The hour had so many sweet spots as these lovable characters continued to navigate life and all of its unpredictability.
Gina’s relationship with her father is one of the highlights of A Million Little Things Season 4 Episode 13, along with some classic Gary and Danny goodness, and this new stage in Katherine and Eddie’s life where they feel more like best friends than exes.
They also brought some angst and conflict with Rome confronting his past and Maggie deciding that she wants children.
As the season progresses, it feels like A Million Little Things is preparing itself for an end. So many of the issues that crop up with them are resolved easily enough or can be by the end of the season, and they don’t introduce anything so massive that it’ll leave fans reeling.
More than anything, they’ve honed in on following the day-to-day issues of these characters and how life affects them.
The happy endings for the characters are falling into place, and everything else is orbiting around that. It’s an apparent finality to that — something that speaks to a series that’s in a stage of the season where they’re playing it safe enough while uncertainty lingers.
Most of the big points in their lives are falling into place.
Gina and Ronald’s relationship is one of the sweet spots of the hour and this back half of the season. He loves her so much, and he’s beside himself with ways to show it. And even when they butt heads a bit, or he does something extra, she looks at him with such excitement and gratitude that she’s finally the apple of her father’s eye.
It’s adorable to witness that, and it’s the happiest we’ve seen Gina outside of her highest moments with Rome. It’s incredibly sweet that they’re navigating this new phase in their relationship where they can be happy. And they’re both getting so much out of this time that they’re spending together.
My roommate has more makeup than the Kardashians combined.
Gary
Sometimes, it feels like it’s too good to be true. You can never trust this series that, at its heart, is a drama and knows it. Gina has this connection with Ronald that we never saw with her mother, so it’s been a refreshing sight.
Ronald has so much faith in her, and he’d give her the moon if he could. It’s no wonder that he hears what she says and thinks about the best way to appease her. His plan to buy the restaurant and let her start again was short-sighted, but he meant well.
However, the food truck was a great compromise. It’s every bit the Fresh Start that aligns with the name, and it’s something that she and her father bonded over in Miami. A food truck is a perfect way to have a catering company without a restaurant’s hassle.
She and Ronald are doing well together, and it’s nice to have Gina in a storyline of her own outside of serving as Rome’s support.
Of course, that leaves him and Tyrell. Bless the kid’s heart, he’s a neverending support to Rome, but he’s in over his head sometimes.
The hour delved into some of Rome’s past trauma with his experience as one of the only Black kids at a predominately white private school. He shared some of what he faced with Tyrell, and you felt for him.
The incident with the “Whites Only” sign on the water fountain was awful, and sadly, Rome never felt protected at the school. You could tell how much it scarred him that he reached out to adults when he faced racial harassment, and they dismissed it all.
He spent his entire time there biting his tongue and making himself small because he learned that his feelings didn’t matter; nothing would be done. Racial harassment was something he’d just have to take because no authority figures would intervene and ensure that he and the others felt okay.
Not much has changed in that regard with how schools address racial harassment. Everyone is so uncomfortable or defensive when it comes to discussing it that it’s not a surprise what Rome faced back then is the type of thing that still happens today.
Hell, personally, that experience was a relatable one well into grad school.
But as we’ve seen, Rome is just walking, talking trauma this season. One would give for a glimpse into any of his sessions with his therapist.
He’s a raw livewire of emotions in every way. It’s like everything around him triggers something, and he can’t find any peace anywhere, and it’s sad.
He unearthed all of these traumatic experiences from that school, and then he was going there to confront them somehow, but I’m not sure he was in the right mind frame for that.
It shocked him when a former classmate of his who endured the same treatment he did, worked at the place. However, what he said made sense. He wanted to be the change that the academy needed. His mission is to change the school so that those who come after them don’t have to endure the same thing.
He’s a quintessential educator in that way. And we all know that it takes work, compromise, and, yes, putting up with some things you’d otherwise avoid to get that done.
Rome’s surprise that the same man who left such a damaging effect on him as a youth is the school’s dean was understandable. However, this is also how things tend to pan out.
Thank you for putting up with me. It was wrong of me to cancel on you, and the truth is Theo didn’t really need me there.
Eddie
It was unfair of him to judge his former classmate so harshly for still working at the place and under the dean. He knows better than anyone how these things work, and if his friend intends to make changes, he’d have to work within the flawed system to shake things up.
He wants to show the kids Rome’s documentary, which is amazing, but it’s concerning that Rome is so caught up in his trauma that he can’t see the damage he may cause to the students like him currently there if he focuses more on exposing the dean. It could jeopardize what his friend is trying to do.
