TV Recap: A Million Little Things (Episodes 202 and 203) – Catching Up …

A Million Little Things
“Grand Canyon” (Episode 202)
“Mixed Signals” (Episode 203)
October 10, 2019

All right A Million Little Things fans, it’s been a bit of a crazy month so here’s a double post to help catch up! First, catch up on last week’s season premiere with our recap here.

Now, let’s see what the crew from Boston has been up to in Episodes 2 and 3 of Season 2 … BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!!

(ABC/Jack Rowand)  GRACE PARK, DAVID GIUNTOLI

Eddie and Katherine (and Theo).
(ABC/Jack Rowand) GRACE PARK

Katherine decided to come home and her men are over the moon. Apparently, they told Theo that she was involved in a big case to make sure that the Grand Canyon wasn’t filled in. That’s all well and good, except Theo thinks it’s awesome and wants the world to know, including the bitchy moms from his school at “Garden Day.”

 

[Side note: I went to college in Boston, and Winters there can be rough. Haven’t we seen a full year? How hasn’t it snowed on this show?]

Theo doesn’t hear the comments but Katherine does, so they leave together. Eddie is clearly walking on eggshells and is willing to do whatever Katherine wants (and damn well right he should), including moving out when she’s back in the house. But Katherine is willing to try and maybe even move on and build their relationship into something new. Add to that, Katherine is such a rock star that she acknowledges that she’s going to be sending Eddie some mixed signals as they attempt to figure this out.

[Side note: I know she decided to cut back her hours, but does she still have a job? We haven’t seen her go back to work, hmmm]

Gary and Maggie.
MELORA HARDIN, ALLISON MILLER (ABC)

Maggie’s mom has come to visit her! Oh wait, it’s not a visit, she’s left Maggie’s dad. Oh wait, and she’s moving to Boston! Maggie and her mom don’t get along, but Gary always wants everyone to get along, so he puts himself in the middle pretty consistently.

This includes tagging along with Maggie and Delilah to meet Gina’s psychic friend (more on how that came to be later). Apparently the psychic connects with Maggie’s brother and tells Maggie that there’s nothing she could have done to save him (whoa, she never told him she had a brother). Maybe Gary is a little intrigued. But Gary uses this to his advantage too, to try and coax the relationship between Mama Bloom and Maggie forward.

While Mama Bloom is looking for an apartment, Gary suggests that Mama Bloom stay at Maggie’s place. Mama Bloom wants to go get something to eat, so Gary recommends a restaurant and then tells Maggie that Mama Bloom is sadly eating alone at said restaurant and she should go meet her there to talk, because maybe, just maybe, she came to Boston to get to know Maggie better. But as we know, Gary’s best intentions don’t always get the best results (see Episode 201 when he tosses Maggie’s cancer meds). Maggie also tries to make Gary realize that a lot of his reaction to the situation with Mama Bloom has to do with Gary’s relationship with his mom.

MELORA HARDIN, JASON RITTER (ABC)

Anyway, Maggie, still sweaty from her run, heads to the restaurant, encounters a nasty guy at the door and then a sweet guy at the bar (Hello Mark Cyr Jason Ritter!!). They chat, flirt and he dares her to antagonize the maitre’d. When she does and then starts to head back, all of a sudden, cute guy at the bar is standing up and her mother appears to be touching his face or his arm or something. Maggie turns and runs. Maggie assumes the worst but also can’t seem to get her mother to give her a straight answer as to who he is to Mama Bloom. And when Maggie asks if she moved to Boston for her or mystery man (Eric), Mama Bloom doesn’t answer directly. So, now we wait till next week to get the truth about who he is.

