This is Us, Season 5, Episodes 1–4 (2020)

It is the job of an artist to make the impossible seem effortless, to invent worlds, to entertain. The creators of the first four episodes of season 5 don't even try; they have surrendered to the reality show that the year 2020 has become. Why watch a knock-off if one can (indeed, one must) live the real thing? The creators should have skipped the year. They still can; the four episodes are unmemorable enough to be rebooted once the formidable team of writers can devote their undivided attention to the show again.