‘A Million Little Things’ Delivers Most Heartbreaking Episode Yet (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 12 “Tough Stuff.”]
If you didn’t sob through the penultimate episode of A Million Little Things, including while Gary (James Roday Rodriguez) was making jokes throughout, you’re made of tougher stuff than we are.
As feared, after coughing up blood during Katherine (Grace Park) and Greta’s (Cameron Esposito) wedding, Gary is dying. His cancer has spread to his other lung, and it’s no longer responding to treatment. “This will be a fight,” his doctor warns. And fight Gary tries. He gets chemo. He shaves his head. He gets worse and worse, and soon, it’s Javi’s first birthday. Javi gets his dad a T-shirt reading “The Original” to go with his “The Remix.” Gary cracks a joke about being down to a medium and soon needing to raid Theo’s closet. No one laughs. “You gotta at least let me have my cancer jokes,” Gary tells them. “I’m here all week. We hope.”
His next appointment with the oncologist doesn’t leave them with much hope, but Maggie (Allison Miller) focuses on continuing to fight, refusing to just accept they’re at the point where they can only make Gary comfortable. “We’re at the point now where any treatment we try may affect his quality of life,” the doctor says. But Maggie read about a study using insulin therapy — very experimental, the doctor stresses — and decides that’s their next step. “Thanks for getting me this far, doc,” Gary says on his way out. “It means the world.”
In therapy with Jessica (Bresha Webb), Gary admits that while Maggie’s scared, he’s not. “I’m just really tired,” he shares. “Having Dr. Stein tell me I did everything I could was a huge relief.” Someone once told Jessica that every life has a length and a width, and it’s important not to sacrifice the latter for the former. Cue Gary’s “so you’re saying on top of everything else I’m dealing with now size matters?”
It’s after Gary has sat down with Katherine to go over his will (something he wants to keep between them for now) that Maggie comes home with the good news: He got into the study in Mexico. He tries to protest, but “the only reason that I am still here is you never let me give up,” she tells him, and to her, it’s not different. “You made me fight, which is what you’re going to do.” She even dares him to go, essentially taking the decision out of his hands.
But Gary knows this is likely not going to go his way. Yes, there’s a success story on the website, he tells Eddie (David Giuntoli) and Rome (Romany Malco), but his situation is completely different. But “end of the day, [Maggie] needs to believe that she did everything she could, so I’m going to give whatever life I have left to making sure she doesn’t spend the rest of hers regretting anything.”
That means the others have to be prepared to say “goodbye goodbye” at the airport. Danny (Chance Hurstfield) lies and says his interview for Harvard got pushed back; he’s really at home. (“Everyone has to deal with this in their own way. He knows I love him. I know he loves me. Danny and I are good,” Gary assures his sister.) Sophie (Lizzy Greene) decides to go to Mexico, ostensibly to help, but, as she later admits, to put off saying goodbye. Rome and Regina (Christina Moses) miss an event for her campaign. “We’re saying goodbye to our friend. Nothing else matters,” she says. “I needed a win,” he confesses, emotional.
And the group just happens to end up where Gary told Maggie to go to England. “Sometimes I wish I could get that time back,” Gary says now. To start off the farewells, Gary again jokes: “Look, I know this Mexico trip seems like a complicated way to get fluent in Spanish, but I’m also going to get a legit farmer’s tan, OK? This is a win-win, for everybody.” And then one by one, they hug him, trying to pretend they know they’ll see him again while Gary says, to each:
“I’m proud of you, OK? And not just because you’re aging so gracefully, although that’s most of it.” (Eddie)
“Hey, do me a favor: Take care of my best friend Rome while I’m gone, OK?” (Rome, who repeats that back to him)
“I think I’ll miss you most of all, Scarecrow.” (Katherine)
“It feels like a bit of an overstep for my future city councilwoman, don’t you think? Don’t worry. I mailed in my ballot.” (Regina, after she says she loves him)
“Love you, too.” (Delilah)
Then after an “I love you” to everyone, a wheelchair is brought out to Gary. “Oh, Ed, I get it, I get it,” he quips. It’s once Maggie wheels him inside that she has her realization and brings him back to the others. “Hey, bad news, Ed. You’re no longer the most handsome one of us in a wheelchair,” Gary calls out. “Good news, Rome. You are no longer the only one battling male-pattern baldness.” Maggie explains, “I realized that he needs to be here for whatever time he — he just needs to be here, with all of us.” So what now? “We go home and you help me unpack and we all get in one bed together,” Gary says.
But their home situation is what leads to Maggie breaking down, to Delilah (Stephanie Szostak). With talk of bringing in a hospital bed to make him more comfortable, they won’t even be sleeping in the same bed anymore, Maggie cries. “How am I supposed to do this? How did you do it?” Delilah tells her she’ll lean on them and get through it, like she did. “I’m going through the motions, and I know I don’t have much time with him. And I feel like I’m already grieving,” Maggie says. “I want to be laughing at his inappropriate jokes and I want my heart to not shatter every time Javi smiles at him, and I want to be able to enjoy the life we have left.” Maybe she can do both and celebrate their beautiful family, Delilah suggests, and with that, Maggie knows what she needs to do.
