This Is Us (season 5)

The fifth season of the American television series This Is Us continues to follow the lives and connections of the Pearson family across several time periods. The season is produced by Rhode Island Ave. Productions, Zaftig Films, and 20th Television, with Dan Fogelman, Isaac Aptaker, and Elizabeth Berger serving as showrunners.

This Is Us
Season 5
Starring
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes18
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27) –
present (present)
Season chronology

The series was renewed for a fourth, fifth, and sixth season in May 2019. The season stars an ensemble cast featuring Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan, Jon Huertas, Niles Fitch, Logan Shroyer, Hannah Zeile, Mackenzie Hancsicsak, Parker Bates, Eris Baker, Faithe Herman, Lonnie Chavis, Lyric Ross, Asante Blackk and Griffin Dunne.

Season 5 started on October 27, 2020 with a two-hour premiere episode airing on NBC.[1]

Cast and characters
Main article: List of This Is Us characters

Main

Recurring
  • Timothy Omundson as Gregory
  • Jennifer C. Holmes as Laurel, Randall's birth mother who was William’s lover.
  • Vien Hong as Hai Lang, Vietnamese American refugee and fisherman who knew Randall's birth mother. [2]

Guest

Episodes
See also: List of This Is Us episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		Title [3]Directed byWritten byOriginal air date [3]Prod.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
73–741–2"Forty"Ken OlinDan Fogelman & Kay Oyegun & Jake SchneselOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)5AZC01
5AZC02		7.30[4]
In 1980, William and Laurel make plans but are downtrodden by failed activism, stunted finances, and their drug addictions. William promises to "make [their son] a family" if Laurel can't raise him. William leaves with his baby when the paramedics treating Laurel's overdose mention calling the police. After abandoning his son at the fire station, he follows him and prays for the boy's future in the hospital chapel. He also feels guilt-ridden over obtaining the heroin for Laurel's childbirth pain. Feet away, Jack prays for Rebecca to survive childbirth. William feels unable to return home, unaware Laurel unexpectedly revived moments after he left. In the present, COVID-19 prompts Kevin and Madison to quarantine together; they start a relationship and announce her pregnancy to family members. Rebecca's clinical trial is postponed. Randall is unresponsive when Kate requests guidance for involvement in the George Floyd protests. Randall finds himself more able to open up to Malik than to his therapist, telling him the white Pearsons never discussed similar incidents. For their birthday, Kate, Kevin, and their families drive to the cabin, where Rebecca and Miguel are quarantined. Madison fears for the babies after a fall. Kevin proposes marriage, and reaffirms it after urgent care allays her fears. Concerned for a missing Rebecca, Kate is unable to reach Kevin and calls Randall, who drives to the cabin, arriving after police escort Rebecca home. Randall identifies a drug interaction that caused Rebecca's episode. Kate admits she does not know how to talk to Randall about social justice, and he tells her he is "exhausted." Having learned he will have a son and daughter, Kevin asks Randall's advice about raising a girl; Randall reassures him Madison will support him. Randall tells Dr. Leigh that he will be switching to a Black therapist, and tells Beth that he is "sad," with everything going on around him, but not breaking down. Toby advises a despairing Miguel to take things "one day at a time," as Toby does with his own depression. When Rebecca suggests planting an apple tree sapling, Miguel instead gets apple seeds, committing to living each day with her. An adoption agency identifies a potential baby for Kate and Toby.
753"Changes"Anne FletcherKevin FallsNovember 10, 2020 (2020-11-10)5AZC036.85[5]
The Big Three, as eighth graders, experience puberty. Kate thinks Stewart wants to get back together, but he's only interested in their school project; Rebecca encourages her to follow her heart. Their classmate Tanya flirts with an uncomfortable Randall. Jack encourages Kevin's weight training, remembering his own father's less supportive approach. Kevin secretly exercises more at night. In the present, Kevin and Madison struggle to connect until agreeing to be more open with each other; both share their lifelong body-image struggles. Kate and Toby meet birth mom Ellie, a young, widowed mother, now pregnant by a one-night stand. They hit it off. Toby and Kate find a happy medium between his apprehension and her excitement. Tess stands by her "profane" video insulting a teacher; Randall confides to Beth he is proud of Tess for expressing herself, but he stands with Beth and grounds Tess. Randall's new therapist asks him to write down a childhood story; he recalls that Tanya openly fetishized his Blackness, repulsing him, and he never told anyone. Elsewhere, a Vietnamese man teaches his English-speaking granddaughter Linh to fish, and reveals he learned to cook to impress the woman whose photos adorn his home: Laurel.
764"Honestly"Ken OlinElan MastaiNovember 17, 2020 (2020-11-17)5AZC046.57[6]
Rebecca cannot resist tending to incessantly crying baby Kevin, who finally self-soothes after Jack physically blocks Rebecca from intervening. In eighth grade, Kevin wants to quit football after his coach criticizes him for not knowing the plays. Rebecca would let him; Jack says Rebecca's coddling has made Kevin "soft." Kevin overhears the discussion and asks Randall for help studying the plays. In the present, Kevin is flustered when his new film's director offers him no feedback. The director later tells Kevin that if he commits to a role, he could be great. Kate accompanies Ellie to her ultrasound. Ellie tells Kate she considered an abortion and is confident about the adoption. The conversation evokes a past experience Kate kept secret from her family; Kate tells Toby that after her breakup with Marc, she learned she was pregnant. While shadowing Randall at work, Malik is distracted by a call about Janelle and accidently livestreams a partially undressed Randall preparing to exercise. Seeing Malik's commitment to fatherhood and a career, Randall offers him an internship despite the mistake. The video goes viral and the Vietnamese man rewatches an earlier moment when Randall mentions his father, William Hill.
775"A Long Road Home"Anne FletcherK.J. SteinbergJanuary 5, 2021 (2021-01-05)5AZC055.20[7]
After learning she is pregnant, 18 year old Kate decides to get an abortion. She initially plans to tell the father, ex-boyfriend Marc, about the pregnancy, but quickly decides against it. She terminates her pregnancy without telling anyone. In the present, Kate decides to travel to San Diego to confront an adult Marc; she relinquishes his treatment of her and leaves. Kevin is conflicted between shooting his new movie far away from Madison in Vancouver, and calls Randall for advice. Randall has received a letter from the Vietnamese man, "Hai", and learns that his birth mother Laurel had actually died in 2015, not right after he was born, as he was told by his birth father. After talking to his therapist, Dr. Vance, Randall decides to call Hai. Together, Randall and Beth plan to travel to New Orleans to see him.
786"Birth Mother"Kay OyegunEboni Freeman & Kay OyegunJanuary 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)5AZC065.45[8]
Randall and Beth come to Hai, where he tells them the origin story of Randall's mother; Laurel DuBois grew up in a traditional New Orleans family, but she never felt like she fit in. She only felt understood by her Aunt Mae, who had been ex-communicated by her family, and her older brother, Jackson, who later dies in the Vietnam War. To relieve her grief, Aunt Mae tells her to scream on the lake. During a grief session, Laurel is "saved" by Hai (who thought she was drowning), and starts to date him. Laurel's father pressures Laurel to accept a marriage proposal from her former boyfriend. Unwilling to do so and unable to live with Hai, Laurel travels to Pittsburgh to start a new life. She meets William, and begins a relationship with him. After giving birth to Randall and overdosing soon after, she is taken to the hospital and later arrested and sentenced to five years in a California prison for drug possession. After release, Laurel’s convinced herself that she doesn’t deserve to be Randall’s mother, and relocates back to New Orleans to live with Aunt Mae. She later reunites with Hai, who is now married and has a child. Decades later, in 2010s, fter Hai's wife passes away, Laurel and Hai re-connect as he takes care of her when she gets breast cancer. She later passes away with Hai by her side. Once he finish the story, Hai gives Randall the keys to Aunt Mae's lakehouse, where Laurel spent her last years; that night, Randall visits the lake, imagines seeing his mother (in her youth and old age) and together, they do a grieving session, with him screaming into the air, letting out all his anxieties. While traveling back home, Randall calls Kevin and finds out Madison is in labor and Kevin is rushing back from Vancouver to get to the hospital.
797"There"TBATBAFebruary 9, 2021 (2021-02-09)TBATBD
808"In the Room"TBATBAFebruary 16, 2021 (2021-02-16)TBATBD

