This Is Us recap: ‘This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life’
“This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life” is undeniably a unique episode of This Is Us.
More from Show Snob
- The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
- Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
- Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
- Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”
The hour is almost entirely focused on Deja and her journey to becoming a part of the Pearson family. While the episode provided a tragic backstory for the young girl, it’s easy to understand why many fans were let down. Next week is the season finale, and tonight mainly felt like a well-written detour from the main storyline.
Going all the way back to Deja’s birth, This Is Us crams a lifetime of stories into one episode. “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life” traces her footsteps from infancy to the foster homes she’s ushered to. While things continue to get bleaker, one thing remains the same: Deja’s early maturity.
She’s forced to become a second adult when her own mother consistently comes up short. The show is careful not to portray Shauna as a villain in this story but as someone trying her hardest. However, she had her daughter at sixteen and has never had a stable support system after the death of her grandmother.
When she’s out late grabbing a drink for her birthday, Deja ends up in the emergency room after cutting herself. This incident lands her in her first foster home with an abusive dad who constantly takes out his anger on the kids. “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life” encapsulates the incredibly sad lives that many foster children lead because of unfit caretakers. In fact, her sister has no problems taking a beating because other homes could be so much worse.
After getting shuffled from home to home, Deja finally gets to return to Shauna. Sadly, the woman ends up marrying a fellow addict who quickly succumbs to the disease. When her mother is arrested for driving with his gun in the car, it sets off the chain of events that leads to the young girl getting sent to the Pearson household. From there it fills in the blanks about how the two women ended up sleeping in a car when Beth and Randall find them.
The ending of “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life” feels a little rushed with Shauna realizing just how unfair she’s been to her daughter. She admits to Beth that she’s taken away Deja’s childhood and ends up planning to leave her back in the care of the Pearson’s. After watching her fight for her daughter in the previous episodes this feels like a pretty big adjustment this week.
Next: Women's History Month: 15 most influential women on TV
Ultimately, “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life” serves its purpose: getting Deja back with the family. It’s easily one of the strongest episodes to date, but it feels out of place this far into the season. Similar to Stranger Things’ Eleven-centric episode, this hour could easily be skipped in a rewatch. Some fans will love getting to see some of Deja’s history, while others will be upset the show chose to focus on her rather than the Big Three. At least viewers will finally get to see Kate’s wedding next week in the This Is Us season finale.