This Is Us

Previously on This Is Us...

Randall, I don't look at you and see color.

Then you don't see me, Dad.

Mr. Lawrence. Would you and your wife

like to come to the house this weekend for dinner?

Mr. Pearson, I have a daughter.

Six months old. Got full custody,

and my-my parents help out with her sometimes.

She is 14. She is not seeing a boy who puts babies in people.

We are in lockstep.

Deja, you are telling me

that you took a baseball bat to his Mercedes?

Oh, my God.

I'm...

I'm s-I'm sorry. I-I would've given you back.

I'm serious.

I mean, I thought they would have, too.

What you doing after school?

Um, I got drill practice until 7:00.

Why?

Want to come with me to Max's?

Who's Max?

Are you for real right now?

You don't know about Max's Steaks?

Oh, my God. Y'all and these cheesesteaks.

I swear, it's only bread and meat.

Deja, how have you been living in Philly for this long

and you've never been to Max's Steaks?

Well, Randall only takes us to touristy places.

So, I've been to the Liberty Bell,

I've been to the Rocky Statue

and the Franklin Institute about three times already.

Come on. That's not Philly.

I mean, it's-it's Philly, but not Philly Philly.

I told you I came here before, right?

With my mom and my grandma, when I was, like, four or five?

Nah. Nah. Where'd you go?

I think we were visiting my uncle.

And all I remember was being in the car and-and...

there were these Christmas lights,

but it was warm out. That was weird.

Oh, and-and the water.

The-the lights were reflecting off the water.

That's-that's about it.

Dang, I hate that.

Hate what?

Not remembering things from when my grandma was alive.

Hey, do you have any tests today?

What if we, uh, what if we skip school?

I'm-I'm serious. I could show you my Philly.

Uh, I-I don't know. I mean, I want to...

Then go with that.

You're really not getting off?

Ladies, cancel your dinner plans.

Councilman Gomez brought tamales to work,

and I may or may not have taken a few too many.

What's wrong?

Principal Herbert called.

Deja and Malik skipped school today.

What?

You're not even supposed to be seeing that boy.

He goes to my school. You want to ban me from school, too?

- Excuse me? - Did she just...

She did. Well, go to your room.

Now.

And you're grounded for...

- A decade. - A decade.

I hope your day was worth it.

Philly!

You sure are getting dressed up for this dinner.

I don't think I've ever seen you

wear a sports coat on the weekend.

What are you talking about? I always wear a sports coat.

Okay.

What?

Rebecca Pearson, I've known you for 19 years.

Your "okay" is never just "okay".

I just think it's interesting that Kevin's asked us to invite

Ms. Applebaum over for dinner for ages

and we've always said no.

But then, out of the blue, you decide

to invite Randall's teacher over for dinner?

First of all, Ms. Applebaum...

she's not a teacher, all right? She is the school nurse.

And the only reason Kevin wants her over here

is because he has a crush.

- Mm. - I mean, Randall talks

about Mr. Lawrence constantly.

- You're not the least bit curious about him? - Sure.

But I can also wait for parent/ teacher conferences in a month.

- Bec. - Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Hey, babe, help me out.

In the Mecca by Gwendolyn Brooks

or The Weary Blues by the one and only Mr. Langston Hughes?

You've read both of those.

- Help me with this, please? - Yeah.

Mmm.

You smell good.

Book's not for me, though.

- No? - It's for Randall.

I did a poetry series in class. He really seemed to dig it.

You a troublemaker, Korey.

Or should I say, Korey X?

Wait, what? Me?

Oh, don't go acting all innocent.

Y-You're talking about black consciousness poets

an hour before we go to have dinner

with your only black student and his white parents.

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to crack this case.

Look, Mr. Pearson asked me to dinner. I didn't invite myself.

You could've just said, "Sorry, can't".

"I'm taking my incredibly sexy wife

to see Sister Act for the third time".

Trish, it's just dinner, okay?

Okay.

So, when you talked to Malik's mom yesterday...

Uh, V-neck or crew?

Uh, feels like a V-neck kind of night.

Well, what was her vibe?

You get a sense of what kind of people they are?

Rastafarian vegans who love outdoor sports.

- Really? - Nope.

'Cause I just invited them to for dinner.

So we don't even know if they're on board with our plan?

What plan?

Come on, Beth. There's a boat.

You and I are in the boat.

The plan is to get Malik's parents to join us in said boat.

Destination: Splitsville Dejik.

It's Deja and Malik... Dejik.

Oh, please don't give them a ship name.

- Maleja. - Listen,

this is not a recruitment dinner, okay?

This is for us to get to know Malik's parents better.

Feel them out, see if they're good people.

Maybe we won't even have to keep the kids apart.

He's too mature for her and he got her to skip school.

- Deja lied to us. - I know.

But keeping the kids apart didn't work out too well

for Romeo and Juliet's parents, so...

Hey. Look at my feet.

What do you see?

- A couple hundred dollars on the Amex. - Mm-mmm.

Open toe shoes for an open mind.

See, the only way we're gonna get through this

is to have an open mind.

And red wine.

Lots of red wine.

I'm gonna go check on the food.

If she just opened a dance studio

and he's working all kinds of hours,

- who's watching those kids? - They probably have hired help.

- Do they? - I don't know.

- They do pretty well for themselves, though. - Hmm.

You know Randall's brother was the Manny?

His brother is Morris Chestnut?

No, the-the white Manny.

His brother is white?

Why aren't you more upset

that your son is out here skipping school

and gallivanting with his little fast girlfriend?

Mom.

Deja's not like that.

Okay? It was-it was my idea.

After everything, you still have the nerve

to have these dumb ideas?

Kel, the boy's only missed one day of school in three years.

It ain't the end of the world.

Hmm.

_

I can't believe we're doing this.

- Well, thanks to you, we are. - Food's almost ready.

Why don't you go upstairs and get your sisters?

Look, I know you're mad at me,

but can you please not take it out on Malik?

I'm not mad at you, I'm disappointed.

All right. Can we not do this now?

Uhp. They're here.

Hey. Open minds.

- Hello. - Hi.

- Welcome to our home. Come on. - Thank you.

Thanks.

Hey, kids, everyone.

Hey, Mr. Lawrence.

Hey. Randall, my man.

This is Mrs. Lawrence.

- Hi, nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

- Hey. Glad you guys could... - Shh.

Baby's sleeping.

First stop on our Philly tour:

Max's Steaks.

All right. Let's go.

Yo, yo. What's up?

- Hey. - What up? What's up, man?

- Hey, what's up, Leek? - What's up?

- What up, Jamar? - Ain't nothing.

- Uh, this is my friend Deja. - What's up?

- Let me get two Virgils. - Two Virgils.