty instead of this episode.  I think it makes her look worse, that Laurel had options that she was too proud to use.  One word to her daddy and Randall would have been raised by his maternal grandparents.  She spends the next 30 years thinking about her son, but doing nothing about it.  Then the show doesn't show us why.  Why did she just give up.  

True. Especially since she didn't know that Randall had miraculously landed in a loving family right off the bat and never suffered through the foster system, which was the far likelier scenario. William knew where he ended up, so him choosing to stay out of it and leave him to his fortunate life was one thing, but if Laurel had no idea what became of him and never tried to find out, that seems like a harder pill to swallow for Randall. 

But I guess naked lake screaming with a ghost cures all? At least I felt a measure of relief for poor Beth, maybe she can get a break from the emotional rollercoaster that is living with Randall.

[Tango64]

I'm going to make a prediction about the final episode of this series when it all comes to an end.

The final episode will reveal that for some very contrived reason, Dad Pearson did not die after the house fire. The family will be reunited, with Miguel looking in through a window from outside. The last scene will be the entire Pearson family naked in a pond, screaming. Randall will be screaming the loudest, because you know, Randall.

Or...

The final episode will be about a guy that Randall's birth mom said hello to on a bus one time, never seeing him again. The episode will trace his family history back to the 1400s.

 

 

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, ljenkins782 said:

True. Especially since she didn't know that Randall had miraculously landed in a loving family right off the bat and never suffered through the foster system, which was the far likelier scenario. William knew where he ended up, so him choosing to stay out of it and leave him to his fortunate life was one thing, but if Laurel had no idea what became of him and never tried to find out, that seems like a harder pill to swallow for Randall. 

But I guess naked lake screaming with a ghost cures all? At least I felt a measure of relief for poor Beth, maybe she can get a break from the emotional rollercoaster that is living with Randall.

Plus she gets a house in NoLa near a lake!

[PRgal]

9 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I'm not sure what year it was, but college deferrals were only a sure thing until about 1965.  After that the boy had to be married and later on he had to  be married and have a child.  The country kept running out of young men to sacrifice in that no-chance war so that politicians like JFK could be sure of re-election.

Or maybe the brother was kind of dumb.  Then again, their dad would have had some sort of connections to get him in somewhere (are legacies a thing in HCBUs?).  

[Lone Wolf]

Let's see...

• Boy cute-meets girl...check
• Romeo and Juliet forbidden love ensues...check
• Boy loses girl...check
• Boy gets girl back...check
• Girl checks out a la "Love Story"...check

Randall finds redemption, peace, and happiness in the lake. Next to the house that he owns free and clear. Because he doesn't have enough money already. Between this and Kevin running with "Timberlake and Jessica", poor Kate's getting the short end of the stick.

[drafan]

20 hours ago, tinderbox said:

I’ve got to say....the weirdest TIU scene, by far, is this episode’s butt naked Randall screaming in the murky gator infested water with his old AND young ghost versions of his MOTHER.  Which writer thought that was a good idea?

The one who got bored during the pandemic and sat home and watched The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.

[debraran]

6 hours ago, Tango64 said:

I'm going to make a prediction about the final episode of this series when it all comes to an end.

The final episode will reveal that for some very contrived reason, Dad Pearson did not die after the house fire. The family will be reunited, with Miguel looking in through a window from outside. The last scene will be the entire Pearson family naked in a pond, screaming. Randall will be screaming the loudest, because you know, Randall.

Or...

The final episode will be about a guy that Randall's birth mom said hello to on a bus one time, never seeing him again. The episode will trace his family history back to the 1400s.

 

 

That's funny, I always pictured some contrived, corny, scene of Rebecca lying in bed and Jack coming to her while her kids cry and wring their hands and he takes her like the Titanic movie to a special place where they will give Pearson speeches to all who will listen. I also picture Miguel looking in a window at them like a puppy dog.

