This is Us always handles serious issues with grace and last week’s episode was no different. We’ve always seen one of the show’s main characters, Randall Pearson, struggle with anxiety. But the most recent episode of This is Us puts black mental health at the forefront and I am living for it.
Let’s be real…
The black experience in America doesn’t usually include therapy. When we’re passed with trails, we’re usually told to pray them away. And don’t get me wrong. I 100% believe in prayer. It works. I’ve seen it, experienced it. There is nothing like the connection we have to God through prayer. I get it.
In the same breath, I also see the value in having a professional that is aligned with you and your beliefs to talk to.
Black people already have a stigma of being loud and aggressive. So, in an effort to “tone it down”, I know I personally suppressed a lot of emotions growing up. One — because I didn’t know that spaces to talk about emotional issues existed as an option for me. So, I never talked about it and dealt with a lot of stuff internally. Probably why I lack in the area of communication now.
But this isn’t a new issue in our community. We’ve just been trained to basically ignore our feelings because — and this is my favorite — “black people don’t have time to be depressed. We have too much to do.” And that’s not an indictment on our parents or their parents, etc. It’s what they’ve always known and probably a mindset they had to adapt in order to survive in America, which I can’t even begin to understand. And that’s probably a whole other topic for another day lol. But times are changing and black mental health is a conversation that needs to be had, especially in a place like Hollywood that has so much influence.
Thankfully celebrities like Kanye are opening up about their struggles and we have shows like This is Us and A Million Little Things helping to ignite a conversation that’s long overdue.
The most recent episode of This is Us picks up where the previous episode left off. Randall was met with a home intruder carrying a knife as he went downstairs to get some water. We learn this week that Randall gave the man some money and the intruder ran away.
Obviously, this rocked him. And we already know Randall has suffered from anxiety, especially dealing with the home after his father died in a house fire. We see flashbacks of a college Beth trying to help college Randall through some nightmares he was having dealing with the death of his father. She asks him about attending therapy and he quickly shuts it down. Eventually, she gets him to agree to a grief group but a family emergency comes up and he’s unable to attend.
I couldn’t help but wonder, what if he’d gone to that grief group. It may have changed his entire mindset moving forward. But he didn’t and we’ll never know.
In the present, Randall is met with Deja’s boyfriend’s dad (a black man). When he learns of the break-in, he comes to Randall’s house to see how he’s doing. Again, we see Randall presented with an opportunity to attend therapy. His friend expresses how much it helped him but Randall refuses, saying he using running as a way to deal with his issues.
Here we are, two African Americans (one being his now wife) have offered up therapy as an option in his life but he’s not taken anyone upon it.
Things continue to go downhill, ending with Randall beating this guy up. It was rightfully done, as the guy was robbing this lady. When the incident is over, everyone is calling Randall a hero but you can tell Randall is upset because he felt so helpless that somebody invaded his family’s privacy. It was almost like he was taking everything from the break-in to Rebecca’s declining health out on the guy robbing this woman.
Point is, by the end of the episode we get to have a clear understanding that it’s time for Randall to hit a therapy session but we’re kind of waiting for him to realize it. It’s been a long time coming.
I guess I related to this episode because I could see myself in Randall in all stages of life in this episode. He’s been navigating life, suppressing emotions along the way, all while believing he’s dealt with his issues.
I have to thank This is Us for bringing this issue to the forefront and continuing to include black mental health as an ongoing theme. I’m excited to see what happens next in this season. Let me know what you guys think in the comments.
You can catch This Is Us tonight on NBC at 9/8c.