‘Trying’ Season 5 Episode 4 Review: A Storm Rolls Through Camden and Leaves an Old Wound Wide Open

‘Trying’ has spent five seasons proving that the quietest domestic dramas can hit as hard as any prestige thriller, and ‘The Hurricane’ is the moment this season finally cashes in on all the tension it built up front. Nikki and Jason are still adjusting to life with Kat back in the picture, and Princess and Tyler are working through what it means to have their birth mother reappear after everything felt settled. The premise of a literal storm forcing the extended family together sounds like a gimmick on paper, but this show has never been interested in gimmicks for their own sake.

What struck me first watching this episode was how little the hurricane itself actually matters. It is a device, a convenient excuse to trap everyone in close quarters, and the show barely bothers pretending otherwise. Instead the real weather system here is emotional, built from years of accumulated tension between Nikki’s protectiveness and Princess’s growing need for honesty about where she came from.

That is where ‘Trying’ continues to separate itself from other family comedies chasing the same warm, adoption tinged territory. This episode does not resolve Kat’s role in the family, and it should not, because pretending a few conversations during a power outage could fix six years of complicated history would betray everything the show has built. Nikki and Jason are forced to admit that protecting their kids cannot mean controlling every part of their lives, and watching Esther Smith work through that realization without a single moment of easy sentimentality is some of the best character work the show has done all season.

Then there is Scott. I will not spoil exactly what happens, but the garage sequence, where Jason and the kids sort through a lifetime of his belongings including a truly baffling political campaign poster, plays like the show quietly preparing its audience for something devastating. Darren Boyd has always been the ensemble’s secret weapon, turning a supporting character into someone whose fate now feels genuinely uncertain, and dangling that uncertainty in the middle of a hurricane episode is a smart bit of structural sleight of hand.

The comedy has not disappeared either, which matters because ‘Trying’ has always lived or died on the balance between heartbreak and genuine laughs. Jason’s improvised optimism in the face of actual danger gives Rafe Spall some of his funniest material of the season, and the ensemble around Karen continues to pull its weight without ever feeling like padding. I found myself laughing out loud twice in an episode that otherwise had me bracing for tragedy, and that whiplash is exactly the tightrope this show has always walked well.

If I have a complaint, it is that the season around this episode has occasionally felt gentler than the anxious, high wire version of ‘Trying’ from its earlier years, and ‘The Hurricane’ leans on that lighter energy a touch too long before finally landing its gut punch. A show this skilled at earning tears should not need a natural disaster as a crutch to get characters talking honestly with each other. It works here mostly because the cast sells every second of it.

Taken as a whole, this episode is the strongest the season has offered so far, using its high concept setup to deliver something far more intimate than the title suggests. I walked away thinking less about the storm and more about what it means to share a family with someone you never chose, which is precisely the kind of quiet gut punch this series has built its reputation on. My honest verdict lands at 8.5 out of 10, a genuinely moving hour that proves this show still has real teeth beneath its comfort viewing reputation.

Do you think Kat can ever really find her place in this family, and what do you think happened to Scott? Share your take in the comments below.