Over the course of the first season, A Million Little Things took us down many emotional paths. A suicide of a dear friend, an intertwined love triangle, a battle against cancer for survival, a will to live despite intense depression and the process of healing among a group of friends that are more like family. Each week it delivered “all the feels” in amplified form and put us through the emotional wringer.
The Season 2 premiere episode, ‘Coming Home’, does not fail to deliver.
Perhaps the strongest and most emotionally wracking aspect of ‘Coming Home’ is that of the continuing love triangle between Katherine (Grace Park), Eddie (David Giuntoli) and Delilah (Stephanie Szostak). In the first season finale, Katherine is ready to try to work through the affair and save her marriage to Eddie. In the premiere episode for this season, Eddie reveals to Katherine the heartbreaking truth: Delilah’s baby is his too, and he couldn’t let her believe the lie that the baby belonged to Delilah’s deceased husband.
The revelation hits Katherine hard and provides the saddest moment of the episode. As we watch Eddie finally tell her the truth, we see her heart shatter into a million pieces and can’t help but feel our hearts break too. Her face crumples and she chokes on sobs, yet, even in what may be one of the worst truths Katherine ever has to endure, she is still selfless and tells Eddie to be at the hospital for the baby this time, as he missed their son’s birth years before. This emphasizes the strength that Katherine’s character possesses, and our respect for her has definitely grown because of it.
As always, each of the friends are dealing with something in their own lives and the episode expertly revolves around each of them. Rome (Romany Malco) realizes he wants a baby, but his wife Regina (Christina Moses) isn’t on the same page. This will likely be a struggle for them throughout this season. Will their different views on parenthood break them up? Will Regina change her mind? Or maybe even Rome? The possibilities are limitless, and the tests that come with marriage, alongside the natural changes a person will go through in their desires, will surely be addressed for this couple over the course of the season.
Meanwhile, Gary (James Roday) and his girlfriend Maggie (Allison Miller) are having something of a domestic dispute in their first moments of living together. While Maggie later spills the reason as to why she’s upset, this incident gives us an inside look as to what’s to come for these two.
For a new relationship, these two have already been through so much that has tested their strengths, their wills and their sanity. Now it seems things are slowing down to something of a more normal speed as the two tackle living together. It seems most of their drama is over, apart from a sneak peek into the following episode that has Maggie’s mother coming for a visit. On a show like this, you never know what’ll happen next.
Speaking of which, ‘Coming Home’ threw us for a loop with the confession that Gary knew the entire time that Eddie was the baby’s father, and not Jon. The confession was completely out of the blue, and it makes us wonder what else he may know, what kind of toll it took upon him in keeping it a secret as long as he did, and how this will affect his friendships now. Can his other friends trust him? Will there be resentment down the line in that he kept the secret to himself? People are unpredictable and you never know how they’ll react.
On the other hand, Delilah’s life is surely set for a tailspin of secrecy and deceit this season. Struggling to breastfeed her newborn daughter may very well be the least of her problems. For example, while her elder daughter seems thrilled about having a new sibling, Delilah’s son does not appear to share the sentiment. Their family dynamic has distinctly changed, and Danny may have a harder time adjusting, which could surely cause rifts in the family unit.
The drama of this love triangle may also affect their happy home, as Eddie cannot claim Delilah’s baby as his too. With all the secrecy, it’s more than likely something will slip out at some point, especially to the wrong people. Namely, Delilah’s two older children. Finding out about their mother’s affair and about their sibling’s true parentage may very well cause serious damage, further breaking up the family that has tried to stay strong since the loss of their father and husband to suicide.
Add in the fact that PJ, the boy who read Rome’s script last season and loved it, turns out to be the son of Barbara Morgan, who was last season’s biggest mystery. If ‘Coming Home’ is anything to go by, that storyline is far from over. PJ seems to believe Jon may be his real father, or may at least have a connection to him. Plus, he broke into Delilah’s house and took Jon’s sweatshirt. He’s desperate for answers and his quest may also interfere with whatever tranquility Delilah may achieve this season.
On another note, Katherine, though strong enough to hold it together for her son and to tell her estranged husband to support Delilah and the baby, needs some time to process the fact that her husband had a child with another woman. Her marriage and life as she knows it may be over. She likely feels used and fooled, as she was ready to forgive and move on. Will there ever be a reunion between Katherine and Eddie? That possibility seems to quickly be fading away.
Katherine’s personal struggle may be coming to the fore this season, as she wonders whether she can take the permanent result of Eddie’s affair in the form of a baby and forgive him for yet another indiscretion. She may be facing some serious inner conflict on what to do next and how to handle what she’s been dealt. We feel sorry for her, and perhaps it is best she and Eddie break up, because it seems staying together does more harm than good. Whatever may be in store, it’s definitely going to be a personal breakthrough for the characters and an intense season for the audience as it all unfolds.
‘Coming Home’ has left us with a million emotions. In just one episode we’re seeing the complications introduced last season developing, and adding new ones on top of those. The writing is intricately portrayed, and the actors deliver in perfect synchronization. The chemistry has not wavered, the plot has not backed down from the challenge of being complicated, intertwined and interesting, and the emotions are all still there.
The best thing about this show is that there is nothing like it. It’s real. It’s talking about mental health and breaking stigmas that are ingrained in society. It’s portraying all these real-life scenarios and openly depicting the flaws that so many humans possess but are afraid to acknowledge.
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