‘This Is Us’ Season 4, Episode 5 ‘Storybook Love’ Review: The Grand Family Dinner

From acting and now directing, Milo Ventimiglia has proven that he can pretty much do anything brilliantly. This man has just made his directorial debut on This Is Us and I already can’t wait to see more of his behind the scenes work if there is more to come. Tonight’s episode titled “Storybook Love” was simply a beautiful culmination of great stories over a dinner course. And Ventimiglia nailed it right to the very heart of This Is Us. I’m also rejoicing over the fact that they’ve finally confronted the issue of mental health urging on a discussion and actually going somewhere with it. Without even finishing the episode, I was already certain that it had become one of my top favorites in the whole show.

Quite apt to its theme, this week’s episode on This Is Us is one full course meal of happenings. In the past timeline, Rebecca (Mandy Moore) sets up a fancy dinner for her whole family and friends to celebrate young Kevin’s (Logan Shroyer) marriage. And while she’s hoping for the best, a disaster somehow comes along the way. Meanwhile, in the present timeline, Tess (Eris Baker) suffers a panic attack which finally urges her parents to face it head-on. And last but not least, Kevin (Justin Hartley) helps Cassidy (Jennifer Morrison) get her husband back.

Cutting Ice Cream Like Cake

As part of his Uncle Nicky itinerary, Kevin takes or more aptly drags Nicky to a hockey game honoring the vets where they meet up with Cassidy. There, Kevin finally meets Ryan (Nick Wechsler), Cassidy’s husband. Before the honoring ceremony could even begin, the crowds and the noise become too much for Nicky so he leaves. On the other hand, when its Cassidy’s turn to be honored, Kevin finds Ryan staring at his phone the whole time. After a moment, he too leaves.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Because of that, Cassidy thinks that her marriage is hopeless. But, when Kevin takes them home and finally has a moment with Ryan, Kevin discovers that Ryan is still very much in love with Cassidy. He just couldn’t bear to look at her in the ceremony because he couldn’t celebrate the thing that broke his favorite person. As Cassidy comes back out, Ryan tells Kevin to stay the hell away from his wife.

Later on, Kevin checks up on Nicky. And in light of what happened earlier, Nicky starts opening up and reciprocating Kevin’s efforts to bond with him. Earlier in the day, Kevin told him about Jack’s cake style ice cream cutting. And Nicky calls back on it as he brings out this slab of ice cream and unwraps it using the wrap to frame it like a cake. As his story goes, it was his and Jack’s dad that started this thing. On his good days, he would bring out a block of ice cream and ask each of his sons how good they were that day. The better their answer, the bigger the cut of ice cream they got. And now, Nicky does it with Kevin too.

Waiting Til’ The Bubbles Settled

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) receives news that Tess suffered a panic attack. At home, he tries to comfort her by relating to her but Tess refuses to hear it. And Randall is devastated by the realization that he had passed on his least favorite trait about himself.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

This calls up a memory Beth had with William (Ron Cephas Jones) around the time Randall suffered a breakdown in Season 1. (Oh God I didn’t know I missed William so much until I saw him in this episode) After Randall is admitted to the hospital, William confides in Beth that he suffered from anxiety too. Back in his time, people didn’t acknowledge it and they only called him fragile and sensitive. But, his mother helped him through it. She’d fill up a glass with suds and water and together, they’d watch the bubbles settle until William settled too. But much like Randall, it devastated William to know that he has passed on this trait to his son.

Later on, Beth finally figures out what to do. Forcing both Randall and Tess to come down for a family talk, Beth shows them William’s bubble technique for when things get too much. Then she tells Tess that though her condition has played a part in making her who she is now, it doesn’t define her. And she has inherited a lot more good traits from her dad than she gives credit for. Finally, Tess opens up about her problems with coming out. Randall acknowledges it and promises that they’ll work through it together. Later that night, Beth finds a therapist for Tess. She also finds one for Randall. But, no matter what she says, Randall refuses to take it up.

A Pearson Family Dinner

In the past timeline, Rebecca prepares a grand dinner in their new home for her whole family including Miguel to celebrate Kevin’s new marriage. Randall (Niles Fitch) invites Beth (Rachel Hilson) who brings a bottle of hot sauce as a housewarming gift. And the only thing that registers with Rebecca on this is that Jack used to put hot sauce on everything. Soon, Kevin and his new wife Sophie (Amanda Leighton) arrives followed by Kate’s boyfriend Marc (Austin Abrams) from the record store. And the family embarks on one of the most awkward family dinners in history.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Soon enough, the issues being skirted around on the dinner table comes to a head when the big three get a moment to themselves in the kitchen. Kate’s upset Kevin didn’t tell them about his marriage sooner. And Randall and Kevin don’t like Kate’s boyfriend. Before the fight goes nuclear, Rebecca intercepts and not in her usual calm Rebecca way, no. Rebecca snaps. This results in the family eating half-cooked chicken because well, it’s better to die of food poisoning than earn Rebecca’s wrath about her cooking.

Later on, Rebecca asks Miguel for advice. Using a unique kind of wine that he brought over as a metaphor, Miguel advises Rebecca to keep her patience. Wait out the bad years in hopes of the good years to come because they will always come. This seems to do the trick because when Rebecca goes back to the table, she’s in a much more forgiving mood.

Birds and Polaroids From One Disastrous Family Dinner to Another

Lightening up, Rebecca tells her guests the story of her first dinner with Jack in their new home when she was just carrying the triplets in her stomach. Like now, she was also set on preparing a grand dinner. But, everything just didn’t go her way. In the midst of it, a bird flew into the house. And the thing is, Jack is terrified of birds. Nevertheless, he picked up a tennis racket and a pillowcase and tried to herd it back outside. But, when it started to dive at him, he made the most ridiculous squealing sounds while ducking around until he knocked over their dinner. In the end, he and Rebecca just ordered pizza and laughed about the whole ordeal.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Similarly, Rebecca now proposes to truly move forward. Drawing on her story she says, “We need to be able to think about him [Jack] and not only be sad. We need to be able to talk about the hot sauce.” They also end up ordering pizza. And the night ends with Rebecca singing for Kevin and Sophie while they all take turns taking pictures on the polaroid.

These polaroid pictures soon find themselves in the hands of present-day Kate. After much hiding and waiting, Randall and Kevin’s gift to baby Jack has arrived. And it turned out to be their old piano from the home they moved to after the fire. When Kate opens up the seat, she finds that their old stuff was still in it including the polaroids. What takes her attention is her picture with Marc and she does not look happy about digging up those memories.

This Is Us continues Tuesday, October 29th, with “The Club” at 9/8c on NBC.