Production

Development

On May 12, 2019, NBC renewed the series for a fourth, fifth and sixth season of 18 episodes each, for a total of 54 additional episodes.[9]

Filming

Production on season 5 started on September 24, 2020.[10]

Reception

Ratings
Viewership and ratings per episode of This Is Us
No. Title Air dateRating
(18–49)		Viewers
(millions)		DVR
(18–49)		DVR viewers
(millions)		Total
(18–49)		Total viewers
(millions)
1–2 "Forty: Part One" / "Forty: Part Two" October 27, 20201.47.30[4]1.24.142.611.44[11]
3 "Changes" November 10, 20201.36.85[5]1.24.262.511.12[12]
4 "Honestly" November 17, 20201.26.57[6]1.24.072.410.64[13]
5 "A Long Road Home" January 5, 20211.05.20[7]1.03.872.09.07[14]
6 "Birth Mother" January 12, 20211.05.45[8]1.03.842.09.29[15]

References
  1. Petski, Nellie Andreeva,Denise; Andreeva, Nellie; Petski, Denise (May 12, 2019). "'This Is Us' Renewed For Three More Seasons By NBC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  2. "'This Is Us' producer breaks down Kate's abortion choice, Laurel clues". EW.com. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  3. "This Is Us – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  4. Metcalf, Mitch (October 28, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 10.27.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  5. Metcalf, Mitch (November 11, 2020). "Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 11.10.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  6. Metcalf, Mitch (November 18, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 11.17.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  7. Metcalf, Mitch (January 7, 2021). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 1.5.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  8. Metcalf, Mitch (January 13, 2021). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 1.12.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  9. Petski, Nellie Andreeva,Denise; Andreeva, Nellie; Petski, Denise (May 12, 2019). "'This Is Us' Renewed For Three More Seasons By NBC". Deadline. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  10. Chase, Stephanie (September 22, 2020). "This Is Us set to begin filming season 5 on September 24". Digital Spy. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  11. Porter, Rick (November 10, 2020). "This Is Us Easily Leads 7-Day Ratings Gains for Week 6". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  12. Pucci, Douglas (November 25, 2020). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Bachelorette' on ABC Rises to New Season-Highs in Demos with First Tayshia Adams Episode". Programming Insider. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  13. Pucci, Douglas (November 28, 2020). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'Big Sky' Series Premiere on ABC Tops its Hour Among Adults 18-49 and 18-34". Programming Insider. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  14. Pucci, Douglas (January 21, 2021). "Live+7 Weekly Ratings: 'This Is Us' Winter Return on NBC Tops Overall Raw Lifts". Programming Insider. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  15. Pucci, Douglas (January 28, 2021). "NBC Dramas are Four of the Top Five Gainers Among Adults 18-49". Programming Insider. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
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