‘Trying’ Season 5 Episode 1 Recap and Ending Explained: Kat’s Return Leaves Nikki Spiraling And Princess Reeling
Apple TV’s family comedy ‘Trying‘ is finally back, and the Season 5 premiere wastes no time throwing Nikki and Jason back into chaos. The episode, titled “Rollercoaster,” picks up right where the Season 4 cliffhanger left off, with Princess and Tyler’s biological mother Kat standing at the family’s front door.
For longtime fans of the adoption dramedy, this premiere delivers exactly the kind of emotional gut punch the show has built its reputation on. Between new jobs, old wounds, and a newly complicated family tree, the ‘Trying’ season 5 episode 1 recap covers a lot of ground, and the ending sets up what looks like the most turbulent season yet.
‘Trying’ Season 5 Episode 1 Recap: What Happens in the Episode?
The episode picks up directly where the Season 4 finale left things, with Kat parked on Nikki and Jason’s doorstep after Princess discovered that Nikki had lied about tracking her down in Spain. The premiere confirms that the couple is now navigating what one recap describes as an additional parent showing up in their daily lives, which leaves Nikki noticeably anxious and prone to spiraling.
That anxiety is compounded by fresh tension between Nikki and Princess, who remains upset that her adoptive mother kept the truth from her for so long. Tyler, meanwhile, is portrayed as far less certain about how he personally feels about Kat’s sudden reappearance, which forces Nikki and Jason to walk a careful line between supporting their kids’ individual wishes and figuring out where Kat actually belongs in the family structure.
Alongside the Kat storyline, the premiere also gives both parents fresh starts of their own. Jason returns to school, inspired by Penny to retrain as a social worker, while Nikki begins a new job in the travel industry.
Esther Smith, who plays Nikki, has been candid about what her character is dealing with going into this season. Smith explained to TV Insider that Nikki is essentially attempting damage control since the entire situation traces back to her own decision to search for Kat in the first place.
Kat’s Arrival and the Fallout from Nikki’s Lie
Kat’s presence in the premiere is framed less as a villain turn and more as an emotional trigger for everyone in the household. Smith described her character’s inner conflict bluntly, noting that Nikki’s feelings of inferiority resurface alongside jealousy, confusion, and anger now that Kat is back in the picture.
What makes the dynamic sting even more, according to Smith, is that this particular tension is specifically rooted in the fact that it involves two mothers rather than a father figure entering the equation. She mused that the situation might have played out very differently for Jason if it had been the kids’ biological father who resurfaced instead.
Princess’s arc is central to how this fallout unfolds across the premiere. The character has spent much of ‘Trying’ searching for answers about where she came from, and the show does not let her off easy now that those answers have arrived in the form of a woman living under the same roof as her adoptive parents.
Charlotte Riley reprises her role as Kat for Season 5, joining an expanded cast that includes Darren Boyd as Scott and Siân Brooke as Karen, both of whom continue to add chaos and heart to the extended family circle around Nikki and Jason.
What the Ending Sets Up
By the close of the premiere, the show has firmly established that this will not be a season about resolving Kat’s arrival quickly. Instead, the ending leans into an ongoing tug of war, with Nikki trying to protect the stability she and Jason built while also reckoning with the fact that she is the one who set Kat’s return in motion.
The episode closes with the family still very much unsettled, and Princess left carrying real vulnerability underneath her anger toward the adults around her. That emotional throughline is expected to carry into the back half of the season as Princess continues working out what Kat’s return means for the family she already has.
Season 5 also widens its world considerably beyond the central couple, introducing new characters like Harriet, Chrissy, and Kerry through Nikki and Jason’s evolving work and social lives. The season’s larger ensemble suggests the show is using Kat’s return as a springboard into new territory rather than simply revisiting old Season 4 drama.
With eight episodes total, ‘Trying’ will release new installments weekly, giving fans plenty of time to sit with the emotional weight this premiere sets in motion.
New Cast Additions Shaping the Story
Season 5 brings one of the biggest cast expansions in the show’s history, and the premiere lays the groundwork for how these new faces will fit into Nikki and Jason’s orbit. Newcomers joining the ensemble include Celia Imrie, Phil Davis, Gbemisola Ikumelo, and Colin Morgan, alongside Danielle Vitalis and Leah Brotherhead.
This influx of new characters arrives just as Nikki and Jason are each starting fresh chapters professionally, which means the premiere is doing double duty introducing new faces while still keeping the Kat storyline front and center. It is a lot of table setting for a single episode, but the show manages to balance the introductions without losing sight of the family drama that anchors everything.
Reviewers have been quick to note that the series has not lost its signature tone despite the heavier subject matter. One review called Season 5 proof that ‘Trying’ remains one of the best written and most emotionally rewarding comedies on television, even five seasons in.
That balance between humor and heartbreak is exactly what has kept audiences invested in Nikki and Jason’s journey since the show’s earliest days, and the premiere suggests Season 5 has no intention of abandoning that formula now.
With Kat now a fixture in Princess and Tyler’s lives and a wave of new characters stirring things up around them, how do you think Nikki and Jason’s family will hold together for the rest of this rollercoaster season?