Maybe Kate should have done the lake thing than what she did. (well, that might be coming)

Edited January 15, 2021 by debraran

[MissLucas]

25 minutes ago, debraran said:

 where they will give Pearson speeches to all who will listen.

Hell? 

[kili]

Quote

Maybe Kate should have done the lake thing than what she did. (well, that might be coming)

She did that already sans the gator infested pond. When she went to the diet camp, she primal screamed during the drumming exercise (after a montage of the baggage that was holding her back). 

I think what I didn't like about this episode is that it didn't fit into the greater story. Some of our best episodes have gently revealed pieces of the story and when the entire story is revealed, everything clicks into place. There is the moment of "oh, of course. It all fits together." Now I understand previous actions with my new perspective. It's like Kevin's paintings - big pictures of interconnecting and overlapping lines. Each line is providing more depth to the story.

This episode ignored all the lines they've been drawing for years - in fact, they tried to erase some of those lines. We are forced to say that people did or didn't do thing for "reasons" which make little sense. From the PI who could find William, but not Laurel. To the judge who cared about doing the right thing about Randall, but not insisting that the police at least try to find Laurel. To the weird way Laurel was pronounced dead just long enough for William to run off and find a fire house. To Laurel caring deeply about her child, but never enquiring what became of him or William. To none of Laurel's friends having a phone. To none of Laurel's friends caring who happened to her. To the Feds charging Laurel for ODing and sending her to prison across the country for five years. To Laurel's parents never caring where Laurel was (Papa Dubois seemed to want it to be Laurel when she called). To Laurel moving within walking distance of her parents and never contacting them. To Laurel waving at Hai for almost 30 years. To Hai maintaining her house to lived in condition for five years despite having no clue if her son would ever appear in an internet meme.  

Instead of a "ah-ha" moments that made the story richer, I kept getting "Really?" and "But wait" moments and having to ignore them. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by kili

[debraran]

19 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

Hell? 

I was thinking that or a purgatory for sins not forgiven yet 😊

Edited January 15, 2021 by debraran

[debraran]

15 minutes ago, kili said:

She did that already sans the gator infested pond. When she went to the diet camp, she primal screamed during the drumming exercise (after a montage of the baggage that was holding her back). 

I think what I didn't like about this episode is that it didn't fit into the greater story. Some of our best episodes have gently revealed pieces of the story and when the entire story is revealed, everything clicks into place. There is the moment of "oh, of course. It all fits together." Now I understand previous actions with my new perspective. It's like Kevin's paintings - big pictures of interconnecting and overlapping lines. Each line is providing more depth to the story.

This episode ignored all the lines they've been drawing for years - in fact, they tried to erase some of those lines. We are forced to say that people did or didn't do thing for "reasons" which make little sense. From the PI who could find William, but not Lauren. To the judge who cared about doing the right thing about Randall, but not insisting that the police at least try to find Lauren. To the weird way Lauren was pronounced dead just long enough for William to run off and find a fire house. To Lauren caring deeply about her child, but never enquiring what became of him or William. To none of Lauren's friends having a phone. To none of Lauren's friends caring who happened to her. To the Feds charging Lauren for ODing and sending her to prison across the country for five years. To Lauren's parents never caring where Lauren was (Papa Dubois seemed to want it to be Lauren when she called). To Lauren moving within walking distance of her parents and never contacting them. To Lauren waving at Hai for almost 30 years. To Hai maintaining her house to lived in condition for five years despite having no clue if her son would ever appear in an internet meme.  

Instead of a "ah-ha" moments that made the story richer, I kept getting "Really?" and "But wait" moments and having to ignore them. 

I so agree with this! They are trying to address some questions from fans but many are more confused or want more clarity. It does not make sense. Laurel could have looked for and not met Randall. I would be so much more anguished thinking he was with an abusive family or unhappy.  Not buying her pining for a married guy for decades and not having a life. I hope we hear about more. It’s not romantic or touching to see bad choices. I wish she had asked her dad to help   She still could have been independent at her age and not stayed under his thumb. Would her aunt want that for her too?

