This Is Us Review: This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life (Season 2 Episode 17)
On the season’s penultimate episode, This Is Us Season 2 Episode 17, “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life,” once again proves why it’s one of the most interesting shows on TV in terms of structure.
The show has always woven multiple timelines in an episode, but this week, it uses montage in the most unexpected places throughout the hour to demonstrate just how people are connected, through “the things that hurt them, and the things that make them feel better.”
And This Is Us does this with an impressive amount of confidence.
First and foremost, this episode is about Deja, and it belongs to the talented Lyric Ross, who brings so much depth to her young character.
We take a good look at how Deja came into this world — literally, as the episode opens with her birth. And not just hers, but a few other characters as the scenes cut to all the mothers we’ve seen on the show give birth, including Rebecca, Beth, and Randall’s mother.
This is just one example of how “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life,” splices together scenes from different eras to evoke strong emotions throughout the hour.
It happens quick, and it happens in moments you don’t anticipate it happening. We’ll flash to a familiar face, and somehow their feelings, their pain and vulnerabilities, relates to what a character is experiencing decades later.
We see the connection of abuse, financial troubles, death, loss, and intense love.
We see glimpses of a young Jack reading to his brother, just as Deja is being read to by her grandmother, played by Pam Grier. We see Shauna trying to make ends meet as a financially unstable Jack sorts his bills. We see Deja hold a totem of her grandmother’s love just as we see Kevin clutch on to his father’s neckless.
These small things come a long way.
Back to Deja, we go through her painful journey as a child. First, she loses her grandmother, and then when it’s just her and Shauna, she is sadly neglected and falls into Child Protective Services. We know this happens, but watching it unfold is utterly heartbreaking.
My favorite part of the episode — besides its lyricism and Ross’ performance — is how Shauna, despite her flaws, is characterized as a wholly sympathetic figure.
If we’re honest, the show is sometimes guilty of manipulating us emotionally. But when it makes you cry without realizing you’re watching something that warrants tears? That’s when the show truly gets it right.
And for me, that moment came just towards the end, when Shauna and Deja are taken to Randall and Beth’s home for the night.
The couple tries to make the mother and daughter feel as comfortable as possible, and in doing so, they play games, they watch TV, and they laugh. And in that laughter, Shauna, who has tried and failed to give Deja the best childhood, realizes that perhaps the best place for Deja is right here in this home.
This realization dawns on Shauna, and the look on her face just gets me. It is an incredibly moving moment because we see that throughout this episode that Shauna does love her daughter and is trying to provide for her, but she keeps falling short.
Joy Brunson, who plays Shauna, also does a tremendous job on this episode, navigating the different emotions that the character has.
What really strikes me about Deja is how sensible she is. In particular, her scene with Randall at the end shows how much insight she has. Like Shauna says to Beth, Deja is a very special girl.
It’s a beautifully delivered monologue by Ross about interconnectedness – the show’s most common theme. And it’s not overly sentimental or unconvincing. It’s just right.
“I’m just so tired,” Deja says to Randall. And we believe it because we’ve seen all that’s she’s gone through.
The episode concludes with something we’ve sensed was coming since Deja came back knocking on Randall and Beth’s doorstep. Shauna decides that she needs to go, and leave Deja with them.
This is a fantastic episode that feels completely earned given that the show has prepared us for this style of storytelling.
We don’t have to blink when we abruptly see flashes of several eras on our screen, or see secondary characters take center stage in an episode all about them.
No, we welcome that. Because the show has proven that this is exactly where its strengths are.
It’s hard to believe that next week’s episode is the season two finale. However the season closes, I just hope it’s as good as “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life,” because this particular gem will live down as one of the show’s best episodes.
What did you think of this episode of This Is Us? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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Shabnaj Chowdhury
Shabnaj is a pop-culture enthusiast who spends much of her time enabling her coffee addiction and thinking about Jon Snow's hair. Some of her favorite shows include Friday Night Lights, The Leftovers, and Game of Thrones. Shabnaj also loves to write creative non-fiction.