Later in the episode, Judge Bradley assigns the case to a fellow judge, who happens to be a black woman. Was there any discussion about whether the judge would be white or black?

IA: There was, and it was very important for us to show that this is a story about one judge’s beliefs. That was one person’s belief at the time, but it was not everyone’s belief. It was not every black person’s belief. We wanted to be really, really clear that this was one person, and he was not a person representing all black judges everywhere. We wanted to show that there was another black judge out there that was incredibly glad that this child wound up with this family and was willing to grant that adoption.

Seeing Rebecca cut out the photo of Randall to pair it with one that had better exposure was such a moving moment. Talk about the idea behind that scene.

IA: That idea came out of the writers' room, but it was something we wanted to start off the episode with—the [dialogue] about the exposure—to set up that this is not something people were used to seeing in the world, an interracial family like this. [It was the] idea that that would show how the Pearson's would make it their own, and it’s not going to look like what you expected. They’re going to take people not knowing how to necessarily react to their family and make the best of it. It felt like such a great way to visualize what we think this episode is about. And then it was important for us not to do a tidy ending to this, because we didn’t believe that this judge, who has these deep-seeded beliefs, can be completely changed by one letter, but you do see him really look at that picture and consider it. You never know if he puts it up on his bulletin board or not, but it was enough of a message that in this specific instance, with this specific family, that he was willing to step aside and, at the very least, not stand in their way. It was our way of showing how these people with very different beliefs were able to meet in the middle and let this adoption go through.

Was there ever a chance that Jack and Young William could have crossed paths in the courthouse? We later see both judges talking to each other, which means it was at the same place, right?

IA: That’s entirely possible, but we weren’t necessarily saying that these things were exactly happening at the same time, like on the same day. One is criminal and one is family court, so they are certainly in very different sections. But yeah, I mean, it’s fun to think they could have walked past each other and had no idea.

Let's move to the present day and talk about the scenes with Déjà. For the first time, we see her smile at Randall and tolerate his corny jokes. Do you have a foster care expert helping craft these stories?

IA: At the beginning of the season, when we started to plot this out, we had a bunch of foster people who run foster agencies or have fostered come in and tell us their stories. We got some really beautiful people, all across the board, talk about the emotions and specific challenges you face with foster kids, particularly older foster kids like Déjà. The common thread there is that it’s a slow, unpredictable process. You’re not going to get this kid to warm up to you overnight. Every situation is different. There are a lot of ups and downs. We wanted to make sure to show those baby steps, which makes those little moments—those smiles, those laughs—all the more impactful, because we know Randall has spent weeks and weeks building up that rapport.