I forgot about Kates screaming. I guess it didn’t work that well for her.

Edited January 15, 2021 by debraran

[ams1001]

 

19 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Maybe we'll get a whole Orange Is the New Black spinoff with Laurel's adventures in prison. 

Laurel is the New Jack?

 

[chocolatine]

20 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Laurel is the New Jack?

As the kids say, you win the internet!

[ams1001]

43 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

As the kids say, you win the internet!

Woohoo! I haven't won an internet in a while!

[sara416]

I feel like a lot of the complaints I'm reading about this episode and the logistics of things is based on what we know NOW, in 2021. Things were very different in 1980. Drugs, adoption, prison reform...nothing was the same as it is now. I'm a therapist who has worked extensively with the adoption population and there were some things in this episode that I absolutely loved that they got so right. Adopted kids need to know their birth story. The brain will make up stories and fill in the blanks if we don't know all the answers. And for kids who don't know their origin, they will make up anything to keep from feeling lost. It completely makes sense that Randall feels lighter and happier after learning his story. It also completely makes sense to me that his mother would have so much self hatred that she wouldn't even try to find her son. She was a drug addict who felt immense guilt and shame for her actions. And without the proper help (something other than lake scream therapy, because that's not a thing) she likely just shut it away and never dealt with it. 

I want to know more about her parents. DId she really just go to her aunt's house and no one ever contacted them and she never ran into them? And did we ever get an explanation of why her parents and aunt were estranged? 

The way Randall  (Sterling) just cries with huge tears running down his face without any sort of dramatics is amazing. The restrained sobbing is just like a gut punch. But the scene at the end with his ghost mom in the lake was a little too much, and I give this show a lot of leeway. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 1/14/2021 at 8:18 AM, qtpye said:

Laurel was lucky that Randall got adopted by a loving family...what if he had been lost in the system and was suffering horrible abuse?

I think she assumed that William was raising him.

The odds are, though, that if William had stayed in the apartment with the baby and seen Laurel's resurrection, Randall would have almost certainly been taken from them and placed in foster care.  Laurel would probably still have gone to jail, and I doubt William would have gotten custody-he might have sunken further into drug addiction (was he clean at the time of Randall's birth?)  There's no guarantee that Laurel would have regained custody after 5 years in jail-Randall might have had a very difficult life.

And he almost definitely would not have met Beth at Carnegie Mellon.

Edited January 15, 2021 by ItCouldBeWorse

[txhorns79]

3 hours ago, kili said:

She did that already sans the gator infested pond. When she went to the diet camp, she primal screamed during the drumming exercise (after a montage of the baggage that was holding her back). 

But that was before she remembered she also had an abusive boyfriend and abortion, so she'll need a fresh primal screaming to take care of that stuff, and it isn't like they've given Jack much to do this season. 

 

16 minutes ago, sara416 said:

And did we ever get an explanation of why her parents and aunt were estranged? 

I think it was because the aunt became pregnant by a married man. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

19 minutes ago, sara416 said:

I want to know more about her parents. DId she really just go to her aunt's house and no one ever contacted them and she never ran into them? And did we ever get an explanation of why her parents and aunt were estranged? 

Aunt Mae had an affair with a married man and  got pregnant. She was an embarrassment to her family and a bad example for Laurel.  Perhaps the affair and baby had taken place shortly before the first time we met Laurel and her family, because Laurel had clearly known her well enough to form an attachment.

By the way, at the Sunday supper it looked to me as though Laurel was supposed to be eating some sort of shredded cereal with a fork.  Did anyone else notice that?

Edited January 15, 2021 by ItCouldBeWorse

[KaveDweller]

10 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I would rather have seen Laurel attempt to find Randall and fail because of poverty instead of this episode.  I think it makes her look worse, that Laurel had options that she was too proud to use.  One word to her daddy and Randall would have been raised by his maternal grandparents.  She spends the next 30 years thinking about her son, but doing nothing about it.  Then the show doesn't show us why.  Why did she just give up.  

