‘This Is Us’ Season 5 Episode 5 ‘A Long Road Home’: How did Laurel meet Hai and why did William think she is dead?
The missing piece of the puzzle has been found! ‘This Is Us’ finally reveals the answer to the one question everyone has been asking: Is Randall's birth mom Laurel (Jennifer C Holmes) alive? Titled ‘A Long Road Home’, the episode shows “Kate as she confronts her past; Randall's brush with viral fame leads to an unexpected discovery; Kevin debates the best path for his future.”
Randall Pearson (Sterling K Brown) did a funny little dance while stripping off his clothes and his viral video was streamed by thousands of people. Shirtless and sexy, Randall's antics made onlookers stare at their screens and it soon collected over 100,000 views. Call it coincidence or destiny, his viral clip also reached the Vietnamese man Hai (Vien Hong) catching a glimpse of it while staring back at Laurel's photo.
In the new episode, Randall gets a message from Hai saying he noticed him from a video. It read, “I knew your mother. I was by her side when she died in 2016.” Jumping to conclusions, Randall worriedly told Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) that his biological father William Hill (Ron Cephas Jones) lied to him. Concerned about his mental health, Beth asked him to talk to his therapist. While he initially said no, he did talk to his therapist and told him, “I put up an ad for my mom when I was 16. A scam artist showed up. She had 35 years to find me and she never even looked through me.”
Helping him see the light at the end of the dark tunnel, his therapist asked why he hired a PI at 35. When Randall said, “To know where I came from. To feel connected to my roots,” his therapist quizzed him, “Is there a chance knowing Laurel's story could help you too?”
As the episode comes to a close, Kevin (Justin Hartley) rings up Randall to ask for advice. Calling his strip clip “charming”, he asks him what he would do if he was at his spot. Telling him the complicated situation with Madison, he says, “I thought what would Randall do. I have that thought a lot these days.” The two seemingly reconcile when Randall replies, “I know it seems ironic because I said a lot of horrible things to you but...”
The two also spoke about how Randall felt during his childhood but when Beth entered the room, Randall disconnected the call and left their conversation mid-way. “Now is not a good time. I have a really important phone call to make.” It seems like Kevin's phonecall helped him see the light of the day.
Randall immediately calls Hai and says, “Do you mind if I ask you a blunt question? Laurel died of breast cancer in May 2016... My father told me she overdosed and died after my birth. Did he lie to me?” Clearing out the misconception, Hai remarked, “From what I know of the story... I believe he told you what he thought was the truth.”
There are tears in Randall's eyes. Beth takes the phone and asks Hai, “How exactly did you know Laurel?” He then tells them, “We met in our 20s. I thought about telling you about her for so many years. I wish I could see your face. I wish I could show you the places she lived. The things she loved.” Randall then asks, “And what if we could come out there?” Hai then says, “If you could do that. I would like that very much.” What more will Hai tell Randall? Dish out your theories here.
The two-hour episode of ‘This Is Us’ premiered on Tuesday, October 27, at 9 pm ET on NBC. Following that, the show was back with Episode 5 titled ‘A Long Road Home’ on January 5, 2021.
