This Is Us Review: Sorry (Season 4 Episode 8)

This Is Us Season 4 Episode 8, “Sorry,” has nothing to apologize for.

This episode’s ability to take two drastically different concepts and mesh them together to create a warm melting pot of stories and characters reflects the true essence of This Is Us.

This latest installment offers a moment to breathe and soak in everything this family has to be thankful for. But if you think this means the Pearsons will go quietly into Thanksgiving — sorry, that’s not going to happen.

This Is Us has this really beautiful way of taking everyday tasks and making something extraordinary out of them.

So it’s not surprising that this series would turn something as horribly mundane as making beds into such an emotional endeavour.

But make it emotional they do as we watch Rebecca and Jack share in the task of making their bed until it’s just Rebecca left to do it on her own. We see Kevin wallow briefly in his father’s passing as he looks back on all the times Jack let him play under the covers.

This show is constantly looking for ways to bring the beauty of the human experience to our screen and they continue to do so by taking something so simple and shaping an entire episode around the concept of bed making.

This Is Us clearly isn’t sorry for throwing Jack into the middle of a present-day scene without warning.

Just hearing Nicky and Jack’s voice meld together is emotional enough, but actually seeing Jack appear in the scene to scold an adult Kevin is effectively heartbreaking.

Jack’s presence alone in the scene is enough of a surprise to set viewers off with Ventimiglia’s dialogue acting as an added bonus to this clever little treat.

This tactic of throwing Jack into any scene regardless of the time period and without fair warning is something this show needs to take advantage of more going forward because it is an incredible use of Jack’s presence.

Here’s a surprise. Nicky is the star of this episode and not for throwing another chair through the window of an AA meeting.

Nicky is, at the best of times, a background character — the kind that prefers to hide in the scenery rather than chew it up. So when we see him brought back to the forefront to take charge, it warrants notice and a little bit of concern.

Thankfully This Is Us has been benching Dunne for this particular moment so his fatherly concern for Kevin can smack us right in the face. Seeing him care enough to recognize Kevin is hurting and call Cassidy to help is a commendable display of his recent character development.

It’s rather exhilarating to see the outcome of his trial unfold because with Nicky you never really know if he’ll do the noble Pearson thing or cower away. Seeing him make the decision to move forward with a life his brother would have wanted for him is worth all the trouble he put us through in the beginning.

Also, are perfectly crafted spontaneous speeches in the Pearson genes or something?

We couldn’t have asked for a better chaperone than Beth Pearson.

The idea of watching Deja and Malik flirt with a parent in the room at all times seems like an uncomfortable storyline to put us through. Thanks to Beth, their chaperoned courting is turning out to be enjoyable.

This cool mom Beth keeps the tension light for the audience by exploiting the tension between her and Malik. You never really know if she’s going to scold the boy or praise him and that makes for a fun roulette wheel of conversation between the two characters.

Her presence helps soften the blow of Malik and Deja’s fight, which comes off the cusp of an episode devoted to how much they care for each other. If it wasn’t for Beth’s ability to steer this date in the right direction, I don’t think this storyline with Deja and her mother would have ever worked as well as it does.

Now we get to see Deja’s mom and Nicky join the Pearsons for Thanksgiving and that’s something to be thankful for.

In another surprising moment, Cassidy chooses to leave her makeshift Pearson family in hopes of bonding with the family she thought she had lost for good. It is nice to see Cassidy get the happy ending she deserves but selfishly, I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Jennifer Morrison.

Cassidy has been a welcoming addition to this season and continues to elevate Kevin’s story to new heights by grounding him in the real world.

There’s another leading lady that deserves some recognition too. Rebecca Pearson has reached peak grandma and I love it.

What I don’t love is the wedge her declining health is creating between her and her son. I do, however, appreciate how realistic this storyline is for anyone who has ever had to have this talk with their parents.

I almost wish we could have had an entire episode devoted to some R&R time. Given everything else going on with Kate and Jack Jr.’s avocado I wasn’t as invested as I should be in their time together.

“Sorry” hands down has the best character developments and dialogue of any episode this season.

It’s one thing to throw a handful of new characters into the fold and see what works. It’s another to revisit everyone’s progress 8 episodes later. More time to watch these characters grow should mean more room for errors as well.

Instead, This Is Us reintegrates it’s characters back into the melting pot and comes away with the same successes to show for it.

This episode leaves us on a surprisingly hopeful note going into the big Pearson family Thanksgiving.

Other Thoughts About “Sorry”:

• Kevin seems like the type of kid that said he was sorry all the time without fully grasping the word.
• Jack using Kevin’s face biting incident as a reason to never go back to the library is questionable but okay.
• Wait, it’s not okay to talk about dead dads all the time? Cassidy’s really changing things up here.
• I really love that Kate’s neighbour is just as much a part of raising Jack now as her husband is.
• Just saying, if a guy did sucker-punch Sidney Crosby the wrath of Canada would have been summoned. And if Crosby ever did such a thing, he would have said sorry…

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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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