Randall from This Is Us
At first Randy’s a bit hard to pin-point but I’m going to say he is an ISFJ. He is extremely intelligent and successful. He is also prone to anxiety and is a perfectionist. Because of the type of profession he held I thought he was an INTJ with a higher F presence until I started paying more attention to his character. Since childhood, Randy has always been very principled and wants things a certain way. He also wants to be well-liked and appreciated, which is a common human desire, but Randy really wants others to approve of what he’s doing and strongly dislikes when people (especially his family) are mad at him. This is definitely a function of a feeler type and his introverted judging function makes him a moderate ISFJ. Kevin, his brother, desires greatly to be liked but has a hard time connecting emotionally except with his sister, Kate. This is what sets Randall and Kevin apart; although they both want approval, the way they seek approval is different. One afternoon, young Randall was at his father’s office after school and Jack was pushing him to say the correct answer to a math question. His father knew his son could answer right away but Randall was hesitant. Randall finally answers it correctly and said, “if I get A’s I get ice cream and Kevin and Kate won’t and then they’ll hate me.”
Season 1 Episode 7- When Kevin and Randall argue after dinner in the city, Kevin looks at the Billboard in shock and Randall turned to see what he was looking at, looks up at the billboard and laughs. Kevin sees the new replacement for the t.v. show The Manny and says, “replaced by another black man”. Randall asks him what he means by that and at first Kevin tries to ignore the question but when Randall wouldn’t let him, Kevin responds by saying he had special treatment because he was black and adopted. Randall fought back and saying he was treated like a dog and kept coming back begging for affection. Kevin’s response was, “you wanted to show me up which is what you did every single chance you got….in any other family I would’ve been the star”. Emphasis on “I”.
Actually Randall was trying to downplay his abilities and was not trying to stand out. When Randall tells Kevin later on that evening, in the car after they fight (the physical fight on the concrete which the writers turn it into light humor and Randall and Kevin start running because, “let’s go cuz I’m still black”) he agrees with Kevin and says that he ate up their mother’s affection every moment but the affection he really wanted was from his brother – Awww… Randall still wanted to be a peacemaker.
Randall’s job – I think we’re probably all still confused about his exact job description (trading weather patterns based off of commodities?? – Yah who knows!) but we could tell it was extremely stressful because it required a high level of precision and accuracy. The latter wasn’t the problem for him but it was emotionally draining. Leaving that job was probably the best for him and his family; especially since his job didn’t even care about his well-being (like a lot of jobs). It’s interesting because after the death of his biological father and finding out his mother lied to him throughout his life, he tapped into his “N” and “P” side. In the second season you can see him trying to be more innovative and spontaneous.
I wonder if Randall grew up with his biological father would he perhaps be more of an N naturally? His adopted parents were mainly Sensors, especially his mother. It makes me wonder if he grew up in an environment with less chaos and stressors out of his control if he would’ve displayed more “N” traits from the beginning.
Randy recently said in season 2 to his wife that he is the “heart” and she is the “head” therefore I rest my case. Definitely a feeler type! I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with his character in the third season.
Click here to read about Beth: Beth from This Is Us
