diff --git a/pkg/tfgen/docs.go b/pkg/tfgen/docs.go
index 320546a859..4a16add5e3 100644
--- a/pkg/tfgen/docs.go
+++ b/pkg/tfgen/docs.go
@@ -674,7 +674,6 @@ func (p *tfMarkdownParser) parse(tfMarkdown []byte) (entityDocs, error) {
 		goldmark.WithParserOptions(parser.WithASTTransformers(
 			util.Prioritized(exampleTransformer, 2000),
 		)),
-		goldmark.WithRenderer(parse.RenderMarkdown()),
 	).Convert(tfMarkdown, &out)
 	if err != nil {
 		return entityDocs{}, err
diff --git a/pkg/tfgen/docs_test.go b/pkg/tfgen/docs_test.go
index 0b8ab2c003..ce774bcf67 100644
--- a/pkg/tfgen/docs_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tfgen/docs_test.go
@@ -1315,7 +1315,6 @@ func TestReformatExamples(t *testing.T) {
 			goldmark.WithParserOptions(parser.WithASTTransformers(
 				util.Prioritized(exampleTransformer{}, 2000),
 			)),
-			goldmark.WithRenderer(parse.RenderMarkdown()),
 		).Convert([]byte(input), &out)
 		require.NoError(t, err)
 
diff --git a/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension.go b/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension.go
index 03813d15de..aa2fa96574 100644
--- a/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension.go
+++ b/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package parse
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/olekukonko/tablewriter"
 	"github.com/pulumi/pulumi/sdk/v3/go/common/util/contract"
@@ -140,12 +141,15 @@ func (t tableRenderer) RegisterFuncs(r renderer.NodeRendererFuncRegisterer) {
 		})
 }
 
-func (t tableRenderer) render(writer util.BufWriter, source []byte, n ast.Node, entering bool) (ast.WalkStatus, error) {
-	writer.WriteRune('\n')
+func (t tableRenderer) render(
+	writer util.BufWriter, source []byte, n ast.Node, entering bool,
+) (ast.WalkStatus, error) {
+	_, err := writer.WriteRune('\n')
+	contract.AssertNoErrorf(err, "impossible")
 	var inHeader bool
 	header := make([]string, 0, len(n.(*extast.Table).Alignments))
 	var rows [][]string
-	err := ast.Walk(n, func(n ast.Node, entering bool) (ast.WalkStatus, error) {
+	err = ast.Walk(n, func(n ast.Node, entering bool) (ast.WalkStatus, error) {
 		switch n := n.(type) {
 		case *extast.Table:
 			return ast.WalkContinue, nil
@@ -160,14 +164,22 @@ func (t tableRenderer) render(writer util.BufWriter, source []byte, n ast.Node,
 		case *extast.TableCell:
 			if entering {
 				var cell bytes.Buffer
-				err := t.r.Render(&cell, source, n)
+				b := ast.NewTextBlock()
+				for c := n.FirstChild(); c != nil; c = c.NextSibling() {
+					b.AppendChild(b, c)
+				}
+
+				err := t.r.Render(&cell, source, b)
 				if err != nil {
 					return ast.WalkStop, err
 				}
+
+				content := strings.TrimSpace(cell.String())
+
 				if inHeader {
-					header = append(header, string(n.Text(source)))
+					header = append(header, content)
 				} else {
-					rows[len(rows)-1] = append(rows[len(rows)-1], string(n.Text(source)))
+					rows[len(rows)-1] = append(rows[len(rows)-1], content)
 				}
 			}
 			return ast.WalkSkipChildren, nil
diff --git a/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension_test.go b/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension_test.go
index 2a0ba86985..270093eeef 100644
--- a/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tfgen/parse/extension_test.go
@@ -48,6 +48,21 @@ func TestRenderTable(t *testing.T) {
 |------|------|
 | r1c1 | r1c2 |
 | r2c1 | r2c2 |
+`),
+		},
+		{
+			name: "with-in table effects",
+			input: `
+|  t1  |  *t2*  |
+|------|------|
+| __r1c1__ | r1c2 |
+| r2c1 | r2c2 |
+`,
+			expected: autogold.Expect(`
+|    t1    | *t2* |
+|----------|------|
+| **r1c1** | r1c2 |
+| r2c1     | r2c2 |
 `),
 		},
 	}