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‘This Is Us’ Season 5 Premiere Introduces a Major Randall Twist—Here’s What It Means

this is us randall pearson biological mom

Last night’s season five premiere of This Is Us introduced a shocking twist for Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown). However, we aren’t convinced the story line will result in a happy ending.

Here’s what you need to know: On the season five premiere of This Is Us, Randall undergoes an identity crisis in the wake of George Floyd’s death. After a verbal fight with both of his siblings, Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Kate (Chrissy Metz), Randall withdraws from his family, barely speaking to them as he celebrates his 40th birthday alone.

The episode isn’t all bad, though. The viewer also learns that Randall’s biological mom isn’t actually dead, like we originally assumed. As much as we’d love to witness a happy reunion between the mother-son duo, we don’t think it will end well for Randall.

Why? We’ve seen this happen before with his biological father, William (Ron Cephas Jones). Randall got his hopes up, established a relationship and then experienced heartbreak when he learned that William only had a few months to live.

If Randall brings his mom into the picture, it will only cause more stress for the character. Not only will it strain his relationship with Rebecca (Mandy Moore), but it will also increase the chances of disappointment.

Whether she struggles with maintaining relationships or suffers from an unforeseen terminal illness, there’s a reason his biological mom hasn’t reached out. From city council to his longtime battle with anxiety, we highly doubt Randall is ready to welcome an unreliable family member into his home or—dare we say—life.

Even series creator Dan Fogelman previously confirmed that Randall’s biological mom will have a major impact on his mental wellbeing. “That’s a big part of Randall’s journey in the front half of this season,” he said, according to Deadline. “It’s about her, and it’s also really about Randall’s character and what learning her story does for him.”

We’d do anything to give Randall a hug right about now. This Is Us returns to NBC on Tuesday, November 10, at 9 p.m.


greta

Senior Editor

Greta Heggeness is a California-based editor at PureWow and has been writing about entertainment since 2015. She covers everything from awards shows to exclusive celebrity...