‘A Million Little Things’ Season 2, Episode 5 ‘Austin’ Review: Family Is Family

When you think the episode has gone by too fast, it more or so means it’s a good one. And this week, A Million Little Things just did that. In this episode titled ‘Austin,’ it’s more about the little things, the build-up you could say, for grander or more devastating moments in the show. What I love about it is how A Million Little Things continues to cook up these small but significant twists in the stories. It just adds on top of each other and when the show drops something big every now and then, we’re left in emotional heaps on the floor. Now, isn’t that nice?

This week on A Million Little Things, we pick up on last week‘s remnants of the storm. Gary (James Roday) continues to feel disconnected from Maggie (Allison Miller) while Eddie (David Guintoli) and Katherine (Grace Park) look for a fresh start for their marriage. Meanwhile, Rome (Romany Malco) revisits an old issue with Regina (Christina Moses) about having kids while trying to get through his parents’ 50th-anniversary celebration. And last but not least, Delilah (Stephanie Szostak) tries to organize a photoshoot to welcome their new family addition for the first time without Jon.

The Magic of House Window Shopping

One night while reading to Theo (Tristan Byon), Eddie discovers that Katherine has been looking at houses and new jobs in Austin, TX. Initially, he decides against asking her about it in fear of confirming his thoughts. But, at Gary and Rome’s urging, Eddie confronts Katherine.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Just as Eddie feared, Katherine wanted to move to Austin. She wants a fresh start where nobody’s constantly on their toes around them and where nobody’s always in their business. However, she knows it’s not possible because Eddie has to be there for baby Charlotte. In an attempt to cheer up his wife, Eddie takes her to an open house right across the street.

Funnily enough, the pair pose as a couple from Austin. And in true house window shopping, they allow the realtor to tour them around urging that sense of fresh start that Katherine wanted. It also seems to have further rekindled the romance between them. When the realtor left them alone to entertain another family, the two get on a little impulsive romp in the walk-in closet. And later that night, they part ways with a sweet kiss like it was their first date all over again.

A 50th Anniversary Cruise

Meanwhile, Rome is back to directing commercials. Now, he’s doing one for Lexus. Regina is naturally proud of what seems to be great work but, it doesn’t last long. When she sees that Rome based his commercial on their car conversation where Rome suggested having a child and Regina firmly said no, she flips out. Only in Rome’s commercial, the couple has a happy ending.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Later on, with the issue still boiling between them, Regina and Rome set up a 50th-anniversary lunch for Rome’s parents, Walter (Lou Beatty Jr.) and Renee (L. Scott Caldwell). Before this, Rome and Regina were nervous that Walter wasn’t going to give his wife the gift she wanted most, an Alaskan cruise, but the old man pulled through. Unfortunately, it’s Walter’s presentation of the gift that causes a problem. He presents the gift to Renee in something along the lines of “There, woman, are you happy now?” And it blows up to be a full-fledged quarrel.

Regina goes to try and convince Walter to apologize. But, the old man adamantly refuses. He says that he should be allowed to stand up to his wife for something he doesn’t want to do reflecting Rome and Regina’s current predicament. Rome, on the other hand, successfully convinces his mom to hear his dad’s apology. Unfortunately, Walter leaves.

In Marriage, It’s All About the Compromises

At the end of the day, Renee decides that she’s not going home until Walter apologizes. So, she goes home to Rome and Regina. Just as the elevator doors open, however, guess who’s standing in the hallway dressed up in full captain of the ship attire? Walter. It seems that Regina’s earlier plea for him to consider that his wife wants to go on the cruise WITH him did make him realize that he was kind of an ass.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Later on, Regina tells Rome that she wants to stay married as long as his parents. But, they can’t do that without talking about what’s going on between them. As Regina explains, she also wants a happy ending where they’re both happy. Rome wants it as well. But, right now, they don’t know where to go from there.

How to Learn to Live Again

On the other hand, not everything’s going well with Maggie and Gary. Earlier in the day, Maggie skips out on their supposed meeting with the cancer recovery group. So, Gary goes in alone. There, he asks the group advice about how to support Maggie after cancer. And they give him insight that maybe the real reason that she didn’t want to come to the meeting was not that she was busy but because she wants to move on.

Meanwhile, after Maggie and Delilah pose her apartment for some photos, Maggie is hit with a wave of emotion for her brother. Missing him so much, she makes an impulsive decision and heads for Eric’s (Jason Ritter) music store in tears. After calming her down, the two bond over music. Eric reveals that he doesn’t actually know how to play any instruments contrary to what you’d expect with a music store owner because the store was actually his fiance’s. In turn, Maggie reveals that she used to play the piano for her brother. She had dreams of music. But, when she got sick, she stopped. In an attempt to encourage her to pick it up again, Eric offers her a flyer for an open mic night at a piano bar nearby and Maggie seems to consider it.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Later on, when Maggie and Gary finally have some time alone, Gary asks Maggie about what’s going on. Maggie admits that ever since she met him, she was living a dying path. But now, with cancer gone, she has to relearn how to live again. Gary hopefully offers to be with her on that journey. But, Maggie tells him it’s something she has to do on her own.

That night, Gary comes home to an empty apartment. He sees the piano bar flyer and heads over to the place. There, he sees Eric in the audience. But, Maggie isn’t the one who’s on stage. She has picked music back up though, make no mistake about that. It’s just that she’s starting out alone singing this emotional and beautiful piano rendition of “Let My Love Open The Door” to an empty audience at her old apartment.

New Traditions

At the Dixon’s, Sophie (Lizzy Greene) manages to convince Delilah to continue their old tradition of taking a family photo for Charlie’s birth announcement. But apparently, both Delilah and Danny (Chance Hurstfield) aren’t into the idea. Still, they try.

Seymour (Richard Kind), the family photographer, immediately rushes over to take the portrait. But, in the end, no pictures were taken. Danny didn’t want to do it without his dad so he locks himself up in his room. When Delilah admits that she also didn’t feel right doing the tradition, Sophie also gets upset and locks herself in her room. It’s a total disaster.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Before Delilah could catch up to her kids, Maggie calls. Earlier, she shared with Delilah that similar to them, her family also had a New Year tradition with Chad. But, when he died, they stopped doing it. In the call, Maggie says that the reason for that was that it was too painful for her parents. And now, she realizes that what they should’ve done was create a new tradition to remind that they were still family.

Inspired by Maggie’s call, Delilah gets to meet her children with a compromise. It might be hard to take a family picture without Jon but, it’s what he would’ve wanted. He’d still want them to be a family. This time, instead of being it just the three of them, Delilah invites the whole gang/family over. Even Katherine is there. And the picture turns out better than anyone could’ve expected.

A Million Little Things continues Thursday, October 31st, with “Unleashed” at 9/8c on ABC.