'This Is Us' Season 4 Episode 17: Fans call Dr Leigh a 'b***h', but Pamela Adlon says she's 'unflappable'
The Pearson family on 'This Is Us' has always focused more on sacrifices but this week, Randall Pearson (Sterling K Brown) seems to have gone downhill with his harsh decision for mommy Rebecca Pearson (Mandy Moore).
After a stringent therapy session, Randall tells his mother to go for the clinical trial and uses the bait of forgiving her for hiding his birth father's identity for 36 years. With no choice at hand, Rebecca says yes. However, it will only create more trouble for the family and be the reason for a huge rift between Randall and his brother Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley).
Blaming the therapist Dr Leigh (Pamela Adlon) for all of it, fans are losing their cool. One wrote, "That what if that’s supposedly the realistic version I still can’t see happening cause even with anger at the core that is not Randall. I hate his therapist she’s so unprofessional and a b***h," and another said, "This is what Randall got out of therapy? Guilting Rebecca into the trial? This is going to end badly. #ThisIsUs."
However, it does not affect the actor. Shedding light on the 'what if' therapy session, Adlon said in an interview with TheWrap, “It was finally his breaking point. And even though he was getting, like, really anxious with the therapist, the therapist is unflappable,” and added, “You know, Dr. Leigh is unflappable. I mean, she’s been down this road before with many people. So even when he lashes out at her, and then he comes back, and when he lashes out again, I think he realizes that he’s ready to do the work, he’s ready to do the work — even though he seeks her out and then he rejects her and then he seeks her out again and they’re in the middle of it and he insults her.”
“At the end of the day, it’s all because you’re in avoidance,” she further added. “You don’t want to go do these hard things. He doesn’t want to go to his mom and be rejected by her. He’s just trying to appeal to her sensibilities and he just wants her to go, ‘OK, son, I’ll do this for you.’ The anxiety of confronting somebody and knowing that they’re going to say no is very stressful. So that’s what he needed armor for. He needed to get armor to be able to confront Rebecca.” What's more, she also said that therapy is not over yet. “Oh yeah, it’s not just one and done. For sure.”
A few fans agree. They feel Randall needs a lot more help and should continue consulting her. "Randall is really showing why he needs therapy. The amount of weight that he is choosing to still carry and faults Kevin for not carrying with him," one wrote and another said, "Yea therapy is rough Randall. That’s why there are so many broken people. It takes a lot to process trauma and work through problems. It’s absolutely soul breaking but the other side makes it worth it. #ThisIsUs."
"The de-stigmatization factor is huge! The audience gets to see Randall, a "control freak" who can fix everything on his own begin to trust his therapist and unravel his emotions. So many people need to see that," one viewer wrote and another said, "Randall is too hard on himself #ThisIsUs he needs to stay in therapy and he also needs to reach out to other relatives." Moreover, one even went on to say, "Randall thinks he's a fixer, a savior... but can he fix himself (i.e. through therapy)? #ThisIsUs."
Moreover, several fans feel that Randall's decision will only scar their lives. "What Randall must remember is that having a mother live the rest of her life against what she wanted is worse than her death because she's living a life she doesn't want. That isn't being caring, that's being selfish," one posted.
Another viewer wrote, "Kevin must intervene even though he's just a few minutes older than Kate and Randall he still has some amount of responsibility. As an older sibling,I would never allow for one of my siblings to guilt trip my mother into doing something she didn't want to do."
As the season finale airs next week, it might answer all the questions. Titled 'Strangers: Part Two', the episode will air on March 24, 2020 at 9 pm ET.