‘Trying’ Season 5 Finale Recap and Ending Explained: Why Kat’s Goodbye Changes Everything for Nikki and Jason

Apple TV’s quiet family comedy just wrapped up one of its most emotional runs yet, and the ‘Trying‘ season 5 finale gives longtime fans a lot to unpack. Titled ‘WoodScott,’ episode eight closes out a season built around the sudden return of Princess and Tyler’s biological mother, Kat, and it does so without turning anyone into a villain.

For a show that started as a scrappy comedy about a couple trying to adopt, this finale leans hard into the idea that ‘Trying’ has quietly become something bigger, a series about what family actually looks like once the paperwork is done.

‘Trying’ Season 5 Ending Explained

The final stretch of the season plays out at a family festival, where truths begin to emerge as the family gathers together. It is the perfect setting for a show that has always found its biggest emotional beats in messy, crowded, very British group settings.

At the center of it all is Kat, played by Charlotte Riley, who spends the finale saying goodbye to Princess and Tyler before Princess unknowingly opens up to Kat, who is hidden inside a festival mascot costume Princess believes Nikki is wearing, admitting she still keeps the rucksack she brought from foster care under her bed out of fear of never feeling settled. It is a devastating scene precisely because Princess does not know who she is really talking to.

That confession becomes the emotional key to the whole episode. When Kat later tells Princess it is time to unpack that rucksack before she leaves for Thailand, the moment plays less like a goodbye and more like permission for Princess to finally move forward. By the closing scene, Princess walks downstairs without the emotional weight she has carried since Nikki and Jason found her back in season two, and joins her family at the dinner table.

What Happens to Nikki And Jason’s Marriage?

Season 5 puts real pressure on Nikki and Jason for the first time in a way that comes from inside their relationship rather than an outside threat. Nikki spends much of the season drawn to a new coworker named Kerry, and in episode six she admits she never corrected Jason’s assumption that Kerry was a woman.

Rather than manufacturing a full blown affair storyline, the show trusts its two leads to handle it like adults. Esther Smith, who plays Nikki, told Collider in an exclusive interview that she initially panicked when she heard about the Kerry storyline, saying ‘Surely not. Nothing can damage this solid relationship,’ before realizing the point was watching the couple pass a real test together.

Rafe Spall, who plays Jason, echoed that in the same conversation, explaining that Nikki and Jason ‘have a very mature, healthy approach to their relationship’ and that ‘they know that things happen’ without it derailing what they have built. That grounded, unglamorous honesty has always been ‘Trying’ at its best, and the finale leans into it rather than away from it.

Kat’s Role and Why She Was Never the Villain

One of the smartest choices in season 5 is how it handles Kat. It would have been easy to write her as an obstacle standing between Nikki, Jason, and their happy ending, but the show refuses that shortcut. Spall credited series creator Andy Wolton for that choice, noting that ‘the show just does such a great job of subverting expectations’ and that ‘everyone in it is rounded and does things that are surprising.’

Spall went further, describing Kat as ‘this bomb that is thrown into the family’ while still insisting viewers end up caring about her because ‘she herself is trying to do something that she’s simply not equipped to do.’ That framing matters, because it reshapes the entire season retroactively. Kat is not chaos for chaos’s sake, she is a woman trying to reconnect with children she cannot fully get back.

Smith made a similar point about Nikki’s arc this season, saying Nikki is ‘not a cruel person’ but someone who ‘loves her children’ and is ‘so protective,’ which makes her willingness to let Princess build a relationship with Kat feel like real growth rather than a plot convenience.

What the Finale Sets Up for ‘Trying’ Season 6

Even with Kat’s exit and Princess’s emotional breakthrough, the finale does not feel like the show is closing up shop. Smith described the ending as having ‘a very neat bow at the end of it,’ but was quick to add that it is not meant to signal ‘okay, that’s it, goodbye now.’

Instead, both stars see the door wide open for more. Smith said she would love to see the story go ‘full circle’ with Jason eventually working as a social worker himself, while Spall pointed out that Jason’s arc this season, including openly admitting ‘I don’t even know if I’m cut out for this,’ sets up a future where the show could explore an empty nest storyline if Princess eventually heads off to university.

Spall summed up the show’s evolution best, noting that ‘Trying’ started as a story about adoption and has become simply ‘a family show’ about the people you like spending time with, rounded characters who are never quite perfect but keep growing anyway.

With Kat’s goodbye finally letting Princess move on, Nikki and Jason’s marriage stronger for having been tested, and Jason’s next career chapter still wide open, season 5 leaves plenty to talk about. What do you think Princess’s future looks like now that she has finally let go of that rucksack, and would you want to see Jason follow in Kat’s social worker footsteps in a potential season 6?