The Rebecca is keeping another devastating secret from Randall, she never met Laurel (Jennifer Holmes).
Laurel had appeared in three episodes prior to the This Is Us season 5 premiere, but she only spoke a few lines and was mostly shown within montages of her and William. In This Is Us season 1, episode 3, "Kyle," we see her meeting William on the bus and the two of them developing a sweet love story. Later, in season 1, episode 16, "Memphis," Laurel stays by the side of William's mother, Dorothy, as she es away. The show suggests that Laurel is the one who introduced William to drugs and the two are shown looking very worn-down after Dorothy dies. This Is Us season 5, episode 1 reveals that Laurel was able to remain sober during her pregnancy, but after Randall's birth, she asks William to give her something for her pain. The next morning, William goes to wake Laurel and realizes that she has overdosed. He calls 911 and when the paramedics pronounce Laurel's death, William rushes to the fire department with Randall.
William implies to Rebecca that Laurel died during or shortly after childbirth, but it’s unclear whether William was intentionally being deceptive. Even though viewers find out in the This Is Us season 5 premiere that Laurel didn’t die in childbirth, it's still unknown whether or not she is alive in 2020, where she is, what she’s been doing for the past 40 years, or if she ever looked for Randall. But since Laurel was obviously looking forward to being a mother, it’s likely that Laurel would have tried to find her child. The question, then, is why didn’t she?
Theory 1: Laurel Was Sent To Prison
It’s plausible that Laurel could have been sent to prison because of her drug use and was therefore unable to look for Randall until many years later, by which time it might have been impossible for her to find him. Under President Nixon in the early 1970s, drug laws were expanded and the punishment for drug possession was unreasonably severe – many people went to prison over the possession of extremely small amounts of narcotics. By 1980, the “war on drugs” was well underway. John Ehrlichman, an upper-level advisor to Nixon, has since confirmed that the war on drugs was indeed a racist attack on people of color, especially Black people. The istration knew that if they could target Black leaders and activists for drug possession, their communities and organizations would be disrupted.
In the This Is Us season 5 premiere, Laurel is aware of this targeted attack and mentions that she is struggling with addiction to heroin herself. Later, Laurel tells William that their friends Erv and Grace were arrested for handing out fliers, implying that they were involved in an activist group or social organization. Laurel could have also been involved and that would have made her a bigger target for arrest. This also foreshadows Laurel's possible future career as an activist and/or Randall's therapist, as some fans have speculated.
Theory 2: Laurel Didn't Want To Go To The Police
Along the same lines of the theory that Laurel may have gone to prison, it’s also possible that she was not incarcerated when the police and S arrived at her apartment after being called by the paramedics that resuscitated her. But since Rebecca visits William in This Is Us season 1, episode 3, "Kyle," when Randall is still a newborn and Laurel – for any number of possible reasons – is no longer with William, Laurel was likely on her own and had maybe even cut off with William. By the time Rebecca visited Randall, William might not have known how to Laurel to let her know what happened to their son. Laurel mentions having a brother who died and she seems to have moved on from a dark past, so Laurel probably didn’t have anyone else to go to for help other than the police, but she might have been terrified that they would discover her drug use and arrest her. Or she might have believed that, even if they didn’t arrest her, they wouldn’t help her look for her son.
Theory 3: Laurel May Have Looked — But Was Unsuccessful
Perhaps the most likely of these theories is that Laurel looked for Randall, but was simply never able to find him. Randall’s adoption at the hospital appeared to be somewhat “off the books” and happened very quickly. Though it’s possible that This Is Us has yet to show the extent of the events that led to Rebecca and Jack being able to take Randall home, the fact that they were able to bring him home from the hospital at the same time as Kate and Kevin is somewhat bewildering. Even in 1980, this was not how adoptions typically worked. But in the time it might have taken for Laurel to be brought to the hospital by the paramedics (possibly even the same hospital where Rebecca delivered her triplets), for William to learn that she is alive, and for William to tell her that he gave away their baby, the Pearsons could have been long gone with Randall. And since Randall was left at the fire station where no one obtained any information from William, there wouldn’t have been a paper trail connecting Randall to either of his biological parents and the lack of documentation would have made it very difficult for Laurel to track down her son.
Laurel's survival was a shocking reveal at the end of the season 5 premiere. This Is Us is obviously building to a highly emotional and life-altering moment where Randall and his mother finally cross paths after more than 40 years of being separated. Randall will likely have many of the same questions that fans currently have, but, in true This Is Us fashion, it will probably take a lot of flashbacks, cliffhangers, and side stories before we get answers.