This Is Us (5×11) One Small Step… Review

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

Synopsis: Kevin and Madison get an unexpected guest. (IMDB)

This Is Us has always focused on family, but in the manner in which they do it week after week, year after year is such an incredible feat. This season has been all about the Pearson family growing (the past and the present), and this week’s episode brings us to a new chapter in the lives of Kevin and Madison.

As you may have seen in the promo for this week’s episode, “One Small Step…”, Nicky Pearson is back, ready to meet his namesake! And what an adorable return it is, if I do say so myself. Of course, it’s intertwined with emotional flashbacks that help flesh out the character we think we know, but have absolutely no idea.

Nicky’s trip starts out a bit awkward at first, given he hasn’t traveled on a plane since he was MedeVaced out of Vietnam back in 1971. Couple that with the strict COVID-19 traveling protocols, and he is in for a rude awakening, but like a champ, he manages to get through somewhat unscathed. Sadly, it comes at the expense of him not knowing what he can and can’t bring through security, which is a heartbreak in itself.

Prior to heading to Los Angeles, Nicky gets the help of Cassidy. He doesn’t know how to use Amazon and needs to make presents for Kevin’s twins. What follows is an adorable montage of Nicky creating, by hand, snow globes. Unfortunately, snow globes are made out of glass, and that is not something you can take onto the plane with you. In a frenzy going through security, the snowglobes break, and Nicky ends up throwing them away.

Taking it back to the present, we see Nicky before he headed off to the Vietnam War. He was living at home with his parents, while Jack had moved out of the house, and was working at a vet clinic. Things weren’t exactly perfect, but assuming he would be drafted, he knew life was going to change one way or another. What he didn’t expect was that he’d fall in love with one of his coworkers, Sally (Genevieve Angelson). The two hit it off pretty quickly and have an adorable whirlwind romance (including a successful dinner with Nicky’s family and a photo of him and Jack to remember the moment forever). Ultimately this relationship leads to her asking him to go away with her, which he promises to do.

Sadly, it’s a promise that remains unfulfilled because Nicky never shows up, and remains at home alongside his parents while they watch the welcome home parade for the first astronauts to land on the moon. He wasn’t able to get away from whatever was leading him to stay back–be that getting his father’s approval or out of fear for his mother’s safety. Whatever it was, it determined the path for where his life would lead him next.

The episode then moves forward in time to Nicky living his life in a post-Vietnam War world. As we know, he spent most of his time in a drunken state while living in his trailer. He hadn’t seen Jack in years, and it seemed like that was all about to change when a former Army buddy of his called to let him know about a get-together they were having. Of course, he was reluctant to go at all, not having seen Jack, but he eventually decides to go anyway–but doesn’t make it inside. He hesitates to actually go inside, and never does, but he almost approaches Jack right before changing his mind. The thing is Jack was contemplating proposing to Rebecca at the time and was holding the engagement ring as Nicky was about to walk up to him. Perhaps at that moment, Nicky thought it wasn’t the right time, but yet again, it was a moment that would forever change his life.

In the present, Nicky shows up at Kevin’s house unexpectedly and is welcomed with open arms by Kevin and Madison. You can tell that Nicky is quite uncomfortable at first, regretting his decision to be there at all. But later he seems to have come to terms with how his life turned out because it still led him to his family at the end of the day.

One of the sweetest moments of this episode, if not the series, is watching Nicky talk to the twins and gift them with his favorite John Grisham novels (remember his original presents weren’t allowed on the plane). He tells them how he’s been living for the last 50 years, how being invited to their baptism reminded him of the moon, and how he had been stuck for so long. But he finally took a leap of faith, and now he’s here with them, his “moon”. CUE THE FREAKING TEARS

The next morning, Kevin walks into the nursery to find Nicky sleeping in there and the novels in the twins’ cribs. It’s a sweet moment that ends an absolutely beautiful episode–and I can’t say I’m surprised.

This Is Us always knows how to put a smile on our face and make us feel things we’ve never felt before. And for that, I am always thankful.

Until next week, folks!

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