I agree. I kind of didn't mind her not asking her dad for help when she was arrested, because she probably did not think she would actually get 5 years. She may have thought it would be a couple weeks until she could get in contact with William. But then she never even tried to look for William or Randall after getting out? What was she doing with her life? Was she just depressed and stuck for decades or was there more to it?

It seems like her lawyer should have been able to swing by her apartment and talk to William. We know he was living there after Randall was born. But if not, after she got out of prison, it seems like it would have been pretty easy to track down Randall if she tried. There must have been news articles about a baby being left at a fire station. And if not, the Pearson's adoption of him was public record and even a mediocre PI could put that together.

[Jeddah]

3 minutes ago, sara416 said:

Adopted kids need to know their birth story. The brain will make up stories and fill in the blanks if we don't know all the answers. And for kids who don't know their origin, they will make up anything to keep from feeling lost.

He already did get his origin story from William. He knew who she was at that point, and he didn’t feel the need to go find out about her past.

16 minutes ago, sara416 said:

She was a drug addict who felt immense guilt and shame for her actions. And without the proper help (something other than lake scream therapy, because that's not a thing) she likely just shut it away and never dealt with it. 

Except she didn’t shut it away. She apparently recounted all of it in great detail to Hai. Good for Randall for finding comfort in her story. If I were him I would have felt like she clearly didn’t care after hearing her story. For decades she couldn’t walk ten feet to say hello to the love of her life, so it’s not surprising that she couldn’t be bothered to see what happened to her son or let her son’s father know she wasn’t dead.

[bros402]

So, how long until Randall and Kate take DNA tests and they show up in the 3rd or 4th cousin range - it'll turn out that one of Jack's ancestors was  intimate with one of Randall's, so he is related to Jack by blood!

I mean, more likely it'd be Rebecca, seeing as how it felt like her family was from money, probably in the US longer, and most likely owned slaves, but hey, St. Jack needs to be involved.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

But that was before she remembered she also had an abusive boyfriend and abortion, so she'll need a fresh primal screaming to take care of that stuff

But when Kate was at camp, she just did regular screaming. You can only heal if you do Gator Lake Naked Scream Therapy (TM).

[debraran]

Sterling in interview said he thought Laurel's past was done or they didn't tell him anything yet. Okay I believe they aren't always giving them a lot but he knows, he talks to the actors/actress's who play them. He was saying in  his mind Laurel all those years, never once saw her parents. Ok, demonize the dad, but the mom? She had her lose a daughter too without trying? All those years, Laurel never let it go or matured? Her Aunt Mae never encouraged her to do anything but stay with her? She never bumped into them for 40 years? She loved William who was far from perfect but never wondered how he was or curious about her son. Again, she didn't have to pay for a PI, even a trip to that area a few years later. IDK, I understand how things were then, my husband was a cop then, his uncle a lawyer/judge but emotions don't stop. You know she talked of him often and probably wrote letters to her son, i guess time will tell. Why even introduce a dead mother for Randall if they weren't going somewhere with it? Sterling thinks unless it's scenes with William she finished her story, as tragic as it is. The actress playing her says she'll have to wait and see.

Part of interview with Sterling on cut scenes"

SKB: I'll give you some behind-the-scenes things that were written in the script but did not make it into the cut. At one point, Hai asks Randall: "Are you a religious or spiritual person?" And Randall says, "not really." The things that he can experience with the senses are what he knows to be real and everything else, sort of, doesn't exist. Hai mentions that when he goes out to the lake, he feels like he can hear Laurel laughing. So for Randall to go into the lake, he was in search of his mother. [Director Kay Oyegun] described it as the inner workings of his mind, but for me as an actor, what you experience visually, there is a moment of connection that he is able to actually say to and hear from his mother "I love you." I choose to put in the space of the miraculous because I don't know how many encounters with the miraculous Randall has had or willing to acknowledge as being such. This one is one of the reasons that he's so much lighter because a miracle occurred.

