Flashbacks followed young William (Jermel Nakia) and Laurel (Jennifer C. Holmes) just before Randall’s birth. She was trying to stay clean and was dreaming of a new job and a new apartment, but after he was born at home, she took some narcotics for the pain. William then discovered that she wasn’t responding, so paramedics came and everyone thought she was dead. William ran off with the baby, and apparently missed the moment where Laurel gasped for breath.
Randall’s birth mom is alive! After all that!
On a conference call with reporters, creator Dan Fogelman was cagey about what exactly is going on here, but he did promise that the mystery won’t last forever.
“I think there’s there’s obviously a story to tell, continuing onward, from that moment,” he said. “Answers will be gotten pretty quickly—without spoiling too much—I think well within the first half of our season. We’re not going to kind of drag out a mystery like that one over multiple seasons, or anything. So there’s a pretty quick answer and I think it will be found to be elegantly done.”