The latest episode of A Million Little Things slows down a step, as the group continues to deal with Jon's death and Gary and Delilah's affair, while some of the members handle their own secrets.  Let's discuss...

Warning: Spoilers ahead

Observations:

• The already large ensemble adds Gerald McRaney to its ranks this week as Delilah's father Lenny who is struggling with dementia.  We'll never say no to this grizzled veteran.  Through flashbacks, we see Jon "handling" Lenny  by quizzing him about how Jon and Delilah met, and also sternly telling Lenny not to give Gary a drink.  It's our first real glimpse that Jon may have been a control freak, which starts to flesh him out more as a character, as well as give some additional context to Delilah and Eddie's eventual affair.

• How are we feeling about Maggie's long-term presence on this show?  Will she eventually beat the odds, or is she looking at a limited run?  Discuss.

• This is at least the second time Rome has said, "I'm done losing friends," which also makes us wonder about Maggie's future.

• Also, we're pulling for Rome's story to get more attention moving forward.  His conversations with Maggie are important (and also well-done), and the message she relays of a suicidal person saying, "It's not that I don't want to live.  It's that I don't want to live like this," provides a real value to this show's look at depression which could be helpful to so many.

• Still not feeling the intensity of the anger that the group has for Delilah and Eddie.  It comes across as an outlet for the pain they're in over Jon, and that seems to be confirmed later in the episode.  We're still only a few weeks out from Jon's death, and everyone is still in a state of shock and wondering how they could have done things differently.  This of course is made worse by the fact that Ashley hasn't given them Jon's suicide note.  What's her story?

• There's been discussion of how hypocritical it is for Rome and Gary to be pushing Regina and Delilah to make up when Gary hasn't forgiven Eddie yet.  It's a fair point, but it also falls in line with the notion that guys often (rightly or wrongly) see themselves as "fixers" for the women in their lives, and it's much easier for particularly Gary to distract himself with "solving" this problem rather than addressing his own issues.

• Is there anyone here who hasn't dreamed of being a rock star at one point or another?

• Delilah explains multiple times that Jon was increasingly distant over the last two years, which made her feel invisible.  We've seen Regina and Gary both struggle with not seeing this at the time, which hammers home that how we see others is so dependent on how much they allow to be visible.  We're all hiding things.

• On a lighter note, Theo Saville is spot-on with that comment that, "Cats don't blink like people do, so if you get into a staring contest with a cat, you're going to lose."  We were cat-sitting this summer and came home one day to find one of the cats sitting still under the TV console with eyes wide open.  Everything seemed like fun and games at first, until the cat didn't blink for at least 60 seconds, and we thought she died under there.  Fortunately, a mild shake of the console startled her,  and she dashed off, but that was not cool, cat.  Not cool.

• Positive Katherine note:  Good for her for being graceful when Sophie came over.  Not every adult would keep their priorities in the right place in that situation.

• Not-as-positive Katherine note:  She keeps mentioning how much Jon was there for her, and it's starting to feel a touch creepy.  Was there something going on there between the two of them?

• Sam Huntington's Tom is really not good at protecting Maggie's privacy, and we're still hoping he's not going to become a larger character.

• Gerald McRaney ends up being in this episode for a total of about three minutes, but he owns those three minutes.

• It's a temporary pause in the tension at the end, but it's also a universal truth:  Pizza always makes things better.

Final Thoughts:

There are so many issues flying around on A Million Little Things, but it feels like the show's pace is slowing down a step. That gives all of these stories a chance to breathe a little more and let the audience become more invested in both them and the characters.  We find ourselves rooting for everyone, except for Ashley, as they navigate all of these challenges.

See you next week!

Who wants pizza?  (pic via tvfanatic.com)