[gonzosgirrl]

8 hours ago, sara416 said:

Adopted kids need to know their birth story. The brain will make up stories and fill in the blanks if we don't know all the answers. And for kids who don't know their origin, they will make up anything to keep from feeling lost.

As an adopted kid with no desire to know my birth parents, let me say, not all of us. Despite some friction at times (as kids) with my brothers, my mother and father were the two wonderful people who raised me with (from the age of four months). I knew I was 'dopted' before I even really knew what that meant. I never felt lost because I was raised with love, and knowing that I was wanted more than anything. My family is my family, for better or worse. Although both my parents told me they would be okay with me trying to find out about my birth parents, I never have and never will.  I have some pretty strong feelings on the subject, but this isn't the place for them.

[Guest]

The real winner in this story is Deja- her stand alone episode no longer is the worst episode in TIU history.

 

[Biggie B]

I wonder if Mae's child will ever be a character in the show. What happened to that child, who is now obviously an adult? I can't recall if Mae provided an explanation - was the child taken from her? I guess she, too, did not pursue that child through years?

I actually don't want or need further expansion of this entire story line, now that I think of it. There are so many unanswered questions and divergent paths that could be taken because of this episode, and that would have to be a whole other show. I liked Hai very much, but...what more can he bring to the table in the current day time period? I get that the Powers That Be needed to fill up the empty time/space created by Mandy Moore's pregnancy, and I guess they've now done that, to an extent, but I'm OK to move past Laurel. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Biggie B

[tennisgurl]

I wish that we had Laurel actually find Randall when he was a kid, maybe she hired a private investigator (from her inheritance from her ambiguously dead parents?) and found him with the Pearson's. Then when she saw how happy he was with his loving family, and still guilt ridden over doing drugs while pregnant with him and being a drug addict in general and ashamed of her past, she decides that she doesn't want to complicate Randall's happy life and just leaves. Possibly after having a TIU style bittersweet "cry damn you" scene where she follows Rebecca and Randall to the store and Randall crosses his tongue at her and she crosses her tongue back, then walks away in tears never to see him again. Then we would see how much she really did love Randall, but stayed away from him because she thought it was the best thing for Randall and was still drowning in her own guilt, which is all suitably tragic. I think that would have been a lot more sad and compelling and more sympathetic. 

I was in general really struck by how passive Laurel was within her own story, she just had stuff kind of happen to her for her whole life apparently. She was intimidated by her overbearing father and mostly hid behind her brother until he died, then she met Hai and had a secret affair with him while dating a dad approved rich guy, then went things went bad and she got addicted to drugs, had Randall and almost died, she didn't call her dad or any of her friends or try to find William after her first day where she inquired about William then called dad and hung up on him, and apparently just sat in her cell for five years, went to her aunts, then spent her whole life never trying to find William or Randall or even trying to talk to her parents or to the love of her life (sorry William!) who she only waved awkwardly at for a few decades, and spent her whole life just working at her aunts veggie stand crashing with her aunt and then at her parents house until she got back together with Hai and died. Of course, the only times Laurel made choices they seemed to go badly. She wanted to run away with Hai? He didn't want to leave his family because that would have been a terrible idea, and when she went away she got addicted to drugs and went to jail. So her choices were "leave home" and "do drugs" so I guess her just sitting around for her whole life working at her aunts food stand was the best call for her. Its really too bad, because in the glimpses we saw of Laurel from William's story, she loved poetry and art and was into activism, and I guess you can say that the trauma of her drug addiction and going to jail and losing her baby and William left her really damaged and she never healed until she got back with Hai, but that's just a rather sad life for her. We can guess that she lived a more fulfilling life offscreen somewhere, but what what we saw was her sadly selling veggies for a few decades until Hai's wife died and he could finally go back to his first choice again and then she died a few years after. We saw them having good times together, and I guess that's what Hai would know most about, but it leaves us with the picture of someone who's whole life revolved around men where things mostly happened to her instead of her making things happen. Except for her aunt, her life revolves around men. Her mom was apparently taking a nap for several years, we saw her family life through her dad and brother, then Hai, then William, then her life was just on standstill until she got with Hai again which is when she was finally happy until she died. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by tennisgurl