Tyrell sees the warnings signs in this, but it doesn’t seem like Rome is inclined to listen at the moment.
Gary’s attempts to help Danny backfired, and for a bit, it seemed like we had another Dixon mad at Gary.
You cannot blame Gary for his reservations about Milo. Danny does deserve better than a boyfriend who cheats on him. But Gary should’ve voiced his initial opinion and left it there, especially after what happened to him recently.
It got too messy when Milo overheard the exchange, and there was more friction between Danny and Milo.
I understand that Danny wanted to emphasize that he can relate to Milo’s loneliness and can forgive him. They’re young and living in two different countries. It’s hard to say if they’ll manage to make things work this time when Danny goes back to Paris.
But it’s unhealthy for Danny to assume that he has to put up with whatever he can get because of the lack of out gay guys his age. I call foul on Danny not being able to find other gay boys in France. It’s freaking FRANCE!
But at least Danny’s bout of brattiness disappeared as quickly as it came, and he remains the best Dixon. Heaven knows it’s not Delilah, who somehow didn’t know her son hopped on an eight-hour flight to Boston until after he arrived.
And Gary’s ability to manage Danny and show how amazing a dad he can be was enough to prompt Maggie to ask her doctor about getting pregnant again.
It’s concerning that she didn’t have this talk with Gary before she went to the doctor, though. She has no way of knowing if they’re on the same page about this, and it’s evident that she wants a child with Gary.
She felt emboldened after her stance at the radio station. But it seemed like a rash thing to jump to when she’s still not sure if she has job security.
Sure, Cutler fired Jane as punishment for Maggie going against his wishes and supporting a woman considering abortion. However, someone has to replace Jane, right? Who is that person going to be?
Maggie’s victory is a small one, and as inspiring as her words were on the air, the other side knows that other people always face the consequence when Maggie goes on one of her crusades. No matter how cute it was that Jane and Nick could date now, she still lost her job because of Maggie.
And things like this always happen with Maggie getting like this. Somehow, she skates past consequences while others face the brunt of them, and she doesn’t mean it, but she usually hurts people she cares about, but it magically works out in the end.
Maggie has a knack for picking fights, and that’s what this one was. It feels like it should catch up to her, and who isn’t dreading when that happens?
Eddie: Can I ask you something?
Katherine: Yeah, of course.
Eddie: Was it me that sent you on your journey?
Katherine: Edward Savill are you asking if you ruined men for me? I promise you had nothing to do with it. I was never not attracted to you, it’s just now I’m attracted to her.
Another highlight of the hour was Eddie and Katherine’s scene together. They are in the best friend era of their relationship, and it’s beautiful to see.
They’re so much fun as best friends who can talk about anything and everything and love, support, and laugh. As someone annoyed that they tanked their marriage for drama, it’s a comfort that the natural chemistry between Giuntoli and Park is still thoroughly explored through an endearing friendship.
Their conversations are much lighter and freer. We get a different side of both of them in this context, and it makes their scenes together some of the most enjoyable at all.
Eddie may have moved on first, but he hit some roadblocks with Anna that Katherine never faced with Greta. It was good that he could talk things out with Katherine and do so comfortably.
They also got some of the conversations about Katherine’s sexuality out in the open too. Some people may have rolled their eyes at him, asking if he’s the reason that she started dating a woman, but they played that conversation well, with a mix of curiosity and humor.
It wasn’t coming from a bad place, and it allowed Katherine to explain how she’s felt about her sexuality in such a beautiful, honest way.
Eddie’s reservations about sleeping with Anna were understandable. He hasn’t been with anyone outside of Katherine since his accident, and there’s always been a comfort level with Katherine as a result.
It’s different embarking on that journey with someone new when your body is in a different state than it was before.
I actually wanted to talk to you about me having a baby.
Maggie
Fortunately for Eddie, Anna doesn’t care about any of that. If there was anyone who could embark on this journey with who wouldn’t judge him and genuinely seems to appreciate him for who and what he is right now, it’s Anna. They’re such a good match.
It’s hilarious that his ex-wife had to be the one to give him a pep talk about going to bang his girlfriend, but it’s adorable, too. Again, it’s the level of happiness that feels neat and settled.
Over to you, AMLT Fanatics. Do you love Eddie and Katherine’s friendship? Are you shocked by Maggie’s desire to have a baby? Sound off!
You can watch A Million Little Things online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.