This Is Us' Beth Proved She's The Real MVP With Deja And Malik's Big Announcement

Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for the This Is Us Season 6 episode “Heart and Soul.” 

A storm has been brewing between Randall and his daughter Deja ever since he found out that the 17-year-old snuck away to Boston to spend the weekend with her boyfriend Malik. This Is Us fans didn’t have to go far into the show's final season to see that powder keg explode, as the episode, “Heart and Soul” featured an awkward, jaw-dropping, hilarious sit-down dinner, in which Deja announced she was going to move in with Malik at the end of the semester, and Susan Kelechi Watson was absolutely on fire as Beth Pearson from beginning to end. 

As TV power couple Beth and Randall prepared for the dinner that Malik said he wanted to cook, they played their “worst-case scenario” game, where they calm themselves down by imagining the absolute worst outcome of whatever is stressing them. Kudos to the writers here for inserting all the fan theories that have been bandied about regarding Malik and Deja into Beth and Randall’s brains — Deja’s pregnant; Malik and his daughter want to move in with them; Deja and Malik eloped in Vegas. 

Strangely enough, their game didn’t seem to work for them this time, and Beth was on high alert, saying it smelled a little “Branzino.” The tension was thick at dinner as the Pearson girls enacted their plan to butter Randall and Beth up a little. Randall was really ready to buy what his daughters were selling, but Beth shut it right down, and fans on Twitter loved every second. 

There wasn’t an ear pull or polite question that got past Beth, as she hilariously called her daughters out on their knock-knock-joke-telling tactics. Really, Beth is a queen, and did those girls really think that was going to work? Maybe on Randall, but ....  

As fired up as Beth was, when Deja and Malik explained their plan for Deja to graduate early, get her GED and move to Boston, Beth was the one who kept her cool, in contrast to Randall. You know it’s bad when Randall doesn’t even want to give a dad speech. He first left the dinner table and then later tried to convince Malik that breaking up with Deja was the best thing for her future. Beth was on the high road alone, because This Is Us fans were as fired up as Randall. 

This Is Us fans had no chill about the thought of Deja moving in with Malik at 17 years old to help with his daughter and baby mama drama, all while attending Harvard (nbd). 

In the end Beth couldn’t get Randall to calm down enough to have a conversation with Deja and Malik. He wanted to stand firm against Deja leaving, but Beth — in all her wisdom — knew that there was no way to stand between young love. She told Randall he was wrong, and forcing her to stay could cause them to lose her in the long term. 

Now, we know from the flash-forwards that Deja and Randall still have a good relationship in the future, and I don’t know if that’s any indication about what happens between her and Malik, but I would put money on Beth’s wise words playing a part. From beginning to end, Susan Kelechi Watson brought the humor and the emotion to a tough issue, and let’s all just agree to do whatever Beth says from now on, right?

The next episode of This Is Us, which won’t air after the Winter Olympics, does appear to be somewhat of a Beth episode, as the preview showed that we’ll get to learn more about Beth's dance studio that we previously saw in a flash-forward. It’s going to be a long three weeks. This Is Us returns at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, February 22, on NBC. Check out our 2022 TV Schedule to see what shows are premiering soon.