Randall begins a journey of self-discovery on This Is Us

Randall began a journey of self-discovery on This Is Us Season 5, Episode 3

Spoilers ahead for the Nov. 10 episode of This Is Us

On This Is Us Season 5, Episode 3, Randall would begin seeing a new therapist who would challenge him to reflect on his upbringing.

Meanwhile, an incident involving Tess would lead Randall to reflect on how he’d handled racially-motivated incidences in his childhood. Let’s talk about what Randall discovered this week on This Is Us.

This Is Us: Randall searches for a new therapist

At the end of the Season 5 premiere, Randall would end his working relationship with Dr. Leigh.

This decision would come on the heels of the ongoing civil unrest due to the killing of George Floyd, which would make him realize that there were things about his life and identity that he didn’t feel comfortable talking about with a white therapist. As a result, in the opening of this week’s episode, we’d see Randall on several Zoom calls looking for a Black therapist.

He would end up choosing a therapist who, like him, is a young Black father.

Unfortunately, Randall would find himself quickly becoming self-conscious in their Zoom conference later that day, feeling as though he needed to prove himself as a Black man despite being raised by white parents.

Nevertheless, his new therapist would reassure him that he had nothing to prove and would remind him that therapy is a process that occurs in and out of their sessions. With that, he’d give Randall his first “homework assignment,” telling him to write down a story from his childhood that would reveal something that he’d like him to know.

Their session would be interrupted by a text from Beth, letting Randall know she’d gotten a call from Tess’s principal. However, in a moment that would show character development for Randall, upon reading the text and learning that Tess was okay, he would put his phone down and continue the session.

Tess comes into her own at a cost

Once home, he would learn that Tess had been reprimanded for making a viral video with a friend of hers, calling out a teacher that had repeatedly touched the hair of several Black students and misgendered her friend. While Randall and Beth would be sympathetic to the situation, they would admonish Tess for the way she handled it.

Tess, meanwhile, would criticize her parents’ reaction, telling them “silence in the face of inequality is complicity with the oppressor,” and that she was done being the “prissy, quiet little girl” they “raised in a straight, white suburb.”

Later that night, Randall and Beth would discuss how to discipline her.

Although realizing she handled the situation poorly, Randall would admit to being proud that Tess was letting her frustration out rather than keeping it bottled up like he would’ve done as a child.

While Beth would understand his point of view, she would remind him that strong parenting means being on the same page. With that, he would go upstairs to talk to Tess. While he would affirm her feelings, he would reiterate that she handled the situation poorly.

He would then inform her that she was grounded for the next six weeks and would have to hand over her cellphone, a punishment that seems a bit extreme given we’re in a time when being able to interact online with those closest to us is of the utmost importance.

As the episode ended, we’d flashback to the past, to find a teenage Randall, portrayed by Lonnie Chavis, put in an uncomfortable position as one of Kate’s friends seemingly playful flirting ends up being racial fetishism that teenage Randall is unequipped to confront.

As a result, unlike his future daughter, he would remain tight-lipped about the incident until 40 years later when he would write the story of the incident down in a journal to share with his therapist at their next session.

What did you think of Season 5, Episode 3 of This Is Us? Let us know in the comments.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.