This Is Us Review: The Fifth Wheel (Season 2 Episode 11)
Back from its winter hiatus, This Is Us Season 2 Episode 11, “The Fifth Wheel,” returns with an episode that confronts Kevin’s problems head on.
Set a month after his arrest, “The Fifth Wheel” finds Kevin in rehab, doing seemingly well, and having a lot pent-up feelings about his childhood to get off his chest.
As a Kevin fan, this is honestly the episode that I have been waiting for, and because we have learned more about Kevin’s past and his relationship with his family with each passing episode, “The Fifth Wheel” feels earned and timely.
The whole Pearson clan is present at the rehab center to support Kevin (even a very reluctant Beth), and participate in a group therapy session. But after Kevin’s therapist Barbara insists that Kevin speak to immediate family only, Miguel, Beth, and Toby scurry off to a bar.
The group therapy session is tremendously written and acted.
From Randall’s futile attempt to bite his tongue as Kevin talks about a less-than-perfect childhood, to Kate’s earnest protests, to Rebecca’s deep discomfort when talking about Jack’s addiction, to Kevin mustering up the right words to describe feeling disconnected to his family, the scene hits all the right notes and makes every character’s reaction believable and sympathetic.
As you would expect, a scene of this nature is filled with awkward silence and uncomfortable revelations for each of the characters. Harsh words are said, especially from Randall to Kevin, and Kevin to Rebecca, about how Kevin perceived his parents to favor his siblings over him.
These scenes are juxtaposed with a Pearson family trip in the 80s. Jack and Rebecca take the kids to a cabin in the Poconos, and we see more examples of Kevin’s alienation, who joins the group last after his camp is over.
During the trip, much of Jack and Rebecca’s attention are on Kate. Granted, Rebecca’s concern is greater than Jack’s, who, because of his close bond with his daughter, ends up enabling Kate’s unhealthy relationship with food when he takes her out for ice-cream when she’s upset.
Jack and Rebecca’s dissent on how to handle Kate’s eating is one of the show’s best parenting dilemmas because I can understand where each parent comes from. As bad as Jack’s enabling is, this is the sort of treatment I’ve seen in my own family, and it’s so realistic for parents to do something out of love, when in reality it’s doing harm.
When the parents aren’t fussing over Kate, they are fussing over Randall, leaving Kevin, the “normal” one, to crave the special attention he never received from Jack and Rebecca.
In present day, after the Pearsons have a blow-out fight about Rebecca favoring Randall over Kevin, the Big Three regroup and find common ground. As do Rebecca and Kevin.
This mother/son scene is great for a number of reasons. It’s the first time we see these two truly connect in the preset day. And it’s also an apology from Rebecca’s end.
She admits that she never worried about Kevin because she never felt the reason to. He was a fearless and independent child and didn’t require the fussing that his siblings needed. But now she realizes that was her mistake.
I have always felt Kevin’s story was especially relatable because it’s about a kid who shouldn’t complain about his life because from the outside, he has it all. He has good looks, talent, popularity, and most importantly, loving and supportive parents that have given him a safe and stable life.
And yet, from his lens, there were things that he was lacking.
A big part of “The Fifth Wheel” is about the complexity of memory and shared memory. The Big Three remember their childhoods differently, but that’s because they lived those memories differently.
Overall, this is a nuanced and solid episode about how our perspectives shape us, and how you never really know what a person is thinking or feeling until they tell you.
Other final thoughts:
- The show tries to bring up Kevin’s addiction as something Kevin inherited genetically from Jack and his side of the family, which Randall brushes off completely. I hope they continue to tackle Jack’s addiction from the kids’ perspective because it’s understandable a sore topic that is seldom discussed in the family.
- I don’t know when it happened, but I definitely like Miguel as a character now, to the point where I actually want to see more of him. His scenes at the bar were especially good, and made the character even more sympathetic.
- Beth’s coldness towards Kevin bothered me. I get that she’s mad about Tess, but it wasn’t really Kevin’s fault that she was in his car. I expected a bit more compassion from Beth.
- Kate Burton, who plays Kevin’s therapist this episode does a great job and adds a lot to the therapy scene.
What did you think of this episode of This Is Us? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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Shabnaj Chowdhury
Shabnaj is a pop-culture enthusiast who spends much of her time enabling her coffee addiction and thinking about Jon Snow's hair. Some of her favorite shows include Friday Night Lights, The Leftovers, and Game of Thrones. Shabnaj also loves to write creative non-fiction.