This Is Us (5×04) Honestly Review

For our review of the last episode of This Is Us, click here.

Synopsis: Malik shadows Randall at work; Kevin struggles to connect with his new movie director; Jack and Rebecca struggle to sleep train their babies. (NBC)

This Is Us gives us a very strong episode this week, and while this has been the case almost every week, Honestly tops the chart as one of many personal favorite episodes of the series thus far. As a whole, the episode follows its usual flashback/present formula, but there’s something a bit different this time around–they try to be funny.

This episode featured elements of humor here and there but this week the series actually tries to bring some light-hearted comedy wherever they can. Of course, that’s not to say our hearts are not broken at some point because they are, and it is a gut punch when you least expect it.

In the flashbacks, Jack and Rebecca are trying to sleep-train baby Kevin who refuses to let up crying through the night. As most parents can relate, it’s hard for them to ignore their baby’s incessant crying, and the lesson to be learned here ties in with Rebecca’s relationship with Kevin in his later years.

In the middle school flashbacks, 13-year old Kevin finds himself at odds with Jack as he tries to quit football when the going gets tough. But Jack refuses to let him give up, despite Rebecca’s concern that Kevin is being forced into all of this. But as Jack always manages to do, he explains that he wants his children to know that he sees the greatness in them, unlike his own father who believed Jack had no talents whatsoever. Throughout Kevin’s life up until that point, Rebecca has always coddled him and Jack wants her to step back and let Kevin do his thing this time. And she sees the benefit of that when she watches Kevin and 13-year old Randall bond over Kevin’s prep to be the quarterback on the football team. Randall has a system on how he studies, and surprisingly, Kevin seeks his help. They even high-five!

In the present, Kevin is all set to read lines with his co-star Ava (hi, Jamie Chung!), but runs into issues with the movie’s director who doesn’t feel Kevin is giving it his all. Perhaps it’s all the coddling or fighting with Randall, but there is something off about Kevin, and it takes the director for him to realize that he has to push himself. If he is to achieve greatness, then he has to go above and beyond, and he manages to do just that, with the help of Randall’s system.

Kate and Toby continue the adoption process, well the start of it anyway, as Kate joins Ellie for her ultrasound. In all her excitement, Kate calls the baby Chloe, which seems to throw Ellie off. Fearing she might have scared Ellie away for good, Kate confronts her only to learn that the name Chloe just drudges up a funny but sad memory of a woman that once tried to sabotage her relationship with her deceased husband, before they started dating.

Sadly, that conversation also brought up some stuff for Kate who opened up to Toby about a dark secret from her past. Remember the abusive boyfriend of 19-year-old Kate? Well, apparently after things went to hell, Kate learned that she was pregnant. And we can all but assume that it resulted in her getting an abortion, something she has never shared with anyone until now.

Malik joins Randall for the day as a part of a school assignment, and it ends rather awkwardly after a live stream gone bad. After doing his daily bulletin, Malik was meant to end the stream but got distracted with a phone call, unbeknownst to Randall who began changing his clothes and dancing around while on the live stream. The whole situation didn’t get as bad as it once could have given the amount of work Randall has been doing on himself and results in him getting to know Malik a bit better, and giving him an internship!

The episode ends with the mystery Asian man from last week’s episode watching Randall’s now-viral video. We know he was once with Randall’s birth mother, but what is going on in the present? Tune in to find out.

This Is Us gave us one hell of an episode only to reveal that they won’t be returning until January 5th. Of course, with these strange times, it makes sense that things are going to play out a bit differently with production, but it will be exciting to see where this season will take us. These stories have been so compelling to watch this season which was especially the case here. Hopefully they can keep it up in the weeks to come!

See you all in January!

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