[watch2much]

Every week I approach watching this with a sense that I can't endure the self-absorption of these people one more minute.  I'm very glad this episode featured different people.  Frankly, Randall's "poor me" orphan drama is wearing thin.  He's driving home and says to Beth "I was loved".  Yes, Randall, you were by your adoptive parents.  I understand his need to know, but to suggest he was not loved for ridiculous.  As others pointed out, he could have ended up in foster care for years on end.

All the Peason's are getting on my nerves....let's start opening the stories of the future generations who I sincerely hope aren't all "woe is me".

[Dowel Jones]

22 hours ago, Tango64 said:

I'm going to make a prediction about the final episode of this series when it all comes to an end.

Randall and Beth will set up at the lake and offer GLNST (tm).  They will nearly go bankrupt, until yet another relative of Randall's (or Beth's, or Deja's), played by James Earl Jones, will show up, pontificate on the history of primal scream, and how people will line up in their cars to do it.  $20 a carload.  He will then disappear into the lake with all the dead characters.  The camera pans back to reveal a line of car headlights.

[Aloeonatable]

13 hours ago, sara416 said:

I want to know more about her parents. DId she really just go to her aunt's house and no one ever contacted them and she never ran into them? And did we ever get an explanation of why her parents and aunt were estranged?

I guess the writers left it up to us to assume that because she had been in prison for drugs, her parents did not want to have anything to do with her. As for the aunt, having a child out of wedlock with a married man, we can assume, knowing how proper and respected her Laurel's parents were, would be reason enough for the estrangement. 

[debraran]

  Yes, @tennisgurl I agree. I know it's not the plot they wanted, but really, a smart girl like Laurel, brought up well, sees no other option than taking off to a strange city without much money or friends (did I miss something?) to avoid a possible marriage with a guy she disliked? "If" Laurel said no and this is done still today, and he dad said, "Leave my house!" she could have without guilt gone to Aunt Mae's. She could have gotten a job, maybe went to school, why the running away? Did her Mom have no voice at all? So she falls into drugs and sees no way out when she does have options or did. I don't get the sympathy vote. Her dad was probably a cheating religious hypocrite but not a pure monster. Her mom is ?  Her brother seemed nice and I'm sure was not her only ally. Did she have no friends (which is common on TIU) I feel the episode was quickly put together without the usual TIU twists or background. I'm glad Randall got closure but the backstory seemed off since she was not poor or lacking support.

Edited January 16, 2021 by debraran

[txhorns79]

1 hour ago, Dowel Jones said:

GLNST

Ghost Lake Naked Swim Team? 

 

13 minutes ago, Aloeonatable said:

As for the aunt, having a child out of wedlock with a married man, we can assume, knowing how proper and respected her Laurel's parents were, would be reason enough for the estrangement. 

Didn't the aunt encourage Laurel to tell her parents that she had returned whenever she came back to New Orleans?   

[ItCouldBeWorse]

15 minutes ago, Aloeonatable said:

As for the aunt, having a child out of wedlock with a married man, we can assume, knowing how proper and respected her Laurel's parents were, would be reason enough for the estrangement. 

And Laurel probably assumed that her father would be no more open-minded if he knew that she had had a child out of wedlock; so why tell him and face rejection?

[JayDub1987]

My wife made a good point when I was ranting about this train wreck of an episode: why could everybody jump in that lake with clothes on except for Randall? I don't know if anyone who works on TIU browses these forums, but I hope writers, show runners or somebody reads about how disgusted we all were with this crap.

[kili]

Quote

And Laurel probably assumed that her father would be no more open-minded if he knew that she had had a child out of wedlock; so why tell him and face rejection?

