‘A Million Little Things’ Season 2, Episode 4 ‘The Perfect Storm’ Review: Forgiveness

Out of all the tearjerking episodes on A Million Little Things, this might just be the only episode that had me bawling with happy tears. The writing was beautiful and there were so many surprising twists to the episode. And in this episode, one character who really stood out among the rest was James Roday’s Gary. Though he wasn’t the emotional center of the episode, he was the anchor. He is such prominent support on all corners. And his performance just drives the direction of each scene he’s in where it should go. Ever since the first season of A Million Little Things, he was an amazing character but this is where you truly see that without him, this friend group would’ve crumbled a long long time ago.

Picking right off from last week’s tense ending, A Million Little Things continues with Maggie’s (Allison Miller) scuffle with her mother Patricia (Melora Hardin). But, now, there’s someone new in the picture, Eric (Jason Ritter.) And his place in their life is much more complicated than anyone can imagine. Meanwhile, Katherine (Grace Park) is doing her best fixing her marriage but, she also recognizes that Eddie (David Giuntoli) needs to be there for his daughter too. And last but not least, after kicking out Andrew, Regina (Christina Moses) faces a slew of problems for her restaurant that makes her double guess her decision. Here’s how that all went down.

Patricia’s Breakfast Surprise

It’s one thing to discover your mom getting cozy with a younger man and it’s another thing to see her bring him over to breakfast. That’s exactly what Patricia does. And apparently, he’s not who Maggie thought he was. Eric isn’t Patricia’s boy toy. Eric has her son’s (Chad) heart.

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As Patricia explains, Chad didn’t die immediately on-site as Maggie was told. He clung on for a few minutes at the hospital until Patricia got there. And that’s where she signed the form to donate his organs. When Patricia knew about Eric, she thought bringing him into their lives would make Maggie feel better just as it did to her. Distraught, Maggie walks out. Later on, Gary finds out that Eric was also the reason for Patricia and her husband’s split. Patricia’s husband made her choose between him or Eric and she chose the latter.

Finding out he’s the reason a family is in the midst of shambles upsets Eric. So, he leaves Patricia and happens upon Maggie. As the two settle in for some drinks, Maggie starts spilling her guts. She and her mom didn’t have the strongest connection since the beginning and it only got worse when Chad died. Hearing this, Eric tells Maggie that Patricia contacted him around the time she got sick. And the only reason Patricia did that was that she was terrified of losing her.

An Unmendable Wound

Meanwhile, Gary’s been searching all over town for Maggie. After getting some perspective from Delilah, he visits Patricia in her apartment. There, he finally forces her to face the truth. Even though knowing a part of Chad still lives on is comforting, Eric is not her son. And she has to make a choice whether he’s worth breaking her family over.

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Making her choice, Patricia heads to the airport with Gary to head home to mend her marriage. She sends Eric a message and Eric and Maggie catch up to her in time. With the new information from Eric, Maggie forgives her mother. But, it doesn’t last very long. Patricia reveals that when she came for Maggie’s operation, she made a pitstop to see Eric first. Heartbreakingly, Maggie realizes that even in death, her brother came first. She turns her back on her mother and rushes into Eric’s arms just in time for Gary to see them.

How to Complicate Patching Up A Marriage by the Savilles

Maggie’s not the only one having a complicated morning in A Million Little Things. Just when things couldn’t get any more awkward, Katherine is finally forced to meet Eddie’s child with Delilah (Stephanie Szostak). Being the admirable woman she is, she urges Eddie to be there for his child and to babysit baby Charlie with Rome for the day. That doesn’t mean, however, that her pain has gone away.

Hiding away her tears, Katherine heads off to work. And there, her good friend Carter (Sam Pancake) gives her some sensible piece of advice. As his exact words go, “What I can’t understand is “trying” to make it work.  You either make this work or you don’t…If you’re going to be in, be all in.”

Back at the Dixon’s, the frustration of the situation gets to Eddie. As he puts it, he doesn’t want to be just Charlie’s babysitter, he wants to be her father. Eddie’s frustrations further flare up when he can’t figure out how to stop baby Charlie from crying. Suddenly, he figures it out. Poor baby Charlie’s congested and the only way to get it out of her was a steam bath. So, Eddie and Rome take off their shirts and head to the shower.

As the minutes go by, Eddie picks up the ukelele and starts playing to amuse baby Charlie. And funnily enough, just when they’re starting the chorus of “You Can Count On Me,” Sophie barges in on the hilarious sight and takes a snap. What started as a frustrating situation turned out hilariously.

Regina’s Sign of the Times

On the other hand, the stress of continuous problems in the restaurant causes Regina to burst. Delilah tries to comfort her, but Regina snaps on her and seems to forget that Delilah is affected as she is being her partner and all.  Now, a power outage increases their problems.

While the kitchen staff tries to salvage their ingredients, a construction worker comes in soaking wet. Regina almost turns him away but, when he just asks for shelter to dry up, Regina decides to give him more than that. While preparing a meal for the guy, Regina tells Delilah about her first job in the kitchen. There, they had this tradition every morning before opening up to push the tables together and have breakfast together. This inspires Regina so when she serves the guy his meal, she tells him to invite his whole crew over.

Soon enough, the restaurant starts filling up with people of all ages and professions seeking shelter from the storm. So, tables are pushed together and everyone sits with each other no matter how different they. And everyone’s loving it. From this, a new idea for the restaurant is born: family-style dining.

Forgiveness Starts With A Million Little Things

Later on, the rest of the group starts trickling in. When Katherine unexpectedly turns up, the atmosphere quickly grows AWKWARD. Having had enough of it, Katherine confronts just tells them to stop for her own sake no matter their good intentions. Quickly swooping in after that tense moment, Gary cracks up a joke at his expense and quickly warms up the mood. With everybody settling down, Gary immediately checks up on Katherine and comforts her as best he could. At this point, Gary’s already making me sob because of how good a friend he is.

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Afterwhich, Katherine finally confronts Delilah. Once and for all, she accepts the truth that they’re going to be in each other’s lives forever so, they have to find a way to make it work. And all Katherine asks of Delilah is for her to sign some papers to finalize her ownership of the house.

Meanwhile, even though Gary’s looking out for everybody, he isn’t feeling so great himself. After discovering a text from Eric to Maggie saying he’ll always be there if she wants to talk, he couldn’t help but feel Maggie drawing further away. And no matter how much he tries to hide it, it’s eating away at him.

A Million Little Things continues Thursday, October 24th, with “Austin” at 9/8c on ABC.