Brightburn Pearson
Last week’s episode of This Is Us: After the Fire showed us Randall’s ideas of the two versions of himself that could have existed. I would like to talk more about this ‘bad boy’ Randall, or what I have decided to call “Brighburn Pearson.” Randall has this fantasy of being a Superman-like character. Someone who is indestructible and can save anyone from anything. However, this episode allowed us to see how it could have gone differently.
First of all…..there is no universe at ALL where Randall is a QUE!! Never. Ever. I know they chose that frat since Sterling K. Brown’s wife is a Delta, but……. no. In this version of Randall, he leans into his Blackness, attends an HBCU, and completely rejects Rebecca.
Also, he has an earring?? Ew.
He’s mean, he shuts his family out, he sleeps with his teaching assistants. Wow. It is such a change. It was hard to watch. I was genuinely sad for Randall. I also realized that this version of Randall is not too far off base.
Present-day Randall is mean. He thinks he is better than everyone and smarter than everyone. Randall is quite manipulative, but it comes in this lovely package, so it gets ignored. Let us not forget that voicemail Randall left for Beth in Season 3 when he thought she ditched his dinner. We did not forget he beat up that man. We also did not forget his mean shoe comment to the therapist. When Randall gets pushed, he becomes nasty. I think we are going to see more of it next week during the finale.
Now, I won’t get too deep into Randall’s therapy session. I will say I knew I was going to love this therapist. She is not here for the BS and can push Randall when he needs it. This exercise about imagining his alternative lives, I thought, was excellent. I have not done this with a client but could put it in my toolbox. This exercise definitely highlighted how much control Randall thinks he has in the world. It also highlights how difficult it is for Randall to accept the fact that the world is happening around him, and he only has so much influence. Of course, this may stem from the lack of control he has had over his life since infancy. He did not choose to be born to addicts, he did not choose to be left at a fire station, and he did not choose to be adopted by the Pearson’s. Of course, these were decisions made in his best interest, but having so much of your life decided for you can affect people in different ways.
I think the realization that Randall came to about his mother was much needed and beautifully unfolded. What I did not like was how Randall responded to it. Randall essentially doubled down on his control issues and emotionally manipulated his mother into making a different health choice than she already decided on. I think Randall is reexperiencing his teenage years and exercising the selfishness that comes with that stage of life since he never really got to move through that stage of his life. It just could not have come at a worse time.
People are, rightfully so, pissed at Randall. It makes the Big 3 split that we saw in the flash forward make so much sense now. It also reminds me of the typical course of therapy that people do not often talk about. There is a period in psychotherapy where things can get quite worse before they get better. Self-discovery is hard. Understanding yourself and your life in a different light can be unnerving for some people and can lead to regression in behavior. A common metaphor that is used to describe treatment, is that it like cleaning a wound. You know the alcohol will burn, but it is necessary to clean out the injury, and it will take time to heal. What I wish would have happened is Randall spend more time in therapy to work through this stage before jumping and acting on his newfound understanding too soon.
I can not wait to see what happens in the next episode and how everyone is going to respond to Randall, especially Beth. All hell is going to break loose, and I am sure we are going to be left with a cliff hanger of a lifetime that will lead into season 5. This Is Us will only have 6 seasons, so I am really interested to see what they will do with the time they have left.
**sidenote, Niles Fitch (teenage Randall) deserves ALL THE AWARDS. He can act his behind off. He is so good ya'll and it needs to be acknowledged.***
See ya’ll next time.
Take Care