A Million Little Things
“Time Stands Still” (Episode 209)
November 21, 2019

Last week on A Million Little Things, Rome’s mother passed away and Rome was left to contemplate his relationship with his father. The battle lines between Team Katherine and Team Delilah became clearer and clearer. And Gary lost his job while finding out that Maggie applied for a fellowship at Oxford. Catch up on all of our recaps for A Million Little Things here.

It’s Thanksgiving week and while some of our friends in Boston have a lot to be thankful for, others may be wishing that they rewind to last year. Let’s see where DJ Nash leaves us with this Fall finale of A Million Little Things, full of culminations and cliffhangers. Read on … BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!!

The PJ Roller Coaster and How Rome Saved the Day! 

Let’s begin with the story of Rome, Gina, PJ and, by extension, Mitch and Barbara. This was a key plotline and the entire cast knocked it out of the park.

PJ, after reading the DNA test results, has various interactions with cast members. He tells Mitch that Barbara lied to both of them, and Dave is not his father, Jon is. PJ goes to the Dixon house, where Delilah gives PJ Jon’s watch, because “he’s family” now.

PJ has another shock when he learns the real truth from Barbara. Jon is NOT his father, Dave was, and Barbara explains the DNA test results. The Harvard sweater belonged to Dave, not Jon. When Dave died, that sweater was the only thing of Dave’s that Jon wanted, so he cherished it. And Dave’s hairs that were still intact on the sweater.

When we saw the percentage match on the bottom of the test results, we did not know that the document stated that PJ was a match to the hairs found on the sweater. Instead of bringing PJ closure, he feels like his new family has been ripped away and he is no longer genetically predisposed to depression.

PJ races up to roof, followed by Rome, and Rome, perhaps before PJ even consciously realizes what he’s doing, tries to move PJ away from the edge of the roof. As PJ goes to stand on the edge of the roof, Rome’s training and his paternal instincts (more on that later) kick in. He surreptitiously dials Gina and puts the phone on speaker and Gina, Mitch, Barbara, along with Maggie and Delilah, hear what’s going on and race up to the roof.

But right before they can open the door, Maggie stops everyone, concerned that the appearance of all of them will push him further, literally. So, they all listen in fear as Rome stands next to PJ at the edge and tells him about his suicide attempt. But he also explains that family isn’t about your blood and PJ being Dave’s son will not change the relationship that PJ has with everyone (and now he and Sophie can date!! Bonus! Sorry, is that insensitive?). PJ backs off the edge, Rome hugs him and repeats “I’ve got you.”

WHOA! That was amazing and intense and superbly handled. And kudos to the AMLT team for not letting it go after that.  Back downstairs in Rome and Gina’s apartment, Maggie has called a colleague and Barbara and Patrick are going to take PJ to the hospital, because in reality, that’s what would happen. Really. I think it’s terrific that they didn’t fade to black, or ignore what just happened.

On the Thankfulness scale, Barbara and Patrick are certainly over on the high end, as they can go into Thanksgiving with no more secrets (expect for the money thing).

Gina is right there next to them on the Thankfulness scale. That night, as they are getting ready for bed, Gina tells Rome how proud she is. We know that Gina has never wanted kids, but she put it in perspective for us last night. The reason is because she didn’t have a childhood that would give her the ability to parent a child. But watching/hearing Rome today, made her realize how strong he was and together they would work on the parenting thing. She would like to adopt a baby.

Add Rome to the high end of the Thankfulness scale. He got through to PJ and will now be able to put those parenting skills to use.

Happy Thanksgiving to the Howards!  The rest of our friends are way down on the other end of the Thankfulness scale.

Gary and Maggie.

The tortured romance of Gary and Maggie is kaput. At least for now. The break-up was pretty painful to watch, and written words will not do it justice.

So, briefly, Maggie found a ring. Maggie asked Gary about it and he said that he bought it when she was sick. Maggie thinks it would be crazy to get married, but Gary questions whether it would be so crazy. Maggie fell back on her line, “I need to figure out who I am without cancer.” Back when she was sick, she said she wanted to spend her whole life with him. Gary wonders if that said that because she thought her life was going to be over?

Maggie hesitates and Gary realizes that it’s the truth and, very hurt, asks her to leave. Later, we see them separately. Maggie moving back into her apartment with help from Eric (who has some sort of secret that he’s keeping from her, because it’s AMLT, people!). He is her only friend outside of the friend group. And Gary at a bar, and then leaving with a woman. So, they are clearly at the bottom end of the Thankfulness scale.

Team Delilah vs. Team Katherine.

Delilah, Eddie and Katherine are somewhere in the middle of the Thankfulness scale.

After hearing PJ’s agony on the roof and after learning the truth about his paternity, Delilah realized the ramifications of hiding Charlie’s paternity. In a nice turn of events, she shows up at Eddie and Katherine’s place with the paperwork all signed.   Which is good, because Eddie and Katherine were really going to do this without her (yes, they hired a lawyer who thought that Eddie was hiring him to fight Katherine for custody)!

So, yes, Delilah is thankful her eyes are now opened to the long term effects of the lie like this. But, she also learned that there were shorter term consequences and what she feared actually came true.

In a dialogue-less scene, Delilah sat Sophie and Danny down at the table and told them the truth about Charlie. It appeared like it was worse than she could have imagined.

Sophie ran and Danny walked away and the look of disgust on his face would cut anyone, let alone Delilah who must have sensed how this would go. On the other side of this equation, Eddie and Katherine are Thankful for Delilah’s realization, because this will allow them to move forward. Just as they are about to come clean to Theo, who, while annoying, is super smart and probably knows more than they give him credit for, they are interrupted by noises from the garage. Eddie runs to the garage with a golf club and encounters a very angry Sophie, smashing his guitars.

Poor instruments. They didn’t deserve that.

Katherine (with Theo) appears at the garage door. What the hell Katherine? I’m very solidly on Team Katherine but what the hell was she thinking? They didn’t know what was going on in the garage, it could have been anything – why did she bring Theo?  I guess that they needed Theo to see this scene unfold to move the story forward, but sorry, that was a parenting fail.

Eddie is feeling a little less Thankful, now, since his guitars and his relationship with Sophie are in pieces and Katherine is probably less thankful for her decision to follow Eddie to the garage with Theo.

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Thoughts.

So, in honor of Thanksgiving, here is where our friend group stands on the Thankfulness Scale, from least to most:

• Maggie and Gary: Not Very Thankful
• Delilah: Middle Thankful but has lots of family relationship repair ahead of her
• Eddie and Katherine: Pretty Thankful that the truth is out but, man, those poor instruments!
• Gina & Rome and  Mitch & Barbara: Very Thankful, Truths are out, Parenting Skills are assured!

Thank you for reading! Happy Thanksgiving and we’ll see you in January!

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A Million Little Things airs on ABC on Thursday nights at 9pm (ET/PT)!

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