This is Us S5, Ep. 5: Turmoil abounds in 'A Long Road Home'

(Full spoilers ahead)

Whether the Pearson siblings are feeling the hurt from their past or putting their future in jeopardy, one thing is for sure: drama follows them wherever they go. Season 5 resumed Tuesday with its 5th episode, "A Long Road Home," and we got quite the insight into their psyches during troubling times (not that this is a new concept). The writers continued their making-it-up-as-they-go-along style by revealing a bombshell courtesy of Kate's past. Okay, so now we're going to create some phantom scenario where she got pregnant, then had an abortion, yet never told a single soul until decades later. Meanwhile, Kevin's sudden engagement to Madison already hits some road blocks (gee, who would've thought?). Randall has the most realistic emotional responses to his situation (and we get the best acting of the episode from Sterling K. Brown, which is pretty typical). We don't get a lot from their mother, nor do we see Randall's kids in this episode, which is kind of disappointing; I really wanted more of them making fun of his viral video (though we got an allusion to that, at least).

Kate breaks through chains to free herself from her past

Either the writers knew Kate eventually would have an abortion and did a poor job of executing everything about this storyline anyway, or they just decided to shoehorn that story into her history (clearly it's the latter). Regardless, this storyline was poorly executed from start to finish.

What's most frustrating about this storyline is it wasn't even really about the abortion. So she sleeps with her boyfriend (Mark) when she's 18 years old (he was 24, I think), gets pregnant, then decides to tell him. She goes to his place and tells him she has something "heavy" to tell him. What happens next is unclear enough to the point of almost wrecking the storyline. Mark simply freaks out and just wants to watch TV. But does he actually figure out what she was going to say (she never actually says "I'm pregnant" to him)? Maybe just knowing there was something "heavy" made him react that way? It was very strange. It was probably because he's in denial, or he's too immature, or he's too much of a chump (or all the above). It would make sense that she didn't tell him after seeing that reaction, of course, but that scene felt painfully forced.

Obviously he doesn't figure it out because Kate feels the need to tell him 20 years later, right? Flash forward to the present, and Kate somehow has kept this a secret all this time without letting it affect her at all. She never tells Toby until now, a few years into their marriage (absolutely ridiculous). She says it was the hardest thing she's ever had to do, which is believable. Then she claims she didn't regret it at all, which felt more like a political statement to make sure they don't upset pro-abortionists (her behavior and silence about it clearly say otherwise). She decides to fly all the way to San Diego to tell Mark about what happened...because she's finally not afraid to tell him? That's what I thought, anyway. Yet after she finds him, she never tells him.

If she is so free from his hold, why was she afraid to tell him what happened? Sure, she talked a good game and, in her mind, she released the hold he had on her. More power to her for that! But if she was truly free (and if she was a decent person, which I continue to question), she would've told him the truth. Telling him obviously changes the narrative, though, so the writers couldn't shift the focus from Kate's big moment. From Mark's perspective, he's getting blindsided by Kate's random appearance as she asks him what he remembers about their relationship and enlightens him on the effect he had on her and the power he had over her. Look, it was great that Kate freed herself from that bondage. No one ever, not ever, should feel the way she was made to feel, and no one, man or woman, should give someone else that much power over himself/herself. And if you have an opportunity to break those bonds, do it! To me, though, the writers didn't think of a good plan to create this scenario for Kate; instead, they made her look foolish for flying all the way across the country, then chickening out from telling him the truth again. But hey, at least she made herself feel better about it.

This is such a big message to communicate, especially in an era when women have become more and more courageous about speaking up against awful men who have treated them poorly. It's a shame that this message was delivered so clumsily.

Kevin faces a dilemma between family and career

In a world when the notions of not having sex before marriage and not living with your spouse before marriage are becoming more and more antiquated (and frankly, made to seem like a joke), we get a prime example of why neither of those things is good. When Kevin and Madison slept together, they didn't consider the consequences of their actions. They didn't understand the implications of their decision. Madison tries to hold her chin up and handle the situation gracefully when she tells Kevin she doesn't need him to stick around. Of course, now that they have been together and Kevin did seem to commit fully to their new family, Madison is loving this idea of staying together.

But of course, the order in which they did things was wrong. Lo and behold, Kevin has to relocate his movie shoot to Vancouver. Madison pretended to be okay with this because she would still have a month before her due date when he returned home. But that was just a band-aid for the current scenario. They both talked and realized they had different expectations for their lives together. She doesn't want to deal with flying all over on a whim's notice, but Kevin doesn't want to give up the opportunity of a lifetime to jumpstart his career toward more serious acting roles (he, of course, has only been famous for his comedic roles to this point). And he doesn't want to throw away 20 years of his career.

Who could blame either of them, right? Oh wait, I can. I can blame both of them. This is the problem with living this way. Sure, some people may make it "work" for a while, and sure, it doesn't always work for people who get married, but why risk it? Why not make sure you're on the same page before committing to any of it?

Randall deals with shocking news about birth mother

We were led to believe that Randall's mother died that one dreadful day when she was with William. Then we found out she somehow lived through that and decided not to tell a soul, including William, the father of her child. Now some guy is reaching out to Randall to tell him he knew his mother, who didn't die for many, many years after everyone was left to think she was dead. Sure, I'll bet the writers come up with some lame reason as to why she never tried to tell William or why she never tried to find Randall, but I can tell you right now, I'm not going to buy it. I'll be even more upset if we find out that his mother did try to find Randall, but decided he was better off without her.

Randall has every right and reason to feel as angry as he did. He directs his anger to William at first because he thought William lied to him all this time. When Randall finds out later that William didn't know, either, you could sense him soften his attitude. And, with the help of Beth, he now directs his desires toward finding this man who knew his mother and learning all he can about her.

My only sorrow in Randall's storyline was during his exchange with Kevin on the phone. The two of them are still on rocky terms after their blow-up earlier this season. Kevin called Randall and tried to sympathize with Randall and make amends with him now that he is starting to understand a tiny little bit about the adversity Randall faced while they were growing up (Kevin never will fully understand, of course, but at least he's trying). It was a bummer that the writers decided this was the time for them to start mending their relationship, because Randall, of course, has bigger fish to fry with the news about his mother. So Randall cuts him short on the phone a bit before they get deep into that conversation; I guess we'll have to wait a little longer for them to bury the hatchet. I just hope Kevin doesn't get hardened by any of this; he was, after all, opening up to him. I wouldn't be surprised if he closes off again, but I just think there's been too much character development there to revert to his old attitude.