A Million Little Things recap: The gang contends with musicals, moms, and mixed signals
We pick things up with episode 3 of A Million Little Things‘ second season just where we left off last week. P.J. explains to Rome why he thinks Jon is his father, citing the video Jon left Barbara in which he apologizes for what happened between them and not being there for her and the baby. He also points to the fact that both he and Jon suffer from depression, which could be hereditary. Rome isn’t totally convinced but also lets it slip to P.J. that the last thing Jon did was leave him half a million dollars. Sure, that’ll dispel all P.J.’s suspicions.
Down at the park, Delilah meets a new friend who she assumes is a new mother like her but is actually a grandmother. She’s feeling a bit old when Andrew calls and asks her out on what’s possibly a date and she gets all giggly like a teen. Everyone teases her about it being a date but when she and Andrew finally get to a fancy restaurant that evening, they both admit they’re not really ready to date. They seem to find common ground in those feelings and have a good time nonetheless.
Over at Gary and Maggie’s, the latter is mad about her mom meeting with a man. She’s pretty convinced it was a date and feels like an idiot for thinking her mom was in town to see her. Gary tries to make amends with her since he was the one to suggest she make an effort with her mom, so he brings her a “$12 latte” as a peace offering. Since he’s in her office — and because he apparently never has to go to work himself — he lies down on her sofa and pretends to be a patient. He explains he was only trying to help, adding that it’s the first time he’s lived with a woman and admits they’re having growing pains. Maggie pounces on that, asking why it’s his first time living with a girlfriend. He says he doesn’t know, and she offers a professional opinion: His problems living with women stem from his mom leaving him when he was 9 years old. He’s unconvinced…for now.
Taking Gary’s advice to address her own problems, Maggie goes to see her mom. When she gets there, her mom’s crying and saying how she wishes everyone knew how sorry she was. Turns out she’s on the phone with Eric? I’m assuming that’s the dude from last week played by the lovely Jason Ritter. She continues apologizing and says she doesn’t regret knowing him or what they have, she just regrets hurting people. That’s when Maggie jumps in, demanding to know who Eric is. Her mom explains he’s a friend she met a month ago and Maggie asks if she’s seeing him. Her mom denies it but admits she came to Boston to see both Eric and her daughter. Hurt, Maggie tells her mom she’s now lost both her dad and her.
Avoiding his own momma issues, Gary instead throws himself into coaching Danny through a Grease audition. The kid’s anxious because he has a callback for the role of Kenickie and is up against his ex Elliot for it. To help him prep, Gary brings Danny a leather jacket and teaches him all the moves to “Greased Lightnin'” — apparently Gary dabbled in musicals in high school. Later, Gary goes with Danny to the audition and gives him a pep talk when he gets nervous. Danny’s also pretty sad because he really liked Elliot and it hurt so much when he stopped talking to him, so Gar offers some relationship advice too, telling him how he has been left as well, naming Alice (totally his mom) who broke his heart. He tells Danny they can’t let it stop them, that other people will love him in the future and those people will never stop. Gary then listens from outside the audition room as Danny nails the callback. He later tells his mom he didn’t get the part of Kenickie — he landed the part of Danny Zucko instead! Go, Grease Lightnin’!
On the Eddie/Katherine front, Theo has been invited to a sleepover and is eager to go to give his parents some alone time, even though he’s terrified of pretty much everything. Feeling a bit awkward alone together in a quiet house, Eddie and Katherine head out and wind up sharing a kiss after a flirtatious game of pool. Ultimately, Katherine pulls away and tells Eddie this is all new territory for her and she’s going to be sending him mixed signals for a while. He’s okay with that and tells her he’ll follow her lead. Just then, they get a text saying they need to go get Theo and head home to have dinner as a family. All is going well until Theo drops the bomb that he hid Katherine’s suitcase so she couldn’t leave again. Nothing like a guilt bomb to ruin your appetite for pancakes, eh?
Meanwhile, at the restaurant, Gina is trying to be open to suggestions from Andrew but ultimately cracks, drawing parallels between his control over the place and the way her uncle abused her when she was a kid. She tells Rome she wants to buy him out of the restaurant so she can do it her way, and Rome decides to take on a directorial gig to help raise the cash. He’s also ready to share his truth and tell the world his script is based on his true story and in doing so, knocks back a high-flying producer’s suggestions to change the suicide arc to a sports injury one. Gina is also ready to share her story and decides to attend a benefit at the women’s shelter she donated her uncle’s money to. She’s a survivor and proud of it.
After telling his mom he applied to art school and is concerned he won’t get a scholarship, P.J. asks if she and his dad can help. Barb tells him they can’t afford to help him out and P.J. — who was testing her to see if she’d fess up about the money Jon left him — decides to go to more extreme lengths now to prove his parentage and ships Jon’s sweater he stole from D’s house off for DNA testing.
Back at Gary and Maggie’s place, the former opens up about his mom leaving when he was a kid and later decides to call her, but he hangs up when she answers. Rather than talk to his own estranged mother, he invites Maggie’s over for breakfast, but when they open the door, her mom has brought Eric along and Maggie is not pleased. Her mom thought it was about time they got to know one another. Let’s start placing bets, shall we? Boyfriend is too obvious so could Eric be her grief consoler? Her illegitimate kid? Her dog walker?
Maybe we’ll find out next week! See you then.
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