THIS IS US: “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life”, or Deja’s View

After a trip to Vegas last week, the penultimate episode of This Is Us season two shifted focus completely to a secondary character. Join Melissa and Ange as they discuss “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life”

Melissa: This Is Us flipped the script on us again, presenting an episode from Deja’s point of view. Props to Lyric Ross and the little actress who played 3-year-old Deja for their portrayals. Lyric in particular delivered a performance that ought to open the door to more roles.

Ange: Man, this is show is so good at flipping the script. I thought it was an interesting choice to do an episode where a secondary character is the focus, particularly for the penultimate episode of the season, but I think it was kind of nice to take a beat and breathe a little. (Side note, it wasn’t until the end of the episode that I realised that the present day events take place within the time frame of 24 hours or rather less than that.) Lyric Ross did a wonderful job carrying a lot of this episode. Do the cast directors of this show know how to cast or what?

Melissa: Give the casting director all the awards! Interspersed with Deja’s story, we had a lot of clips of mothers and fathers with their children. Giving birth. Taking care of their babies. Trying to do what’s best for them. There was something so universal about those flashes.

Ange: I quite enjoyed that the show was able to relate moments of Deja and Shauna’s story with the Pearsons and we got a lot of juxtapositions showing that from the storytelling of Goodnight Mr Moon (oh man, when they showed a young Jack reading it to Nicky – way to tug on my heartstrings!), the aftermath of the deaths of loved ones, hospital visits, being hit, mother and daughter moments behind the door, drinking to ease pain. Throughout this episode all these moments reminded me of Kevin’s painting speech from season one how we all add different colors to the painting that is life until it’s just one big painting that doesn’t begin or end, it just is. Then at the end of this episode we had Deja’s speech about how everyone goes to sleep and no matter what their circumstances or background, everyone just goes to sleep and everyone has their own stuff to deal with.

Melissa: Deja’s speech was pretty deep for a, what, 13 year old? But she’s recognizing universality and that’s about the age when it happens. Then we have Shauna, still so young herself, making the decision to leave Deja with Randall and Beth. On the one hand, I do think that’s the right choice for Deja. She’ll be safe and loved and have opportunities her mother can’t give her. But…I feel like the way Shauna chose to leave shows that she’s still being selfish. I hope that in the next episode, she sits down with Deja and explains what her plan is and why she’s leaving. I hope she arranges to see Deja regularly.

Ange: I didn’t realize Shauna was only 16 when she had Deja and it hurt to see her let down Deja time after time and how Deja had to grow up fast because of these circumstances. Like you, I agree it’s the right thing for Deja but also agree that she’s still being selfish. I know it’s easier said than done but I want her to work on being better for Deja and really think about the choices that she’s making like using their bill money to bail her ex out of jail. Obviously she’s been lost without the guidance of a parental figure and it goes back to what we keep talking about when it comes to this show – nurture vs nature. Anyway, I do question whether she’s going to come back and explain it all to Deja all just leave Beth and Randall to handle it all.

Melissa: I found myself frustrated with Shauna frequently, then reminding myself that her own childhood and background did not set her up for success. From what we saw of her grandmother, with her guidance Shauna might have made it, but once she was gone, Shauna had no support, no one to help her grow up. Deja had to be the grown up. On a lighter note, I did get a kick out of Deja having The Manny on while she was making dinner the night that she cut her hand. Nice bit of continuity there when we recall how she reacted to Kevin a few episodes back. 

Ange: Yes, I liked the continuity with throwbacks to previous moments on the show that we’ve seen. I also liked how they showed us Deja’s side of things from last week’s phone call to Randall while he was in Vegas and what I like to think of as fate intervening with Randall calling just at the moment when Deja was about to pawn off her grandmother’s brooch and therefore stopping her from doing so. Also, can we talk about that Randall and Deja scene at the end after Deja says her speech and Randall is looking at her all teary and she tells him she’s really tired and he goes to sit beside her and hug her and tells her “I know” and she leans into him – she’s come a long way since we first met her and she flinched when Randall came near her and now she’s able to hug him and also let him carry her weight. It’s a testament to both the writing of this show and young Lyric Ross’ portrayal of Deja.

The season finale of This Is Us airs Tuesday, March 13 at 9/8c.