‘A Million Little Things’ Season 2, Episode 17 ‘One Year Later’ Review: Dreams

Jon’s death anniversary has finally come to A Million Little Things. And it’s just as bittersweet as you’d expect. There were moments of when you’d think “oh no, oh dear” but, the show did a beautiful job of commemorating Jon’s death. This week’s episode titled “One Year Later” circles around how everyone has grown and changed ever since Jon’s death. And it was filled with forgiveness and fresh starts. As Rome (Romany Malco) said in the episode, everybody’s in a better place now. It’s no season finale by all means for A Million Little Things, but if it did end there, I wouldn’t be mad. It would actually be really nice going full circle and ending on such a warm note. But, then we’d still have a few loose threads hanging.

One of those is this thing with Eddie (David Giuntoli) and his sister. Last week, Lindsay (Sprague Grayden) closed off the episode with a mystery from their past. And now, “One Year Later” reveals that Eddie might’ve had something to do with the death of this Ashley girl. I really hope not. Eddie’s life choices aren’t the best but, seriously, the man needs a break from all the guilt. And then, there’s Maggie (Allison Miller) and Gary (James Roday). I swear, their relationship is one of the most frustrating things on A Million Little Things right now. I’m on team “just freaking get back together because it’s torture already.” But, oh well. Without further ado, let’s get into tonight’s episode.

Haunting Dreams

“One Year Later” opens with Gary’s haunting dream. Jon is in a chair playing video games while receiving chemo. Suddenly, Gary realizes that his IV needle is poking out. Then, he sees that the machine isn’t working. When he goes to check the plug, he sees a phone charger instead. Out of nowhere, Maggie appears and leaves him all over again. And as Gary turns back to Jon, Jon tells him that time’s up. After that, Gary wakes up.

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As it turns out, he’s not the only one having Jon dreams. Eddie, who’s been listening to Jon’s last voicemail to him over and over again recently, has also been visited by Jon in his dreams. In Eddie’s dream, he and Jon are in a boat. Eddie is guzzling down beer after beer then, suddenly, Jon falls off the boat. Eddie tries to reach for him but, instead of Jon’s hand, a woman’s hand with teal nail polish reaches out. When Eddie tells Gary about it, the latter thinks it means that he should patch up with Sophie (Lizzy Greene). But, I think it’s more or so related to his sister or that mystery thing about Ashley. It could also be about Dakota (Anna Akana). Eddie did just discover that she’s going the same path he once did. And he seemed pretty determined to save her.

Katherine Takes Off On Her Own

To commemorate Jon’s first year anniversary, Delilah invites everyone to dinner at her home. Katherine (Grace Park) comes over to help after a job interview. And while helping out Regina (Christina Moses), Katherine tells her that she shut down the job. Apparently, one of the partners said: “It would be good to have someone like you on the team,” a statement that can be so offensive on so many levels. So, good for Katherine! Hearing this, Regina tells her to go for something else, like say, creating her own firm.

Katherine is immediately reluctant about the idea. But, damn, if there’s someone who deserves that, it’s freaking Katherine. She’s been through so much in A Million Little Things. And yet, she went through all those with so much grace as the power woman she is.

Sophie Forgives

Even though he didn’t feel comfortable going to the Dixon’s, Eddie had to stop by to fetch Katherine and bring back baby Charlie. He is greeted by Sophie at the door and immediately receives a frosty reception. When he asks her why she’s not playing guitar anymore, Sophie tells him that it reminds her too much of him. Following that, she storms off. But, she overhears Delilah and Eddie’s conversation. Delilah’s encouraging Eddie to go to the cemetery since he hasn’t been there since Jon’s funeral. But, Eddie still feels guilty. If Sophie can’t forgive him, he doesn’t think Jon could either.

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Later on, Gary takes a minute to have a heart to heart talk with Sophie about her remaining resentment towards Eddie. And he advises her not to let the one mistake of a person erase everything that they’ve been through. As Katherine returns with Jon’s whiskey set, Sophie heads out to see Eddie. She takes him to the cemetery and admits that she’s tired of being mad. She now wants to move on.

