This Is Us (5×16) The Adirondacks Review

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

Synopsis: The family gathers for Kevin and Madison’s wedding. (IMDB)

Once again we bear witness to an amazingly perfect finale of This Is Us, but this time, it’s gut-wrenching to think that it’s the penultimate season. Yes, that’s right, just in case you’ve been living under a rock, the next season of This Is Us will be its sixth and final season. It’s hard to even think about that but we won’t need to just yet because the series is not likely to return until next year.

Anyway, the season 5 finale starts off in 1985 as Rebecca sits down to watch a taped episode of Dynasty. Unfortunately, she soon learns that Jack taped over the anticipated episode with a baseball game. It’s not a pretty sight when she approaches Jack about it only to realize that the Big Three are looking at them with their innocent puppy dog eyes.

The next morning Rebecca wakes up to see the kiddos standing in their room, completely silent. When they do finally say something it’s to ask if they still love each other. It’s actually quite adorable to see the kids so concerned and to see Jack and Rebecca come up with a plan to prove everything is okay.

Their plan is to show the kids their wedding video, but that plan sort of goes south when Rebecca realizes Jack doesn’t remember their wedding vows. Once again, they realize the kids are watching and they quickly have to alleviate the situation. But before they can say anything, the kids chime in to say that Rebecca and Jack have to get married again–today.

It’s the most adorable thing we’ve seen on This Is Us as the Pearson family dresses up and Jack asks the kids and Rebecca if they will marry him forever. Cue the tears.

We’re also treated to another series of flashbacks that involve 8-year-old Madison (Lexie Lovering) and 14-year-old Madison (Catherine Curry), and her tumultuous relationship with her father, especially after her mother leaves them. In the present that seeps into a lot of doubt for Madison who doesn’t seem all that excited about her wedding day. In fact, one of her flashbacks is of a breakup when a guy she was dating decides to call things off because he’s just not that into her. It makes Madison realize, in the present, that she’s always gone for the bare minimum in relationships, even when she wasn’t loved back. It’s a factor of her upbringing, and it took her relationship with Kevin to realize that she deserves to be with someone that loves her back. And realizing that made her confront the fact that while she is in love with Kevin, he isn’t in love with her, and she deserves more than that. Most of us thought Kevin would call off the wedding, but things took a complete turn with Madison calling it off.

Elsewhere in the episode, everyone is preparing for the wedding in their own way. After a difficult year, Randall and Rebecca finally talk about his trip to New Orleans. She wants to know about his birth mother, and having this conversation is life-altering for both Randall and Rebecca. They’ve needed this for a long time coming and it’s great that they got it!

Meanwhile, Tess confesses she doesn’t feel comfortable in the bridesmaid dress, so Beth decides to change it up for her. It’s a beautiful moment between the mother and daughter who have been at odds ever since Tess came out. They’re finally on the same page, and it’s a wonderful thing!

Toby and Kate have their fair share of issues heading into the wedding. Toby accepted the job offer in San Francisco, and when he tells Kate, she’s not exactly receptive to it. Mainly because he said he’d have to be in San Francisco at least three days a week when the office reopens. But while having a conversation with Madison later, Kate realizes that she loves Toby and that sometimes in love, you figure things out together. They decide they’ll make it work just so they can both follow their hearts and dreams. Yay!

After Madison calls off the wedding, the Big Three sit down to hash out the day’s events and support Kevin during this weird and difficult time. Rebecca decides that he needs to keep busy and she intends on him doing that by asking him to build the house that Jack promised to build her.

This brings us to the infamous This Is Us flash-forward scene we get in every finale, but this time around, it’s something we definitely didn’t see coming. Kevin seems to be practicing a speech, but it’s not for his wedding. It’s actually for…drum roll…KATE’S WEDDING. Yes, that’s right. In the future, Toby and Kate are no longer together. But who is Kate getting married to?

Do you all remember Phillip? The guy who didn’t want to hire Kate at the music school? Well, it looks like something ended up working out between them at some point because that is who Kate is getting married to in the future. How the heck we get there is a mystery, one that I cannot wait to find out when This Is Us returns for its sixth and final season.

Check out my TV blog to read reviews, recaps, and much more! Be sure to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and like my Facebook page! @watchwithreebs

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, follow us on Instagram, and also like us on Facebook.

Ariba Bhuvad