This Is Us has sky-rocketed to global popularity due to its ability to make viewers cry.
On Tuesday night, however, the NBC drama really made us squirm.
This tension-filled episode was not meant for anyone who just wanted to sit back and relax on his or her sofa, that’s for certain.
On "The Dinner and The Date," Randall and Beth had an uncomfortable initial meeting with Malik’s mother and father after the teen’s date with Deja.
Hence the episode title cited above.
We watched as Malik (Asante Blackk) encouraged Deja (Lyric Ross) to play hookey from school with him so he could show her around Philadelphia.
She was hesitant … but eventually went along with the plan.
From there, Deja shared stories about her childhood; how she never resided anywhere long enough to be a regular and how used to go on trips to the city as a child with her mom and grandmother.
Deja pulled away when Malik attempted to hold her hand, expressing that she didn’t know whether his intentions were sincere.
He assured her he meant everything he said and had zero “game” with girls, despite his reputation.
Malik concluded their outing by taking Deja to a place she saw during her previous trip to The City of Brotherly Love, which led to their first kiss. AWWW!
That was sweet, of course, but this was stern:
When Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) learned that Deja had cut class, they grounded her and invited Malik’s parents over for dinner to put an end to the budding romance.
Beth and Malik’s mom, Kelly (Marsha Stephanie Blake), clashed right off the bat — and Beth eventually sent the kids upstairs so the adults could hash out the situation.
Did it work?
Not exactly, as Malik’s father, Darnell (Omar Epps), believed that Beth and Randall thought Malik would drag Deja down because he was a teen father from “the hood.”
Like we said at the outet: This was quite awkward. And also quite interesting.
In the end, Darnell pleaded with them to not write off Malik and instead see him for the good kid that he actually is, prompting Beth and Randall to ultimately agree to let Deja see Malik while supervised.
Cue the flashbacks:
In this look at the past, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) had a dinner guest of their own in Randall’s (Lonnie Chavis) teacher Mr. Lawrence (Brandon Scott).
Jack competed with Mr. Lawrence all evening… until Rebecca called him out.
She told him that Randall would always pick him since he was his dad, but he shouldn’t make him choose and miss out on the experience of learning from Mr. Lawrence.
Pretty solid point, right?
Jack later confided in Mr. Lawrence that he couldn’t teach Randall how to be black, encouraging him to keep taking a special interest in his son.
Jack and Randall, meanwhile, bonded by reading Langston Hughes’ poetry together from a book given to Jack by Mr. Lawrence.