This Is Us: 5 unbelievable moments from episode 5

This is Us is less believable in season 2. Below are five ways the latest episode has us wondering where the realistic writing went.

This Is Us captures the hearts of millions every Tuesday night. The show’s success is based primarily on its ability to create and develop characters who are, you guessed it, just like us! Every member of the Pearson family is flawed and struggles with everyday, often not talked about issues of adulthood. With that said, the realness of This Is Us slowly diminishes with each new episode in season 2. The latest episode, “Brothers,” was almost too much to get through. Here are five of the most unbelievable moments from episode 5.

5. Toby makes a mess in a coffee shop

Kate wants Toby to be able to tell someone he is going to be a father, well before the in-the-clear pregnancy period. She picks a coffee shop and gives him permission to tell someone in the room. Instead, Toby asks the barista to plug in his iPhone, dances and screams around the coffee shop, and then jumps over tables, chairs, and people. Finally, he pours an entire pitcher of water over his head and leaves.

This was too much. Toby would, in real life, be asked to leave by management, or fined for destruction of private property. Patrons of the coffee shop would not find his behavior cute or endearing. With all of that said, Toby is still the best character on the show and can do no real wrong in my eyes.

4. Kate verbally attacks Madison during group therapy/OA meeting

Okay, this one got me. The idea of Overeaters Anonymous and/or any kind of group therapy focusing on a taboo topic is that cross-talk, judgment, and criticism are left at the door. There are rules, people. For a show so hyperaware of addiction and mental illness, you would think they would be more sensitive to this issue, and get it right. Maybe Madison doesn’t have food issues, because she’s skinny, but maybe she really does. No one skips voluntarily into these gatherings.

She is in some kind of pain and her pain should be acknowledged, not attacked, even for the sake of conflict on television. It’s not Kate’s right to belittle her after she shares her feelings in a safe place, such as group therapy. It would not get as far in real life. The chairperson would never let Kate spew insults at Madison in front of everybody. Kate would most likely be kicked out of the meeting.

3. Rebecca casually strolls into a nursing home to say goodbye to Jack’s dying dad, without Jack

I am really shaking my head at this one. Rebecca gets a call from the nursing home where Jack’s dad is dying. She leaves a voicemail at the campgrounds, where Jack is spending the weekend with his sons. She decides to go to the nursing home to have a basically one-sided conversation with Jack’s dad, whom she’s never met, all while leaving a young Kate right outside the door. Unbelievable. Literally.

2. Jack magically has a brother he lost in Vietnam

Somehow, a season and a half into This Is Us, we are to believe Jack had a little brother all along. This little brother grew into a big brother. We can assume, through pictures he pulls out of a box from his time in Vietnam, that Jack lost his brother in Vietnam.

This is all we know so far because this enormous piece of information was revealed toward the end of the latest episode.

1. Randall’s foster daughter is hyperaware of why she is so defensive

I find this particular storyline to be the most irritating of them all.

Randall takes Deja to a fancy gala with Kevin. Deja tries shrimp cocktail for the first time and almost eats the tail. Randall bats her hand away before she’s able to, and she immediately retreats to the bathroom and hides in a stall. Randall eventually walks into the women’s restroom to talk with her. Deja tells him she’s sensitive to being touched because her old foster mom’s boyfriend used to hit her with magazines. She and Randall walk out of the bathroom and everything is back to normal.

This entire interaction makes no sense. Deja is supposed to be 12. There aren’t many 12-year-olds, particularly ones with years of instability in foster care and a history of trauma, that would be so aware of their triggers, and so calm and vulnerable in their ability to communicate what is bothering them with an almost stranger.

Next: Riverdale season 2: Why the parents are the worst

Hopefully, next Tuesday’s episode, “Tess,” delivers more believable scenes. Check back to Culturess next week for all of the ways to stream the newest episode of This Is Us.