WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Season 5, Episode 8, of This Is Us, "In The Room," which aired Tuesday on NBC.
The most recent This Is Us, Season 5, Episode 8, "In The Room," starts in an unexpected fashion with a flashback to 1963 that does not include any member of the Pearson family. Instead the episode carves out time to shine a light on Nasir and Esther Ahmed. In the 1970s Nasir was part of the team that developed the Discrete Cosine Transform, which became the basis of modern video chatting technology. The Ahmeds are real people included in the episode as an acknowledgement to the significance of this invention, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The opening scene of the episode prior to the title sequence details the moment Nasir meets Esther in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The two are at a student dance, but they meet outside where Esther is on the hunt for a lighter for her cigarette. She approaches Nasir, who is reading a book about computer technology. He can't help her with the light but she chats with him anyway. She finds his sincere enthusiasm for the subject he's reading about endearing even though she doesn't understand the details herself.
Later, the episode briefly returns to their story again. In keeping with the installment's overall theme of family and new life, it shows Nasir and Esther at the birth of their baby son. While still in the hospital, Nasir begins to explain the complicated world of computers and technology to his newborn.
Near the end of the episode, the story returns to the couple again, and their inclusion suddenly makes sense. This final scene illustrates a moment when Nasir returns home late from the office. Esther is upset with him because he missed having dinner with his son, something the scene indicates happens frequently. She asks him explain the significance of his work to her. She wants to understand why he is so engrossed in what he does and why is it is so important that he would sacrifice time with his family for it.
He explains to her that the military has developed a computer network and he wants to use it to improve the way people connect to each other. To illustrate his idea, he says if he can get the technology to work, Esther could send a photo of their son to her mother in Argentina instantly instead of waiting three or more weeks for her mother to get the photo via traditional mail services. He adds that this could lead to people not only sharing photos but videos as well. His explanation about his invention is intercut with the Pearson family using video chatting to connect at significant moments.
The Ahmeds' story connects to the main storyline because the Pearsons are heavily relying on video chatting during the pandemic. This episode in particular highlights that reliance as Rebecca feels guilty for being away from her kids while they are going through significant moments. Video chatting allows Kevin and Kate to introduce their new babies to their extended family, as well as providing a means for Randall to support Madison even though he's thousands of miles away from her.
The episode ends with a more detailed explanation about Nasir and Esther, who recently celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary. It is also revealed that the pair shared their story with the team from This Is Us via video chat. Their inclusion in the episode is an interesting and unique way for the show to say thank you to Nasir for his work.
Created by Dan Fogelman, This Is Us stars Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown, Chris Sullivan and Susan Kelechi Watson. New episodes air Tuesdays at 9pm ET/PT on NBC.