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(Recap) A Million Little Things Episode 15: "The Rock"

Hi everyone,

Welcome back for another chat about the latest episode of "A Million Little Things!"  We're heading into the final stretch of season one, and while a number of questions have been solved, there seem to be new ones popping up every week.  It just so happens that episode 15 aired on Valentine's Day.  Is that good or bad for this group?  Let's discuss:

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

 

Observations:

  • Eddie gets this week's opening voice-over.  You know how we feel about Eddie, so this is not a good sign, but let's continue...

 

  • What exactly is that toy Linda is playing with?  Is it a Rubik's chain or something?  We had a Rubik's Cube back in the day.  Never could figure out how to solve it without taking it apart, so we're rooting for Linda here.  Of course, there's probably a website now that tells you how to solve the cube in two minutes.  Hmm, we might have to see if it's still in the attic...sorry, got distracted for a second.

 

  • Katherine's here, which is good to see after she was the only major character missing from last week's episode.  The Eddie - Katherine - Delilah triangle is a mess, as one would expect.  It was weird that Katherine helped Delilah deal with Jon's estate issues.  She surely did it out of loyalty to Jon, but she clearly loathes Delilah, as she should. 

 

  • Rome's dad is back.  It's a bad sign that he has to unexpectedly drop in on Rome to trick/guilt him into letting his brother stay with him for a while.  This is not a healthy family.  Romany Malco does a wonderful job of showing how desperate Rome is for his dad's approval, whether it's the scrambled eggs or agreeing to let Omar stay with him.  Rome remains at the top of our favorite characters list, and it's hard to see anyone challenging him for the title over these final weeks.

 

  • Nice shout-out to the Brattle Theater in Cambridge. 

 

  • Was that the first time we've heard Eddie call Katherine, "Katie?"  Feels like it is, and we're wondering if this is a hint of a thaw in their relationship.

 

  • Why is Rome's dad now making the bed for Omar?  This family needs group therapy.

 

  • This is the first time we've seen Jay Pharoah (playing Omar) since he left Saturday Night Live.  Omar is smooth, but it's clear he's a lost dude trying to figure out his place in the world.  Do we think he'll be back?  It seems like this show has thrown 100 side characters at us this year, and we're curious to see if any of them return for season 2.

 

  • Katherine gets into a car accident, and Eddie again refers to her as "Katie."  This is definitely a new thing.

 

  • Eddie stays with Katherine after the accident and looks after her at home while forgetting to call Delilah to say he can't meet up with her.  This triangle continues to get messier and messier.

 

  • Gary and Maggie make the first of several attempts to drive to Plymouth Rock, and everything suddenly turns blue again.  The color scheme is a bigger mystery to us than Barbara Morgan (who is nowhere to be found so far this week) at this point.

 

  • We get why Delilah is now out as a possible guardian for Theo, but it seems a little unfair to dismiss Rome and Regina so quickly.  Maybe they have decided to not have kids of their own (have we seen that?), but they might have felt differently about looking after Theo if tragedy occurred.  In any case, this seems to be heading in Gary's direction, and he's also a fine choice.  Gary would do anything for anyone in this group.

 

  • Katherine seems to have some issues with her sister Tina.  Two questions - will we see Tina at some point, and does anyone here have an easy relationship with any of their relatives?

 

  • Regina's last restaurant got a bad review in the Boston Phoenix, a weekly newspaper that went out of business in 2013.  That's a nice little way to highlight how long she's been waiting for another chance to run her own place.

 

  • Delilah has to call Eddie, since he never remembered to call her.  For those who like Eddie, this phone call (which Katherine overhears) is kind of a sweet sign that Eddie still cares about Katherine.  For others, it's a reminder that one counts on Eddie at his or her own risk.

 

  • Oh, Delilah totally messed up Danny and Elliot's date, didn't she?  Awkward.

 

  • Omar is a mess.  That's a lot of whining right out of the gate.

 

  • Gary tells Maggie not to sit down after they drop off the food for Katherine so they can leave quickly, and then...he immediately sits down on couch expressing concern for Katherine, which does not go unnoticed by Maggie.

 

  • Really enjoyed the part where Gary is forced to stop making jokes to hide his discomfort and eventually agrees to be Theo's legal guardian.  These are the little moments which A Million Little Things is good at presenting.

 

  • Gary makes a comment about what the Dixon kids, "have gone through over the last seven months."  The show has been roughly keeping in real time, so this should be closer to four months since Jon's suicide.  Was that a typo, or did we fast-forward a bit since last week?

 

  • Gary is looking after Maggie, dropping off an air mattress for Rome, bringing Katherine food from Regina and agreeing to be Theo's guardian.  He really is everyone's rock.  Oh, like Plymouth Rock.  Got it!

 

  • We start to wonder why Rome's dad so clearly plays favorites and is much more helpful to Omar.  It's got to be because he thinks Omar needs the help more than Rome.  (This is confirmed a few minutes later.)  We can debate the wisdom of that approach, but there's no argument that dad's crack about Rome and his antidepressants is a cheap shot.  Dad is pretty low on the list of favorite characters.

 

  • Omar is supportive of Rome doing whatever he needs to in order to deal with his depression, and it looks like there's about to be a thaw in the brothers' relationship.  Maybe Omar is also having the same battle.  Actually, didn't Rome's mom say his dad also deals with it?   There's a genetic component to depression, and we could see all of these guys having to talk about this down the road.

 

  • RIP, Linda.  There's no way Gary's about to tell Maggie what happened.  Off to Plymouth Rock they go.

 

  • We learn the significance of Eddie and Katherine's kitchen table, and our only question here is if they'll call off the divorce before end of the season finale.

 

  • There's Drea de Matteo!  Why does she care that Delilah is pregnant?  We better find out in the next two episodes.

 

Final Thoughts:

This week was a solid episode with a touch of love in the air.  There was a nice flow to all of the stories, and we felt more invested in the characters by the end of the show.  It was helpful to take a step back from the Barbara Morgan mystery (at least until the final scene) and focus on the little moments in this group's lives.  We've got two more episodes left, and here's hoping A Million Little Things can build on this to end their first season on a good note.

See you next week!

 

A Million Little Things Episode 15 February 15 2019Gary comes through for everyone.  (pic via abc.go.com)

 

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