Deja is back on the March 6 episode of This Is Us, but when we first see her she’s only just been born. We find out that her mom, Shauna (Joy Brunson), was just 16 years old when she gave birth to her daughter, Deja (Lyric Ross). By her bed side is her grandmother, portrayed by the iconic Pam Grier. It doesn’t take long for us to find out that Shauna and Deja live under their grandmother’s care — and by that I mean mostly Deja. At one point grandma (affectionately called “GG” by young Deja) comes home at midnight to find the three year old wide awake and home alone. This leads GG to remind Shauna that she won’t always be around to take care of her daughter for her, which, in true This Is Us form, quickly brings us to GG collapsing in their hallway.
It’s from that moment on that we realize what Deja’s biggest struggle has been: taking care of her mom. When Shauna is crying and can’t sleep after GG’s death, it’s Deja who comforts her by reading her a bedtime story. As she grows up, it’s Deja who makes breakfast in the morning, Deja who helps her mom get ready for work, and Deja who seems to be raising both herself and her mom. Deja doesn’t seem to mind until one fateful night when she slices her hand open and has no choice but to go to the hospital after not being able to reach her mom. At the hospital child services steps in and we find out that Deja’s mom wasn’t at work like she said she would be, she was out with her friends for her birthday. Yikes.
This leads Deja to her first foster home where she shares a room with a girl her age named Raven. Raven’s much more outspoken than Deja and has been in the system her whole life. She doesn’t mind being in a stranger’s home and she even challenges the man that is meant to be caring for them at every chance she gets. This throws Deja for a loop but with zero guidance she ends up following Raven’s lead. When Raven convinces Deja to steal it ends badly, with Raven being on the receiving end of a brutal beatdown from their foster father. Deja tells her her social worker, Linda (Debra Jo Rupp), about the abuse and both girls are removed from the home and put into a shelter until they can be placed elsewhere. Raven tells Deja that she was stupid to rat out their foster father because there are so many worse places they could be and that at least in that one they had each other. We don’t get to see exactly how many beds Deja is forced to sleep in after that, but eventually we do get to see her go home.
Shauna is fresh out of rehab and seems to be doing better. According to Deja, Shauna only started using drugs after her daughter was taken away from her. The problem now that Shauna is home? She has a boyfriend, Lonzo, that she wastes no time introducing to Deja. Before even Deja knows it Lonzo is living with them, drinking again, and even bringing a gun into their home. Something to remember: this is the only male figure Deja has had in her life since she was born. This explains why she kept her distance from Randall (Sterling K. Brown) for so long. But, back to Lonzo and his gun. It’s when Shauna gets pulled over and the police find his gun in her car that Deja is taken out of her home again. This time it’s to live with Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) and Randall, and we already know how that ended.
We find out that the money Randall gave Deja for the bills was stolen by her mom to help pay for Lonzo’s bail. We also find out that Shauna has bounced three rent checks in a row and their landlord has decided to evict them, which is why Randall and Beth find them sleeping in their car. It’s no surprise that Randall and Beth brought both Shauna and Deja home, allowing them to clean up, eat a good meal and sleep in a nice bed for the night. Throughout their night together we watch as Shauna sees a different side of her own daughter — a side she’s never seen before. After Deja goes to bed, Shauna tells Beth that she’s never seen her daughter get to act like a child before. Her decision? To leave Deja with the Pearsons where she can finally be taken care of the way she deserves. The episode ends with Shauna, Beth and Randall standing in the foyer as she prepares to leave her sleeping daughter behind.
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