This Is Us Review: The Music and the Mirror (Season 5 Episode 14)

There’s no greater time for This Is Us to explore our collective exhaustion than now.

It’s rather therapeutic to have This Is Us Season 5 Episode 14, “The Music and the Mirror,” take on some of the stress and under-eye circles we are feeling more with every passing day.

We don’t want to relive the events of the pandemic we are still living in, by any means. But it is nice to see the Pearson in-laws explore the exhaustion that comes with losing their jobs and living with people that love talking about their feelings.

Sometimes a Pearson bat signal can be a little much. So, it’s rewarding to watch This Is Us take a more subtle approach to saving the day for once.

Not everything has to be flashy Pearson grand-gestures all the time. This Is Us is just as ground-breaking, emotional, and likeable in its smaller moments of triumph.

Sure, this episode may not have big moments of victory for us to revel in, but it does have plenty of small victories to celebrate as we inch closer to an endgame.

Rebecca basically threatening Madison with her unconditional love in a wedding dress boutique and Gregory passive-aggressively critiquing Toby’s plumbing work like he’s a judge on Chopped are, by definition, victories.

These moments of quirky Pearson-togetherness play into the fun and loose energy the series has been forced to cling to this season. Born out of necessity, this carefree side to the show’s meticulous storytelling isn’t something to complain about.

“The Music and the Mirror” emphasizes the in-laws who struggle to share their lower moments with the Pearsons.

Of course, Toby and Beth would want to wallow in their own sadness from time to time without a whole family intervention. We have the opportunity to explore the honesty of their job loss without the Big Three looming.

And unsurprisingly, their honesty in the face of our new realities hits home for struggling viewers.

It’s commendable to see This Is Us take what was going to be a huge step forward for Beth with her dance studio opening and instead, replicate the sad reality many business owners have had to face since the world shut down.

It was never this season’s intention to shatter Beth’s dreams before she could even get her feet under her, but that’s what makes this circumstantial storyline particularly impactful.

The sadness and bitterness that still encompasses Beth’s love for dance is one I love revisiting.

Many of us have had hobbies we loved deeply but didn’t have the skill to continue pursuing. My own lingering childhood passion for dance is achingly present in Beth’s line, “I’m a dancer that doesn’t dance.”

I only wish we could have wallowed in Beth’s predicament a few beats longer to really drive home the emotional gut-punch that is losing a life-long dream to entirely unforeseen forces.

As much as you have to adore Randall’s attempt to comfort Beth with a slow dance, the abrupt end to this episode demonstrates all the story it was primed to explore further — and just didn’t.

For an installment claiming to put Beth center stage, Susan Kelechi Watson’s performance is lost within this busy episode. I can’t help but think the time spent on Kate’s diner journey could have been substituted out for more of Beth and Toby’s time in the hell that is our current job market.

I wouldn’t say Kevin’s storyline is inspiring, and it’s not exactly breaking new ground either. That’s not to say there aren’t perks to taking Nicky on a studio tour, because there are!

First of all, Nick Pearson buying Kevin’s children God Father onesies and insisting he read all of his nephew’s scripts (even the Tom Clancy one, yikes!) is entirely too wholesome.

How have we gone this long without this man in the Big Three’s life? He’s a damn delight.

It’s disappointing that all the conflict surrounding Kevin’s latest film project is really just a means to segway into his next career; starting a Pearson construction company to build his high-end cabin in the woods.

Of course, it is hilarious to find out the movie Kevin almost missed his children’s birth for is an absolute dumpster fire and led by another clueless male director, but it doesn’t exactly make the payoff feel rewarding for us.

I wonder if Rebecca and Kate would still have their moment of joy together at her new job, or if Beth and Randall would have shared that haunting dance if this series had gone through with its plans to have these characters go on bigger journeys.

Despite how disjointed and directionless these episodes can feel at times as they fight to fill the time slot with meaningful stories, I don’t exactly yearn for fillibuster storytelling.

The kind that often landed closer to irritation than praise (re: Kevin and Randall’s lawn blow-up!)

One episode at a time is a pace that works for This Is Us and the show’s dedication to exploring what makes our tedious mundane routines so special. Sure, we’re not living terribly exciting lives right now but we are living through unprecedented circumstances.

So, it’s comforting to see this show adjunct its scope to focus on the tiny infractions humanity is facing in an overwhelming situation and the stress that plagues us enough to understand why Beth is laughing in the middle of a Zoom interview.

This Is Us has seemingly lost the battle with tying any lingering storylines together in time for an impactful finale, but the series hasn’t lost the essence of what good TV can be on a smaller, more precise scale — and that’s a big old win!

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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