Say goodbye to those who used This Is Us as a form of escapism for their lives because the season five premiere proved that real life events will be not only reflected, but heavily discussed.
The two-hour season five premiere of the hit NBC show brought discussions of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protests and the coronavirus pandemic.
The end of season four left off with Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) getting into a blowout fight, where Kevin literally told Randall that the day he was brought home was the worst day of his life.
Now, it’s the triplets’ 40th birthday. The occasion has the whole family, minus Randall and his family, heading up to the family cabin. The audience finally gets to connect the dots from when Rebecca (Mandy Moore) gets lost while running errands. Kate (Chrissy Metz) calls Randall to have him help her find Rebecca.
He shows up to help, and the cops find her and bring her back to the cabin. Kate suggests that Randall and Kevin talk and make up, trying to clear the air with Kevin’s news that he and Madison (Caitlin Thompson) are having twins: one boy and one girl. However, there are still some unspoken issues between the two.
Mostly because of the Black Lives Matter protests, Randall is finally realizing that his entire life, he hasn’t been able to have conversations with his family about his identity as a Black man. He gets into an argument about this with Kate, and while she’s crying, Randall tells her that he’s been consoling her his whole life, but he has to stand up for himself.
“If I made things better for you, then where does that leave me?” Randall said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. That has been my pattern all my life and honestly, Kate, it is exhausting. I’m exhausted.”
This heartbreaking conversation with her brother is soon forgotten, as Toby (Chris Sullivan) tells her that he received a call back from the adoption agency, and they’re going to get a baby.
Meanwhile, Randall’s birthday has him curious as to whether or not the day is his actual day of birth. This sends the audience back to the day he was taken to the fire station and the day his birth mother died.
We see a lot of great moments paralleling Randall’s birth parents, William and Laurel (Jennifer C. Holmes) and Rebecca and Jack’s (Milo Ventimiglia) experiences having children. Jack and William even briefly cross paths, which is the only time the two interact throughout the entire show.
However, the most stressful and devastating part is at the very end of the episode, when Randall’s birth mother, Laurel, wakes up from her overdose and is revealed to actually still be alive.
This season is gearing up to be a stressful one with the typical This Is Us twists and turns. Buckle up, everyone.
