On today’s episode of That Was Us, we’re breaking down This Is Us Season 5, Episode 8: “In The Room.”

In this episode recap:

* Randall and Beth FaceTime Madison while waiting for updates on Kevin

* Kevin arrives at the hospital and tells Madison his family is his priority

* Kate and Toby navigate the emotional realities of adoption and their relationship with Ellie, the birth mother

* Rebecca and Miguel open up about life after Jack’s death

* Esther and Nasir’s story reveals the invention of the Discrete Cosine Transform, the technology behind video calls like FaceTime

Plus, Mandy Moore, Chris Sullivan, and Sterling K. Brown discuss:

* Working with guest stars like Michael O’Neill

* The Mandy moment that sent Chris into a laughing fit

* Why partner vacations without kids are so important

And writer Vera Herbert joins to talk about:

* Her unconventional path into Hollywood

* Writers’ room culture

* Writing personal grief into This Is Us

* The importance of thoughtful adoption representation

That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith.

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Executive Producers: Natalie Holysz and Rob Holysz

Creative Producer: Sam Skelton

Production Coordinator: Andrew Rowley

Video Editor: Todd Hughlett

Mix & Master: Jason Richards

About Headgum: Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com.