A Million Little Things Review: Grand Canyon (Season 2 Episode 2)

Everyone’s afraid of failure on A Million Little Things Season 2 Episode 2, “grand canyon,” and it’s totally relatable. 

Honestly, the people that I’m most invested in succeeding right now are Eddie and Katherine, even though the journey back to love — if they can get there — is going to be a rough one.

TV shows rarely invest in this journey. Fictional couples get divorced for any and every reason at all, and it’s usually exhausting.

Whether Katherine and Eddie succeed or not isn’t the most important part of their journey right now. It’s the fact that A Million Little Things is daring to tell the story of them trying. 

Real couples try. They go through ups and downs and stay together after many difficult years.

Love isn’t as black-and-white as together or apart. New love or old love. Fans could be mesmerized by the gray for many seasons, and one show is trying to delve into that in a very authentic way. 

There was a time on the show that Katherine and Eddie didn’t feel right for each other at all. Now, even if they don’t make it back to whatever their happy enough place is, at least they’ve really tried. 

They’ve tried in spite of some really gossipy school moms, and just that deserves awards. No matter who is around you, whether it’s gossipy women or close family members — some people don’t deserve to know your truth.

But faking your reality is hard. I’ve never related to Katherine more than at Theo’s school garden day when she is trying to escape catty women. Eddie also does a wonderful job whisking his family to safety. 

Hopefully, the Saville family eroding transforms them into something even more beautiful than before. Especially for Theo’s sake. (Though perhaps not as beautiful as the Grand Canyon.) 

One relationship that may not survive further erosion is Maggie and her mother Patricia’s. 

Of course, we don’t know who Eric (Jason Ritter) is. The show has literally just begun to throw all of this up in the air.  

Maggie doesn’t seem to know him either, seeing how she interacts with him before Patricia gets to the restaurant.

If Patricia has been trying to use him as a replacement son after Chad’s death, that’s so much more loaded than if they are lovers. None of those options are good. 

Poor Maggie. 

Gary has never been more annoying than on this episode. First and foremost, his skepticism of psychics is ridiculous. Not so much because he doesn’t believe in them, but because he pushes his beliefs so much. 

You don’t have to share someone’s beliefs to support them through an experience. But if you find yourself somewhere you don’t want to be under the guise of support, for the love of everything, just suck it up and actually support them. 

Gary’s disbelief in psychics isn’t his worst offense, though. That would be telling Maggie about the nature of her and her mother’s relationship. 

He means well enough here. But even considering their history fighting cancer together, Gary and Maggie haven’t been together long. 

No matter who you are, it’s silly and plain wrong to think you can give a mother and daughter advice on their own relationship and know better than they do. 

Whoever Eric is, my heart breaks for Maggie that he exists. Her boyfriend convinces her to let her walls down with her mother, and if she’d listened to her gut, she’d be safe. 

This is definitely going to cause more tension between Gary and Maggie, and it will be justified. 

A Million Little Things’ biggest weakness right now is excess, and that can’t exactly be helped. 

Katherine, Rome, and Regina take a back seat on the episode, but I still care about them. 

The pacing of Rome’s suicide hotline training is nice. PJ is just getting in the way. 

It’s completely possible that PJ is Jon’s child and Jon and Barbara were hiding it. If that’s the case — it’s a weak twist, simply because it’s easily guessable. 

But even if Sophie, Danny, and Charlotte have a new sibling to welcome into their lives, it’s hard to understand why viewers should really care about PJ. 

He’s a decent enough kid and Rome should help him, but he doesn’t inspire too much empathy. Especially considering the fact that his parents seem to care more about keeping their secret than they do about their son. 

If his parents can’t love him through this and tell the truth, why should we care?  The story just hasn’t done well building PJ up.

Plus, his parents quite insufferable. There is so much anger between both of them that is so hard to understand. 

It already seems as if Eric’s story will be far more intriguing. Fingers crossed fans won’t have to feel guilty for liking him. 

A Million Little Thoughts:

• someday. better succeed because I need to keep believing in dreams.
• The mystery of the song Delilah is trying to remember is engaging enough — but the payoff is a letdown.
• Andrew and Delilah are becoming something, but it’s unnecessary to make that so clear right now.

What did you think of this episode of A Million Little Things? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

A Million Little Things airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

Jason Ritter Joins ‘A Million Little Things’ Season 2