I Know This Much Is True Review: Season 1 Episode 4
From the beginning, it has seemed that the main focus of the story is Thomas Birdsey and his fight to be seen and heard. However, I Know This Much Is True Season 1 Episode 4, manages to shift the focus tremendously toward Dominick instead.
While we’ve always seen Dominick’s perspective, and that has at times been flawed, now that Thomas’ verdict has been handed down the show moves more towards Dominick’s life. How does Dominick move forward and help himself?
The majority of this episode is spent going from one morphine addled visual to the next. Which confuses and muddles the storytelling.
It’s a genius tool to show the breakdown of Dominick’s own stable mind. How better to show that than his rehashing of certain events of his life through a drug-filled lense.
In a way, it’s a clearer picture of how Thomas constantly walks through the world. He sees and remembers only part of the story — clinging onto important details (such as his niece is dead) while making other details up to fill in the blanks.
Which is exactly what Dominick is experiencing now — post-accident. He is combining memories he has of Dessa and Thomas from their college days with scenes of his accident.
When we see him at work taking down the shutters are we seeing what is actually happening? Does the homeowner actually shoot himself or did Dominick imagine it while on pain meds?
It’s hard to say which outcome is correct, but the context clues throughout the whole episode point to the latter being the case. After all, at one point, Dominick imagines his hospital roommate is on a ventilator and that he has become his own brother.
All of this works extremely well to showcase the continued breakdown of Dominick’s own mind. Can we continue to dismiss Joy’s claims of Dominick being “crazy” as just the ravings of an unstable young woman? Or is there some truth to what she is saying?
How can we be sure that Dominick really is sterile? How much can we really continue to trust Dominick’s narrative?
At this point in the story, Joy isn’t the only one who is concerned about Dominick’s ability to actively care for his own needs. Now, Thomas’s social worker, Lisa is voicing her concerns as well and we already know that Dr. Patel has her own hesitations.
The way this episode masterfully manages to get the audience to question Dominick’s own mental awareness is beautiful and unexpected. To be able to turn the whole perspective and focus of a story on a dime and to do so properly is a real gift — one that I Know This Much Is True has mastered.
Dr. Hume: So Jesus speaks to you?
Thomas: Jesus speaks to everyone. I listen.
Going into the back half of this season/story we are going to have to evaluate how much we trust the narrative. By getting a glimpse into Thomas’s narrative from the perspective of a court stenographer’s notes, we are able to see just how limited our view has been up to this point.
Dominick is an angry and fed up young man, and that affects how he tells the story. It would be interesting to get the story of their lives from the perspective of someone else like Thomas or their mother, but unfortunately, we can’t.
Episode 4 is also an insight into Ray — who up to this point has only been an idea from Dominick’s past. Based on how he interacts with Dominick about his accident, his injuries, overdoing it, and the relationship he has with Thomas we find ourselves questioning just what version of him is the most accurate.
Is he a man who loves his sons and tried to understand the more ill of the two but couldn’t? Or is he the cold, cruel man that Dominick makes him out to be in all his flashback storytelling?
The truth is becoming harder and harder to see the further we dive into the lives of the Birdsey twins, but that is exactly the point. The writing wants you to question the information being presented because of the whole unstable narrator situation.
This means at the end of the day it is up to us, the viewers, to decide who we are going to believe. Are we simply going to take everything presented and take bits and pieces in order to create our own clear narrative?
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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Mads Misasi
Mads is a part-time entertainment journalist and full-time marketing content creator. They love any and all TV Dramas with a few sitcoms mixed in. Join in the fun talking about TV by following them on Twitter: @dorothynyc89.