Good American Family Episode 5 recap: Natalia struggles to live alone as the Barnetts abandon her

Hulu's new limited drama series, Good American Family, debuted on March 19, 2025.

Starring Ellen Pompeo as Kristine, the series is based on the Barnett family, who adopt Natalia Grace, a child with dwarfism, and abandon her by claiming she is an adult posing as a child.

Created by Katie Robbins, the series is based on the real-life story of Natalia Grace, whose adoptive parents tried to change her age legally. In the previous episode, the viewers saw the Barnetts' couple, Michael and Kristine, take all the steps to register the eight-year-old Natalia Grace as a 22-year-old adult. The Barnetts arranged a separate place to stay with all the amenities available.

Good American Family, episode 5, titled Too Hurry Without It, which was released on April 9, 2025, deals with the aftermath of the previous episode. As we have finally reached the second half of the eight-part limited show, Natalia's side of the story is coming to the forefront.

The official synopsis for episode 5 reads as follows:

"Left to her own devices, Natalia faces her new circumstances and how the world sees her."

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers. Readers' discretion is advised.

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Natalia struggles to live alone: Good American Family, Episode 5 recap

The episode opens up with Natalia Grace speaking to Detective Drysdale about the time she spent with the Barnetts. When the detective asked about how she felt about living with the Barnetts, she casually replied that she was well-fed and could keep herself entertained with video games. When Detective Drysdale asked the reason for how she created chaos while living with the Barnetts, she replied,

"Well, I was hiding knives. In the fridge, under my bed."

Natalia continued that she couldn't be trusted at times, as she said,

"I was lashing out sometimes. I pulled my mom into an electric fence. I put poison in her coffee. And my brothers, I wanted to roll them up in a blanket and bury them in the backyard."

The scene shifts to the throwback sequence in early 2012, when Natalia was left abandoned by the Barnetts. Gripped with fear and uncertainty, Natalia was left behind all alone in a furnished apartment. She knocked down the curtains, books, and plates in a fit of rage and disappointment. Natalia failed to reach the utilities that were placed in a higher spot. When she managed to get a can of sliced peaches, she couldn't open it. She watched TV all day, surviving on canned food and sometimes uncooked noodles. As days passed by, she continued to live this neglected life.

However, one day she cut herself with a knife while trying to open a sliced can, and she ran to seek help from the neighbors. She found a box of donuts, kept on the table of the neighbor's house. Her neighbor caught her munching on the donuts. The neighbor thought Natalie was a lost child and asked about her parents. Natalia revealed she was 22 and she just looks young (as instructed by her adoptive mother, Kristine).

When Natalia tried to reach Kristine via a neighbor's phone, she realized that Barnett's voice message did not include her. She felt heartbroken, and the kind neighbor advised her to mend her relationship with her mother.

While aimlessly watching TV for hours, Natalia came across Kristine in an interview promoting her book. She went to the library to find Kristine's book, and when she found it, she read the title, 'The Spark: A Mother's Joy of Nurturing, Genius and autism'. She began to flip over the pages, and when she found her picture was cropped out, she ran out with the book, not before hurting a 22-year-old who was trying to stop her. After she returned home, she aggressively scratched out the family pictures.

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Kristine threatens Natalia after she is kicked out of her apartment: Good American Family, Episode 5

The next morning, Michael, her adoptive father, barged into Natalia's apartment. He asked her why she had hit the guy in the library and called CPS on them. He left Natalia's apartment after shooting the video for the CPS and bringing some utilities for Natalia. Before leaving, he lectured Natalia about keeping her apartment clean. Natalia finally decided to clean her apartment all by herself.

She befriended JJ's (neighbor) grandson Keaton, and they took a bus to reach the Barnetts' family home, but found out that the Barnetts had relocated to Canada. When they returned to Keaton's grandmom's home via Barnett's neighbor's assistance, she scolded Natalia for being irresponsible.

Natalia broke down as she reached home and uttered emotionally,

"Please, please. I just want my family back."

The next morning, Kristine reached Natalia's apartment to inform her that she had been kicked out of her apartment. As Kristine drove towards Natalia's new residence, she showed her the grocery store and her new school. Kristine kept on pestering her about how she bailed her out from the incident and convinced Val and the neighbor not to call the cops.

Kristine threatened Natalia before leaving,

"The next time something like this happens, I will tell them all the truth. That you are an adult, that you went crazy and lashed out and threatened my family with knives, with poison, with electric fences. The next time you lie or trick innocent people you are gonna pay."

The closing moments of the episode reveal that Kristine is manipulating Natalia into believing she is an evil young adult.

When asked about her performance in episode 5 in a TV Insider interview, Imogen Faith Reid, who plays Natalia Grace, said,

"Oh yeah, it was a little taxing for me. I mean, I knew going into this episode that there’d be a lot of hours on set, and this was my first big role, so I was pretty daunted by it. I knew it’d be physically and emotionally just hard. But the support I had around all of that just made it so worthwhile. Everybody was so supportive. We were all in it together, and it was a really memorable episode for me for sure."

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Hulu's Good American Family Episode 6, Not Today Satan will air on April 16, 2025.

Also read: ‘Good American Family’ Review: The Twisted, Unsettling Story of Natalia Grace and the betrayal that followed