This Deja-centric hour likely would've been successful even if it had followed a more straightforward narrative structure. But the episode elevates itself with lyrical montages that tie Deja's story into the larger story of the Pearsons.
They're definitely showing her as part of the family now, and it will be exciting to watch them grow together, and her journey with her mom as well as Randall and Beth.
If there's anything we've learned from nearly two full seasons of This is Us, it's how the show's characters are strangely yet beautifully connected-in ways we least expect.