(Recap) A Million Little Things: Episode 6 "Unexpected"
11/01/2018
First, a bit of good news that ABC has decided to give A Million Little Things a full season. Looks like we're all going to be hanging out together for a few more months. Excellent! Now, this week's episode sees secrets being revealed and new secrets popping up in this group like weeds, as the show cops out on a crucial moment. Grab a coffee, and let's discuss.
Warning: Spoilers ahead
Observations:
- "Game Night" at Rome and Regina's house seems to have a double meaning, since we've got board games and the games being played out over Delilah's pregnancy.
- According to our clock, it took Rome exactly three minutes to spill the beans about the pregnancy. Note to self: Do not tell Rome secrets.
- Eddie's coming across as a bit desperate when he tells Delilah this baby could be a good thing for them. It also seems pretty clear that she's lying when she tells him that the baby is Jon's. Subtlety is one thing this show doesn't do that well. The question then becomes, how long will it take for the truth to be revealed here?
- Eddie's also clearly talking about more than his setlist when he says, "I just wanna get it...right."
- (By the way, at some point, we should do a ranking of how much we like each group member. Eddie's in the bottom half for us so far.)
- Has this series always had such a strong blue/green tint to it? There's a symbolism there, but what is it?
- Okay, we are not fans of Regina's mom Shelly at all. Holy obnoxious lack of boundaries, Batman. She's almost enough to make us want to change the channel. She could be our least favorite character, except that there's the matter of Ashley, and speaking of her...
- We're having a bit of a hard time following the secrets that Ashley is keeping, but there's no excuse for not having given Delilah Jon's suicide note. Also, we admit to getting suckered when it looked like she was finally going to hand it over, but that blurry vision during Delilah's angry response was probably our clue that this was all in Ashley's head. Fans aren't going to get a resolution to this until the season finale, are we.
- Who do we think Barbara Morgan is? An illegitimate daughter, perhaps?
- Shelly's back again, and we're reaching for the remote. Now she's keeping a secret for Rome, and wait, she also mentions that everything is blue. What's that about?
- Two thoughts about Theo: He seems wound up pretty tight - is that normal for a kid his age, or is he heading down his own troubled path? Second, his hat is blue. What are we showing here? Is it the onset of winter? The sense of death that's hanging over everyone? We need to look into that further.
- Of course Gary is the one to drive Delilah to the women's health clinic and tell her he's always got her back. The show has established that he's the support system for everyone, plus, he's got a dog, so Gary is topping our list of favorites. Now, about the clinic...
- We had this whole set of notes about how brave it would be for A Million Little Things to show Delilah going through with her abortion, because it's rarely mentioned on television and seems to often be quickly dismissed as an option when it does come up. However, the show mishandles the entire situation, thus doing a disservice to the audience. Maybe the show's producers decided they didn't want to anger social conservatives even more since they're already covering suicide and adultery, but this was a missed opportunity.
- Seriously, has everything always been this blue?
- Presumably Eddie's comment about, "Just because you're scared doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, " will convince Maggie to change her mind about another round of chemotherapy, yes?
- Shelly has to go. Just...she has to go.
- Maybe we missed this, but how did Regina find Rome's suicide note? Where and why was he keeping it? Also, Romany Malco's performance in this scene is heartbreaking.
- So Jon was broke? Does anyone else think this plotline is having a hard time coming together?
- Is it a bad sign for Katherine's role on the show when she's the only main character (besides Jon) not to appear in this episode?
- There it is, Delilah lied about the baby's father, and...Eddie's going to go along with it? Oh come on. How long is that going to last? We're going to need a flowchart to work through all of the secrets and who is keeping what from who with this crew.
Final Thoughts:
This felt like the most frustrating episode of the series so far. The show hopped from problem to problem without pause, and the abortion chapter was a major misfire. We're concerned that there are too many secrets and lies for the show to be able to properly develop, but they've got more episodes to work with now, so the journey continues. What did you think of it?
See you next week!
Delilah has a lot on her plate. (pic via tvline.com)
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