People can be more forgiving of their children than their siblings and times had changed. A sibling having a child out of wedlock in the 50s is quite a bit different than your own child having a child out of wedlock in the 80s. Papa Dubois seemed hopeful, not angry, when he received the phone call that it was Laurel. 

At the same time, there is no way her parents didn't know she'd come home. Even if they never spoke to Aunt Mae (and they must have a little if Laurel had a chance to get to know her), there must be some mutual friends/acquaintances who would comment on the fact they had seen Laurel (or at least a young woman) at Aunt Mae's vegetable market.

Even if they decided to ignore each other for 35 years, surely one or the other would have shown up at the deathbed of the other. If Laurel died first, she was gravely ill for a long time. If her parents died first, surely she would have gone to the funeral of the one that died and said hello to the other. Even Jack's dad reached out to him as he lay dying. 

This show has gone to great pains to show us how much Randall's parents loved him and they just had a few hours to bond before he was gone. How can they be so saintly and Laurel's parents such garbage that they wanted nothing to do with their traumatized daughter? It was the 1985 by the time she came back.

But, that is typical for this show. All the parents are saints and five out of seven of the grandparents are so abusive their kids can barely stand them (Jack's Dad was a drunk who destroyed Jack/Nicky's self-esteem and beat his family (Jack's grandpa is apparently even worse), Rebecca's Dad is stuck up and awful to Jack, Rebecca's Mom got banned for being racist, Beth's Mom crushed her dreams, Laurel's parents disown her - the only tolerable ones are  William's Mom, Jack's Mom and Beth's Dad. Toby's parents fought all the time and Madison's parents probably eat children which is why she has an eating disorder). 

[Blakeston]

14 minutes ago, kili said:

People can be more forgiving of their children than their siblings and times had changed. A sibling having a child out of wedlock in the 50s is quite a bit different than your own child having a child out of wedlock in the 80s. Papa Dubois seemed hopeful, not angry, when he received the phone call that it was Laurel. 

Plus, there's a big difference between shutting a relative out of your life, and wanting them to rot in jail. 

Nothing the parents did seemed that horrific. It seemed like Laurel was just crushed underneath the pressure of being the child of a prominent family that was set in their ways. That's the only explanation for why she would choose to run away with nothing but bus fare.

[txhorns79]

1 minute ago, Blakeston said:

Nothing the parents did seemed that horrific. It seemed like Laurel was just crushed underneath the pressure of being the child of a prominent family that was set in their ways. That's the only explanation for why she would choose to run away with nothing but bus fare.

Yes, this is what happens when you have to manufacture a backstory for a character that was originally written as having died at childbirth, but then was suddenly given another 35 years to live.  I was mostly disappointed with the episode.  It was one where you could really feel the writers had no plan for this character, so they kind of threw something together that did not always work. 

[qtpye]

21 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

Yes, this is what happens when you have to manufacture a backstory for a character that was originally written as having died at childbirth, but then was suddenly given another 35 years to live.  I was mostly disappointed with the episode.  It was one where you could really feel the writers had no plan for this character, so they kind of threw something together that did not always work. 

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I wish that we had Laurel actually find Randall when he was a kid, maybe she hired a private investigator (from her inheritance from her ambiguously alive parents?) and found him with the Pearson's. Then when she saw how happy he was with his loving family, and still guilt ridden over doing drugs while pregnant with him and being an drug addict in general and ashamed of her past, she decides that she doesn't want to complicate Randall's happy life and just leaves. Possibly after having a TIU style bittersweet "cry damn you" scenes where she follows him to Rebecca and Randall to the store and Randall crosses his tongue at her and she crosses her tongue back, then walks away in tears never to see him again. Then we would see how much she really did love Randall, but stayed away from him because she thought it was the best thing for Randall and was still drowning in her own guilt, which is all suitably tragic. I think that would have been a lot more sad and compelling and more sympathetic. 

