I Know This Much Is True Review: Season 1 Episode 3

The walls that Dominick has worked so hard to keep up are starting to crumble on I Know This Much Is True Season 1 Episode 3. 

This is by far one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful episodes of television I have seen in a long while.

Dominick is reflecting more and more on what started him and Thomas on this journey, and what went wrong with his marriage to Dessa. It’s a mess of complicated emotions that somehow meld well with the complicated emotions of Thomas — who we finally see after his admittance to the ward.

Since the beginning of this saga, Dominick has said that Thomas has been battling these demons for twenty years now. We know that schizophrenia is a heartbreaking disorder in and of itself, but to actually watch Thomas sink within it is even worse. 

To watch Thomas go from a motivated student to slowly breaking down as he journeys through his freshman year with Dominick is a major look into the mindset of both brothers. They have been on this journey together their whole lives. 

Now that Dominick has his clearance to see his brother, Lisa Sheffer is finally able to see with her own eyes just how complex and complete the bond is between Dominick and Thomas. There are mixed signals and crossed wires with regards to how much they understand each other, but their visit together opens our eyes to just how much hurt they both carry.

This whole time we see everything from Dominick’s perspective, so we see all his burdens and his suffering. He claims that Thomas isn’t whole anymore and that he no longer thinks of anyone but himself.

However, when they interact we get to see that Thomas does actually care about other people, he just has a unique and complicated way of showing it. Amidst all his religious babble about being unclean he states that Dessa is his friend and that she let him hold his niece — who he also understands is dead.

Dominick sells his brother short way too often when he should be celebrating him and pushing to really be there as his advocate. Stepping up to take on Thomas’ care full-time is a step in the right direction if he can get his drinking and emotions in check.

This episode gives us a major clue into just how emotionally removed Dominick is from any relationship he has. There is always this barrier between himself and the ones he loves. Is it because of what he’s gone through with Thomas or is he emotionally stunted?

Whatever the reason, his distance prevents him from truly being a fully functioning adult. At times his emotional immaturity can be equal to the brokenness of Thomas’s mind. 

They are both suffering mentally which prevents them from being individually successful. Together they make one completely mature, stable adult — they just need to figure out how to be those adults separately.

The fact that they are incomplete without the other could be attributed to the fact that they’ve always had to rely on one another in order to survive — both at school and home. I Know This Much Is True is a delicate study of the crippling effects of interdependent twins. 

Because Thomas knows that Dominick would always be there to socially protect him, he never really acquires the proper skills to be socially acceptable on his own. And because Dominick can always rely on Thomas to carry all the emotional cards he never has to really connect to that side of himself.

Now that Thomas is deteriorating fast, Dominick is struggling to maintain his relationships. A pattern that has followed them their whole lives. 

Originally, I thought that Dominick’s distance with Dessa after Angela dies is attributed to the loss of a child. However, this episode reveals that it goes deeper than that when Dominick gets a vasectomy while Dessa is on a grief vacation. 

He is broken up by the loss of his daughter so he thinks that what is best for both him and his wife is for him to make it impossible for any more children. It’s a total emotional disconnect from his partner and it’s clear that he doesn’t even think he did anything wrong.

Then the episode delicately weaves this reveal in with his current romantic entanglement, Joy, and her pregnancy. At first, it seems that his reaction to her announcement is a bit harsh and uncalled for, but once we are made aware of his vasectomy it all falls into place. 

Through it all, the Birdsey twins show you just how haunted their lives really are. The performance by Mark Ruffalo sends you on a journey that breaks your heart.

Ultimately, Dominick needs to work on his ability to communicate or else his ambition of being his brother’s sole guardian is going to end up dead on arrival. We can all see the writing on the wall just as Lisa does when he announces his plan to her.

He isn’t the most stable of adults on his own. How can he be trusted to actually protect his brother?

Or maybe he will surprise us because that’s been his job this whole time however reluctantly.

What did you think of this episode of I Know This Much Is True? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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I Know This Much Is True airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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