This Is Us Review: The Ride (Season 5 Episode 9)

It’s babies all the way down for This Is Us Season 5 Episode 9, “The Ride,” as we explore the first moments our Pearsons became parents during the car ride home from the hospital.

This latest installment is very on-brand for This Is Us. It’s also rather textbook for a series that has been known to keep us a few steps behind at every turn.

But there is comfort in predictability, and experiencing an episode structure with straightforward execution across multiple timelines is almost soothing.

I’m inclined to call “The Ride” a filler episode, despite it low-key delivering some of the strongest storytelling yet this season.

That’s the beauty of this show. The Pearsons just introduced the next generation of Big Three into the family and instead of diving headfirst into all those juicy future timelines, we are forced to buckle in for the car ride home.

This detour should feel tedious. Instead, we are treated to another Pearson family special — the kind that warms our hearts and fills us up on the kind of human interactions we need now more than ever. The concepts of a family road trip should feel overdone or dull, but sometimes they capture the magic of this drama best.

This episode also feels like it could be a sequel to the emotional This Is Us Season 2 Episode 15, “The Car.” Sure, the tone and circumstances couldn’t be more different, but they capture the human core of this show through an experience that is ingrained into our own stories.

I’d be okay with “The Ride” becoming a continuation of seasonal episodes similar to what we have seen with the show’s pool episodes.

None-the-less, this is a filler episode.

And it is a pandemic filler episode, meaning the storytelling is still very much restricted, regardless of how far the series is willing to drive to prove us wrong.

It makes sense that the romantic pairings would stay together for the ride home from the hospital. And I am loving how the series is seizing social distancing as an opportunity to invest more time in each couple dynamic this season; like with Toby and Kate, and Kevin and Madison.

Even Beth and Randall get in on the action with a banter-filled ride home from the hospital sweeter than all the Snickers Blizzards in the world.

That said, this episode feels predictable because these are the same pairing we’ve watched play off each other for weeks now with little shake-ups.

As much as I miss and understand why we can’t have overcrowded pool days or large family gatherings, I would also like to see This Is Us to attempt to surprise us with more unusual one-on-one scenes, and more group lawn shots like in the premiere with Madison’s pregnancy reveal.

“The Ride” does an excellent job of giving us unexpected pairings between Kevin and Jack (thanks for the tears This Is Us!), and a tease of future Deja and Annie.

But I’m going to need much more diversity in the character dynamic as we head into mid-season, or else the very restrictions keeping the Pearsons from each other are going to confine this show’s storytelling as well.

This episode may hide a lot of its potential in familiar storytelling and slower melancholy pacing, but two major emotional revelations come of this hospital road trip.

First of all, I’m glad to see This Is Us continue to explore Rebecca’s grief after losing a child.

It’s easy to forget that detail when the show jumps all over the past, and it’s not exactly something we want her sitting in during the more upbeat moments with the Big Three.

However, this trip home from the hospital demonstrates that the pain of that death is still fresh for Rebecca, and the atmosphere of a quiet car ride is the perfect time to touch on emotions of loss.

I hope this is the beginning of a deeper storyline for a young Rebecca now that This Is Us has ripped the bandaid back off.

Jack’s emotional wounds are also on display during this car ride thanks to an episode structure that doesn’t give him the luxury of hiding.

It’s always a pleasure to see Ventimiglia dive into the darker parts of Jack’s psyche and give us a rare peek at that soft vulnerability that makes him such a compelling father.

Of course, allowing an exhausted Kevin a moment with his father is a sure way to get the fans emotional.

But it’s also a sweet way of connecting these fathers’ first struggles with parenthood through a conversation that speaks to the structure of the episode, and to a relationship that can still be developed even in death.

“The Ride” is a well-paced episode that allows us to spend some quality time with the Pearsons.

Kudos to Jon Huertas (a.k.a Miguel) for directing such a beautiful installment of the series. The way the story’s direction weaves in and out of timelines with the tell-tale effortlessness of a strong This Is Us episode is admirable.

This episode may have hit a few bumps along the way, but it is a pure joyride from start to finish.

What did you think of this episode of This Is Us? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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

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