That Was Us
Deja & Shauna's Past | "This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life" (S2E17) with special guest Joy Brunson
15 Apr 2025
How did Deja find her way to the Pearson family? This week, we find out the answers to all your questions surrounding Deja and the two other generations of women that shaped her journey as we discuss episode 217, “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life.” Mandy, Chris, and Sterling talk about the masterful weaving together of flashbacks to the present-day storyline in the show, the HOT TAKE about “Goodnight Moon,” and the parallel of this episode’s title to those on the journey to recovery. Plus, the ever-talented Joy Brunson joins us to talk all things Shauna and how playing Deja’s mom was the role of a lifetime! Support Our Sponsors: - Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan today by texting TWU to 64000. - Head to dabbleanddollop.com, use code THATWASUS20 and get 20% off your first order. - This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/TWU and get on your way to being your best self. - For your next trip, treat yourself to the luxe upgrades you deserve from Quince. Go to Quince.com/TWU for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order. That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. Follow That Was Us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, and X! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
On today's episode of That Was Us, we will be discussing Season 2, Episode 17, This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life. Through a powerful series of flashbacks, we witness Deja's journey from birth to the present as she navigates her mother's struggles, deals with the insanity of the foster system, and ultimately finds her way into Randall and Beth's home.
Hello, hello.
What's going on, gang?
Wow, this episode was a doozy.
It really, really was.
It was one that I... I watched every episode of this show, but this was one that felt completely new to me. Me too. Rewatching it, I was like, there was so much about it that I didn't remember. Although I do remember like... Just the idea of it, of when people talked about our show, I loved to reference this episode, which was pretty much entirely about a character that wasn't the Pearsons. Right.
And following her story and journey and how unique that was in our storytelling sort of device. Yeah. That our audience trusted us enough to be able to do these kinds of episodes. So I remembered in that sense, but then like getting into the nitty gritty and the little details, it is heartbreaking.
It really is. A couple things, real quick. There's an episode of our show that has Pam Grier as a guest star, and I got to do nothing with her.
I'm sorry. I thought about that.
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