‘This Is Us’ Reveals Why Deja Was Homeless

This Is Us ended with a saddening cliffhanger on Feb. 26, with Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) Pearson finding out Déjà (Lyric Ross) is homeless. Tuesday night’s episode explained how exactly she and her mother, Shauna (Joy Brunson), became homeless.

Shauna was doing much better at first, much like Randall and Child Services thought. Déjà was even helping her maintain a budget by using a box for all Shauna’s earnings.

One day, the mother and daughter realize they do not have enough to pay for heat in the apartment. After three weeks without heat, Déjà asks the Pearsons for help. They oblige and give her money, which Déjà deposits in the box.

Not long after, the family’s landlord gets into a verbal argument with Shauna, revealing that rent is far overdue and the pair is about to be evicted. Déjà is confused and heads to the box to settle the debt. However, the cash from the Pearsons is missing.

It turns out, Shauna took that money and used it to help pay for her boyfriend’s bail money. This is the same boyfriend whose gun got Shauna arrested earlier in the season. Shauna got out of jail because authorities discovered it was his gun so she felt she needed to pay him back.

The mother and daughter pack up their things later that day and sleep in the car, where Randall and Beth soon find them.

After waking Déjà an Shauna, Randall and Beth invite them into their home.

“This is just temporary,” Shauna says.

Beth replies, “I mean, we’ll sort it all out. Stay here tonight, eat a good meal. We don’t have to decide anything now. I’m sure you want to wash up, settle in.”

They then spend time with the Pearsons, eating a good dinner, playing UNO and talking about their current situation.

Shauna seems embarrassed but grateful for the help. She then confesses to Beth that she feels like a failure to her daughter.

“I failed Déjà,” Shauna says. “I failed her, and I can’t keep failing her. You know what I always say to her? ‘What would I do without you?’ I’ve been saying that to her since she was 5. Who puts that on a kid?”

At the end of the episode, Shauna then reveals she is leaving the Pearson home without Déjà.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, with past episodes currently streaming on Hulu.

Photo Credit: NBC / Ron Batzdorff