WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Season 5, Episode 6, of This Is Us, "Birth Mother," which aired Tuesday on NBC.
This Is Us' latest episode, "Birth Mother," tells the story of Randall's birth mother Laurel, a woman who, until last week's episode, Randall believed died when he was born. Hearing Laurel's story also enables him to hear his birth story from his mother's point of view. After spending time with his birth father, William, in the first season, Randall already knew his birth mother's name was Laurel and that she and William were in love, but battled heroin addiction. Now, Randall and Beth go to New Orleans to meet Hai who shares the truth about Laurel's life.
In keeping with the show's acknowledgement of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's mentioned that Randall and Beth were tested and quarantined prior to meeting with Hai. When they arrive, Hai explains that the house he lives in belonged to Laurel, and, therefore, is now Randall's. Hai then spends the entire day telling them the story of Laurel, who he identifies as the love of his life.
Laurel was the youngest and only daughter of one of the most distinguished families in New Orleans. She found life stifling under her banker father's strict rules and didn't feel like she fit in with her family. However, Laurel was close with her older brother, Jackson, who helped her sneak away from home for secret visits with her Aunt May. When she sneaks back home from one of these visits, she is caught by her father who threatens her with a lashing if she visits her aunt again as he is not on speaking terms with his sister. Laurel is upset because she feels that the only people in her life who understand her are her brother and her aunt, and now she is cut off from one of those people.
Laurel feels even more isolated when Jackson goes to fight in the Vietnam War. Sadly, he's killed in action, devastating Laurel. After Jackson's funeral, May teaches Laurel to let go of her pain by taking a swim in the lake and screaming at the sky.
Meanwhile, Hai and his family were refugees who relocated to New Orleans where he became a fisherman to support his parents. One day he is fishing when he hears Laurel screaming in the lake. Believing she's drowning, Hai dives in to save her. Although she didn't need saving, after their strange meeting, Hai can't get her out of his head and soon after recognizes her at the local farmer's market.
At the time, Laurel is helping her Aunt May at the market while unhappily dating a man named Marshall who works at the bank with her father. When she sees Hai selling the fish he caught at a nearby stall, they clearly share a spark even though he speaks very little English. He gives her a fish as a gift and offers to cook it for her. They fall in love, but Laurel keeps the relationship secret from her family.
Unfortunately their bliss doesn't last. One night after a date with Hai, Laurel sneaks back into her house only to have her father pull her aside for a conversation. He explains that Marshall will be coming over to celebrate his recent promotion at the bank and that he will likely propose to her during the dinner. Her dad informs her that he expects her to say yes. However, this is not the life Laurel wants so she takes a cab full of suitcases to Hai's house and asks him to run away with her to Chicago. He doesn't feel he can go because his parents are dependent on him. He asks her to stay with him, but she says she can't and leaves, only making it as far as Pittsburgh.
At this point Randall is really on edge. He's having a hard time understanding how William could have believed Laurel died of a drug overdose and Hai is nowhere near that part of the story. Randall doesn't understand why Laurel never looked for him or William after recovering from the overdose, so Hai explains she couldn't because she was sent to prison.
Laurel woke up in the hospital after her overdose looking for her baby, but the nurses keep her sedated and say they don't think she is a good mother loudly enough for her to hear. When she has recovered enough to be moved, the police arrive at the hospital and arrest her for drug possession. She can't call William because he doesn't have a phone, and the police aren't willing to help her get in touch with him in any other way. She tries to reach out to her parents, but is too ashamed by her situation to ask for their help, so she faces the situation alone.
Her lawyer tells her to plead guilty, believing the judge will be lenient because it is her first offense. Instead, Laurel is sentenced to five years in prison, and due to overcrowding in the Pittsburgh prison system, is transferred to California to serve her sentence. Hai says she didn't share many details about her time in prison except for the fact that she thought about Randall every single day. This drives Randall to tears, especially when he realizes that when Laurel was released in 1985 he was already an important part of the Pearson family, leading him to remember a happy childhood moment with his adoptive father, Jack.
After her time in prison, Laurel feels too much shame and guilt to search for William or Randall so she returns to New Orleans and her Aunt May. Laurel is devastated that her baby will grow up thinking she doesn't love him and has no idea how to repair her shattered life. Aunt May encourages her to let go of her guilt, so to get some catharsis, Laurel goes to the lake and screams out her pain, repeating the healing method she learned in her youth.
Laurel goes back to working with May at the farmer's market where she sees Hai at his fish stall and smiles for the first time since her return. However, Hai is now married with a baby on the way, so for many years, a smile and a wave is all they can share. Years later, after Hai's wife dies and his kids move away, Hai goes to check on Laurel after she's absent from the market one day. She tells him she is dying of breast cancer, so Hai takes up the role of caretaker. And despite her negative prognosis, she lives another two years, enabling them to spend more time together. Yet, all her life she never stops thinking about the son she lost.
Hai finishes his story and gives Randall the keys to Laurel's house, fulfilling her final wish. Later that night while Beth sleeps, a restless Randall goes back to the house. He follows in his mother's footsteps, literally, walking into the lake for a swim. Once in the water, he sees and has a conversation with the ghost his mother, who tells him she's sorry. She instructs him to let go of his sadness and pain, and Randall once again follows her lead, screaming up to the sky.
In the end, Randall finds joy in knowing his complete birth story and recognizing that his birth parents, while imperfect people, loved him. This revelation inspires him to call Kevin so they can let the bad stuff between them go. But they don't get to bury the hatchet because, when Randall reaches him, Kevin is panicked and desperately trying to make it back to Los Angeles where Madison has gone into labor.
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.