I was in general really struck by how passive Laurel was within her own story, she just had stuff kind of happen to her for her whole life apparently. She was intimidated by her overbearing father and mostly hid behind her brother until he died, then she met Hai and had a secret affair with him while dating a dad approved rich guy, then went things went bad and she got addicted to drugs, had Randall and almost died, she didn't call her dad or any of her friends or try to find William after her first day where she inquired about William then called dad and hung up on him, and apparently just sat in her cell for five years, went to her aunts, then spent her whole life never trying to find William or Randall or even trying to talk to her parents or to the love of her life (sorry William!) who she only waved awkwardly at for a few decades, and spent her whole life just working at her aunts veggie stand crashing with her aunt and then at her parents house until she got back together with Hai and died. Of course, the only times Laurel made choices they seemed to go badly. She wanted to run away with Hai? He didn't want to leave his family because that would have been a terrible idea, and went she went away she got addicted to drugs and went to jail. So her choices were "leave home" and "do drugs" so I guess her just sitting around for her whole life working at her aunts food stand was the best call for her. Its really too bad, because in the glimpses we saw of Laurel from William's story, she loved poetry and art and was into activism, and I guess you can say that the trauma of her drug addiction and going to jail and losing her baby and William left her really damaged and she never healed until she got back with Hai, but that's just a rather sad life for her. We can guess that she lived a more fulfilling life offscreen somewhere, but what what we saw was her sadly selling veggies for a few decades until Hai's wife died and he could finally go back to his first choice again and then she died a few years after. We saw them having good times together, and I guess that's what Hai would know most about, but it leaves us with the picture of someone who's whole life revolved around men where things mostly happened to her instead of her making things happen. Except for her aunt, her life revolves around men. Her mom was apparently taking a nap for several years, we saw her family life through her dad and brother, then Hai, then William, then her life was just on standstill until she got with Hai again which is when she was finally happy until she died. 

It is interesting that you mention how they changed Laurel from what we first saw through William.

We saw Laurel as a powerful woman who had been going down the tragic road of addiction. I think I remember a scene where Laurel was determined to get a promotion at work so they could get a bigger apartment for when the baby was being born. She was far from passive.

Heck, the word activist, usually means someone who "actively" stands up to injustices.

Now, with the new unnecessary back story, Laurel was just someone too ashamed for 35 years to even see if her baby was okay? She sees the "love of her life" is married so she never bothers to ever date anyone else?

I stated in last week's episode that they do not think out the stories for Kate and most of the stuff feels retconned at the last minute. Even though the Laurel story had some touching moments, the story itself made no sense and made William's birth mom look even worse than before.

I am getting annoyed that this seems to mostly happen to the female characters on this show.

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by qtpye

[PRgal]

15 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I think she assumed that William was raising him.

The odds are, though, that if William had stayed in the apartment with the baby and seen Laurel's resurrection, Randall would have almost certainly been taken from them and placed in foster care.  Laurel would probably still have gone to jail, and I doubt William would have gotten custody-he might have sunken further into drug addiction (was he clean at the time of Randall's birth?)  There's no guarantee that Laurel would have regained custody after 5 years in jail-Randall might have had a very difficult life.

And he almost definitely would not have met Beth at Carnegie Mellon.

Unless somehow, Daddy Dubois was able to get hold of him and raise his grandchild.  Then he would have grown up in an even more privileged environment than as a Pearson.  He would likely have gone to an HCBU.  He may or may not have the career he ended up having - in finance, anyway.  He wouldn't have met and married Beth, though.  I'm not even sure if Daddy Dubois would have approved of her.

[MissLucas]

1 hour ago, JayDub1987 said:

My wife made a good point when I was ranting about this train wreck of an episode: why could everybody jump in that lake with clothes on except for Randall? I don't know if anyone who works on TIU browses these forums, but I hope writers, show runners or somebody reads about how disgusted we all were with this crap.

It was particularly hilarious in view of Randall's OCD tendencies. And after Kevin's thoughtful musings about TPTB demanding shirtless scenes of their leading men (with all that this brings along - the prep for such scenes isn't exactly a walk in the park) we get not one but two scenes of Randall's pecs n' more within three episodes.