Rome and PJ.
(ABC/David Bukach) CHANDLER RIGGS

Rome is starting his volunteer work at the suicide prevention hotline. He’s nervous, but his co-worker encourages him and just when we think he’s getting his first call, it’s PJ and he’s kind of freaking out. So, Rome invites PJ over and they talk. PJ finally admits everything to Rome. That he sought the crew out in the hospital, that he took the Harvard sweater from the Dixon house, but most importantly, that he thinks Jon was his father. The more they talk, the more Rome starts to come around and think that PJ might be right, and what evidence speak louder than money right? If PJ wasn’t his son, then why would Jon leave $500,000 to Barbara Morgan? PJ tries to play detective and get information from Barbara and see if she “had any extra money lying around” to help him pay to go to RISD (Rhode Island School of Design, for those not familiar) for college. She says no, which only further solidifies his plan. With Rome’s help, they try to preserve the hairs (presumably Jon’s) on the sweater and then PJ drops a box for shipment, for DNA testing. Is Jon really PJ’s dad, or is Jon’s guilt really an extension of survivor’s guilt for Dave dying on the plane. I can see both sides, what do you think?

(ABC) JERRY FERRARA, ROMANY MALCO

On the Rome-specific front, he has a meeting with his buddy, who’s a high powered Hollywood producer (aww, it’s Turtle! Jerry Ferrara, looking svelte!) about his script. He loves it, but thinks that the suicide angle is too dark and urges Rome to think about making some changes, which Rome agrees that he’ll consider. But really, he won’t! Apparently he didn’t burn any bridges in the commercial world, because he’s still in demand. And while he initially turns down the job, he reconsiders after his discussion with Gina (see below).

Gina, Delilah, Andrew, Someday.

There has been a heavy focus on the restaurant for these two episodes. Gina has trouble taking Andrew’s criticism, but he also has trouble giving it. He tends to either give feedback or snide comments to Delilah, but when he does talk to Gina, he doesn’t sugarcoat it. Basically, he’s all listen to me and make changes or the restaurant will be done in three months.

At first Gina doesn’t see it, but then she realizes that he may be right. So, she agrees to meet with Andrew, but their talk doesn’t go well and things go from bad to worse when an article calls Someday Andrew’s restaurant and that this is Gina’s first serious restaurant and he discovered her. So, Gina decides that it’s time to stop hiding. She’s a survivor and wants the shelter to print her name (remember? Her uncle gave her mom money to invest in the restaurant and she turned out, got Andrew to invest and promptly donated her uncle’s money to a women’s shelter) for their gala.

But first and foremost, she needs to find a way to buy Andrew out, so the restaurant can be hers and hers alone (and Delilah’s?). Her first thought is to take out a mortgage on their apartment, but Rome has a better idea. Since he wrote his script, he is willing to take a soul sucking commercial directing job to get Gina the money (btw, do commercial directing gigs pay that much that one will net them enough money to buy him out? I’m in the wrong field…).

(ABC/Jack Rowand)  STEPHANIE SZOSTAK

Delilah is struggling on her own. She’s stressed and she’s worried that it’s impacting Charlie. She thinks she’s failing. She can’t get Barbara and Patrick to take the money that Jon left them and she tries connecting with Jon through Gina’s psychic friend (…s network, haha), but the psychic connects her with Chad instead. Psychics … very unreliable. Delilah tries going on a date (not a date) with Andrew, but isn’t ready, but neither is he, so everyone is happy.

Sophie, Danny and Charlie.

Sophie is MIA, Danny is going to be Danny Zuko in Grease at school (thanks to Gary’s help) and avoided beating out his (ex) friend Elliot for the role. Charlie is doing fine by the end, except that people are clearly going to think that Delilah is her grandmother.

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Thoughts.

Things seem to be going in the right direction for Katherine and Eddie, but you know it can’t last. If you watched the previews, you’ll know that they are going to make the trip to the Dixon’s to see Charlie, and there is no way that Katherine can handle that. And even though Eddie really wants to make things work, is he going to be able to stay by and deny that Charlie is his?

I am really proud of both Rome and Gina. Gina for deciding to come out of the shadows and really be her true self and Rome for really following his passions, but also being able to realize that because he is pursuing those passions, he can allow himself to do things for others. That being said, I have concerns. I am concerned that Rome is going down a rabbit hole with PJ and not telling the others. I am also concerned for Gina’s restaurant because she is the chef, not the front end person and I want her to succeed and I’m worried that without Andrew pushing, the place could go down.

And lastly, where is Sophie and who is Eric?!?!?!

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