Chill, Randall Pearson isn't about to be murdered on This Is Us.
This Is Us returned from winter hiatus with "Lights and Shadows," and a cliffhanger that has left fans quite uneasy. At the end of the episode, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) returned home to Philadelphia after accompanying his mother to a doctor's appointment in Los Angeles with hopes of tackling her memory loss and erratic behavior. Upon entering his house, he was face-to-face with a stranger. Reader, Randall lives.
This Is Us has shown viewers far into the future, a future where Randall is older and Mandy Moore's Rebecca is still alive, just, well, not really there. Randall is safe. Sort of? How this impacts his emotional state is another question for viewers to see unfold.
"We've seen in the first half of the season and this first episode back, Randall's slate is getting so full and it's just getting even fuller. Now he's taking on his mother's mental health issues and whatever's going on there, and we know that that hits him so hard. That relationship is so important to him. On top of everything that's going on with his work and his own immediate family, the pressure is just cranking up," executive producer Isaac Aptaker told EW. "And now he's returned home from this emotional trip, and there's a man standing in his kitchen. And it is going to be the straw that leads to Randall to have to re-evaluate what's going on with his own mental health and how much he can handle."
Don't expect any major twist with Randall and this stranger. When asked if it could go the way of Six Feet Under's "That's My Dog," episode, Aptaker said the two shows are very different and, "I would hope that audiences trust that we're not going to have Randall murdered in his own home."
So, there.
In not-so-typical This Is Us fashion, viewers will get answers about Randall in the next episode. It's the first episode in a new Big 3 trilogy. Aptaker said viewers will get answers to these questions :"Who is this very scary man standing in Randall's kitchen? What is that all about? And then what are the implications that this encounter will have on Randall's already fragile mental state?"
This Is Us airs Tuesdays, 9 p.m. on NBC.
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