Yahoo Finance This Is Us bosses break down emotional Randall and Kevin scene
This Is Us season 5 episode 13 spoilers follow.
This Is Us aired an intense and much-needed conversation between brothers Randall and Kevin Pearson in last night's (April 13) episode.
Appropriately titled 'Brotherly Love', Randall (Sterling K Brown) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) had a deep and healing conversation that addressed their upbringing and the way that they perceived one another.
The discussion confronted issues around race and their family dynamic, specifically Randall's experience of being a Black child adopted by a white family and the microaggressions he faced.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Jon Dorsey (writer of the episode) and Kay Oyegun (director of the episode) explained how they managed to bring the conversation to life through writing and production.
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Explaining what challenges there were when writing the script, Dorsey said: "Definitely finding the right levels, making sure it didn't get too heated, but making sure that they were taking the heavy subject matter seriously.
"And then also, for me, it was making sure that there was a balance between Randall and Kevin, and [the conversation] not feeling too one-sided, like we were piling on Kevin completely. Randall certainly has his own flaws as a character as well. So all of that – the calibration, the balance were definitely tricky."
Oyegun explained that the This Is Us team had been planning the conversation for a long time, and praised Brown and Hartley's on-screen chemistry, acknowledging that there's very little the pair cannot do together.
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Oyegun said: "I think the biggest thing is [these characters] are always honest with each other. That part of it really came through. And what's great about it is that this is not a first-season conversation.
"This is one that the actors, the characters, and the audience have been on this journey with them. It's not like the audience had not been privy to those things.
"Now, that it's actually staring them directly in the face and speaking to them is something that might be jarring, but it was something that our actors and our characters were both prepped for in a way that works really well.
"They're just both so talented. Read the dictionary and they'll find calibrations, like, 'What?' But it was pretty incredible to watch them."
This Is Us airs on Tuesday nights on NBC in the US, while Amazon Prime Video shows the series in the UK.
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