Eddie spends a few minutes apologizing to Jon’s grave. Then, afterward, he plays Sophie the voicemail. As it seems, it was all Sophie needed to hear to finally forgive Eddie. With that, they patch up and return home together. Sophie’s reaction to the truth has been one of the most heartbreaking in A Million Little Things. And for a while, I was worried she’d really spiral down. But, it seems that this was one of the things she needed to do to also be able to push forward in her own life.

Skirting Around Feelings

On the other hand, Gary and Maggie continue to skirt around their feelings. Oh, these two. Just when they come close to finally admitting their feelings for one another, one of them backs away and just leaves.  It’s like A Million Little Things just really loves playing with us. Every single time, it frustrates me to no end like this time.

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While helping out for the dinner, Maggie runs into Gary at the bathroom. And of course, he makes jokes about the first time they met and had sex on one of those rooms. Then, he turns serious and tells her that he was dying too the first time they met. He just didn’t know it. He desperately tried to save her since he couldn’t save Jon and it put too much pressure on their relationship. The reason why he’s saying it now is that he didn’t want to say goodbye without saying it. In turn, Maggie admits she was broken as well. She also brought things to the relationship that ended them. And then, Gary walks away. Just like that, nothing! Seriously!

Later on, though, Maggie finds out from Regina that it was really Gary who gave her the wine on her failed date. Regina makes it abundantly clear that the guy is still in love with her. But, the thing is Maggie’s leaving for Oxford in a week.

The Dinner

At dinner, there is grief. But, mostly, there is warmth. Theo (Tristan Byon) makes a toast and talks about the Egyptians culture around death. He ends this by saying that as long as they remember Jon, he continues to live on. Rome adds that so much has changed since Jon died. They were all lost but, now, they are all in a better place not because Jon died but because he convinced them to live on.

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After dinner, Delilah and Regina declare that they have a surprise. They then take the whole group to the second floor of Someday. There they tell Katherine that the space is hers to use as her office for her own firm. Overcome with joy, Katherine tells the group that although she didn’t feel like she quite belonged before, now she does. And she considers everyone like family.

A moment later, Eddie and Katherine take a moment to celebrate on their own. And given that their anniversary is coming up soon, Katherine suggests they renew their vows.

Fresh Start

In the midst of all that, Rome also takes the time to thank Gary for saving his life. Knowing that Gary is also not in the greatest of places at the moment, Rome tells him that no matter how bad he felt, it’s never too late to start over. Then, after noticing Gary’s fleeting glances towards Maggie, Rome cracks and tells Gary about Maggie leaving for Oxford. Instead of chasing after her, Gary does the opposite. And he meets up with Darcy for a drink declaring that she’s his fresh start.

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On the other hand, Delilah finally allows herself to grieve back at home. With all her guilt about the affair, the problems with the house, and Charlie, she couldn’t grieve for her husband. And she now realizes that she’d do anything to have a second chance with him. Suddenly, Jon appears for the first time to her. He admits that he hasn’t been there for her in their last moments together. And he urges her to let him go.

In all that time in A Million Little Things, Delilah always thought she didn’t dream about Jon because he was mad at her. But, now, she could finally sleep in peace.

Meanwhile, at the Seville’s, Eddie’s worry about the girl with the nail polish continues to bother him. And he finally calls his sister to know the truth about Ashley’s death.

Father and Son

In the midst of all that, Rome was busy trying to get his father to therapy. Unfortunately, Walter discovers Rome’s suicide attempt through his movie script. Upset, Walter refuses to go to the therapist. He also tells his son some hurtful things and makes Rome feel ashamed for his condition all over again. So, Rome leaves. It takes Regina and her frankness to finally bring Walter around.

She tells him that she understands how she felt. She discovered Rome’s suicide letter in the trash for Pete’s sake. But, she moved past it because Rome needed her. And that’s what he needs from his father right now. She full-on tells him that he makes it hard for Rome to see that he loves him. And she thinks it’s because he’s afraid to see himself in Rome.

Later that night, Walter visits Rome and tells him that he’s glad that he’s still here. Then, he gives him a bag full of glow in the dark for their baby.

A Million Little Things continues Thursday, March 19th, with “Mothers and Daughters” at 9/8c on ABC.