'A Million Little Things' Recap: Who Will Die in the Season Finale?

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 15, 2019 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 15, 2019 |

As A Million Little Things winds its way toward the finale (one more episode until the season ender), the question of who will die at season’s end — as teased by showrunner DJ Nash a few weeks ago — weighs heavily. That is especially true with Maggie going into surgery to remove a cancerous tumor; with Delilah nearing childbirth; with Rome potentially in danger of spiraling into depression again; and with Katherine surviving a bad car accident in this week’s episode.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being toyed with here. Last week’s promo zeroed in on this week’s car crash, but that turned out to be a big to-do about nothing. Katherine totaled her car and badly hurt her leg, but all it seemed to do was bring her and Eddie closer together, even as they’re trying to work out their divorce agreement. In fact, they ultimately agreed to make Gary Theo’s custodian in the event that both Eddie and Katherine die.

That’s unlikely. D.J. Nash didn’t tease two deaths, and if Katherine and Eddie both die, it would take all the punch out of Delilah’s pregnancy, since no one knows but Eddie that the baby is Eddie’s, not Jon’s (and we all know that, as soon as Katherine and Eddie reunite, Katherine will find out).

It could be Maggie, but that would be an unusually cruel trick to play on viewers, who have spent the entire season with Maggie rooting for her to survive cancer. In last night’s episode, she and Gary tended to the needs of all their friends before they pay a visit to Plymouth Rock, one of the items on Maggie’s bucket list. She’s looking forward to life again — and spending it with her new family of friends — and she has an 80 percent chance of beating this. For Nash to pull the rug out from under us? Well, it’s way too early for the series to start playing those tricks on us. Besides, Allison Miller (who plays Maggie) has stated that her and Gary’s relationship “grows deeper throughout this season and there’s going to be a lot to explore in the second season.”

I’d say the same with Delilah and childbirth, too. It might create some short-term drama, but long-term, it would strand her two kids, unless Eddie and Katherine reunite and bring in Delilah’s entire family. That’s a bridge too far even for a soap opera. It also takes away the love triangle.

It’s not Regina, because DJ Nash said it was someone specifically mentioned in this interview, and she is not. It won’t be Ashley, either, because Nash has already let us know that she’s not dead, but also not returning this season while leaving open the possibility of returning at a later date.

That basically leaves Rome, whose brother Omar (Jay Pharoah) paid a visit this week. He was mostly used as a tool to drive a heart-to-heart between Rome and his father over the way his father seems to favor Omar. “I know you have your problems, but son … I don’t have to worry about you.” I don’t think it’s Rome, either, because it would most likely be owed to his depression, and two suicides are too many for one show.

Here’s what I think: I don’t think anyone “dies.” The quote from which this speculation is flowing comes from this interview, where Nash says, “One other teaser, I will say, is someone that we mentioned in this [interview], we say goodbye to them this year.”

He doesn’t say someone “dies.” He says that we “say goodbye to them.” What if we say goodbye to someone who is already dead? Namely, Jon. Would that not make perfect sense? The show wraps up the mystery surrounding Barbara Morgan in the final two episodes, and Delilah — who has already removed her wedding ring — gets some closure, allowing her to finally “say goodbye” to her dead husband. After all, Ron Livingston (who plays Jon) is arguably the biggest star on this show, and it’s unlikely that he sticks around to play a tertiary flashback character for another season, right? Much of the mystery has been resolved (hence, Ashley’s departure), and once the Barbara Morgan question is put to bed, the series can move ahead to new storylines and new secrets and probably a different season 2 mystery arc.

Next week: Maggie goes into surgery; Eddie and Katherine look like they’re reconciling; and Delilah finds out about Jon’s previous life before Barbara Morgan appears in her home.