It’s just after Eddie has revealed that he and Delilah are moving in down the hall that Danny (who explains to Sophie that he didn’t go to the airport because he didn’t know how to say goodbye) stops by to see Gary. He knows what it’s like not having your dad around, Danny agrees with Gary, but “thanks to you, it was a lot less lonely.” And for Gary, “nothing would make me happier than if he turned out to be just like you.”
ABC/Darko Sikman
Then comes time to find out what Maggie figured out: She tracked down the ring that Gary had gotten her, then pawned to pay for Eddie’s rehab. The wild goose chase was worth every second, she tells Gary, “kinda like you and me. You said at the airport you wish you could have all that time back, and I can’t help but wonder how life would look different if I had just said yes the first time. But one thing I absolutely do know is I want to celebrate every second we have left together and I want to do that as your wife. So, Gary Mendez, will you marry me?” He says yes, they kiss, and then in true Gary fashion, “Does this mean we can finally have sexual intercourse? The kind we learned about in school?”
And with that, the episode ends with the two getting married in their apartment (and Rome officiating) and a taste of joy amidst the tragedy and funeral to come. In other words, exactly what we’ve come to expect from this show. Now, all that’s left is to say goodbye.
A Million Little Things, Series Finale, Wednesday, May 3, 10/9c, ABC
Conversation29 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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C
I can't remember the last time a television show made me weep like last night.
16
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G
Love this show nice day one, still trying to understand why you canceled it. Do you really have to end it with Gary’s death? Couldn’t just have a fun ending with them all together again and happy. Great show ending with a very sad ending like it started out with.
15
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G
This is an amazing show. It does not get enough credit for being so free of drama and showing normal people in believable life situations. The characters are awesome. The writing is great and the storyline is so heartwarming even when it’s sad it’s a must see.
14
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G
Too depressing, why couldn't they just end it with the wedding, we all know these things happen to good people, I watch TV for entertainment, not to cry.
13
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P
So true. I thought it was the worst ending I have seen in a long time.
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O
I am disappointed that this story ends this way. What is wrong with a happy ending. There are plenty of unhappy ones in real life. Still nothing wrong with “and they all live happily ever after”.
13
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O
Agreed. He’s the heart of the show. He must be moving on to another role, bc there is no other reason for them to kill him off.
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G
The entire series is ending...last episode of the show ever is next week.
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O
This hit too close to home for me, having lost my hubby too young and too soon to cancer. I cried throughout, especially when Maggie told Dee about the hospital bed. So emotional and true to what my husband and I experienced saying goodbye . I’m thinking the last episode will be a look into the future, perhaps Javi’s 2nd birthday next year , and Maggie being loved and supported by friends. You never get over it, but you do get through it with a little (a lot!) of help from your friends and family. I must say
I hate that they started and ended this series with death,
12
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G
I am so very sorry for your loss. I lost my father to cancer at the end of August and he was my best friend. I'm still grieving.
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R
Me too
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B
Can't deal with Gary dying!
12
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G
You can know what's coming and never find a way to brace yourself for it. I cried through the entire episode knowing that I was saying goodbye to Gary Mendez, who I've known since very early on will always be on my list of most unforgettable characters. This story that begins and ends with heartbreaking loss has been a reminder to be grateful for the beautiful moments in between. I'm not ready to leave the friend group and I'm going to miss knowing what they're all up to because for me, these characters will now just go forth in perpetuity, stopping from time to time to ask "what would Gary do?"
11
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A
I wept through almost all of this episode. It was sensitive without being maudlin. I can think of two other stories that affected me this way — When William dies in This Is Us and the survivalist couple’s story in The Last of Us.
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S
Lousy letting the show end with Gary’s death! This has been my favorite show ever. I look forward to it every week. If it has to end, this is not the note to leave it on. So wrong of the writers! Please, please don’t let this happen!!!
9
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O
I couldn't stop crying! But it was beautiful ❤️ I kind of wish it was the last episode because I can't deal with Mendez dying. Where will it go from here? We shall see. Maybe Javi will be in high school or something!! Lol. Just no more heartbreaking episodes. I can't take it. So sorry it's over.
9
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B
I think they should have ended the show with the wedding, so the show could have somewhat of a happy ending. I really liked this show and have watched since the beginning. Sad to see this show ending
6
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C
Too sad 😞
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R
Rewrite, go to Mexico Jesus is already done the work! He is healed and GOD gets the glory! All are blessed and we get to keep the comedic genius that’s is Gary!
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O
I cried all the way through this episode. My heart is breaking for Maggie, Gary and Javi. I got so caught up by this show that I don’t want it to end this way. 😢
1
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O
I love the show. I feel like I'm losing Gary too.
1
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R
I think that it’s so sad because Gary’s dying like the best guy I cried episode 11 in season 5
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B
I so want Gary to fight har enough to continue to live! He is one of the major upbeat, forever catching his friends as they fall! To see him leave the show will be horrible!
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C
I’m just blown away at how many people are so angry about the show ending this way. I don’t like it either. But they cover reality in this show (good and bad). Not everything needs to be rose colored and make you feel good. This scenario is a heartbreaking event that affects so many people around the world. At least he will die in the finale. It’s not like they’re continuing the show without him.
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G
I don't see why it has to have such a sad, depressing ending. I'm very disappointed that we have to remember this show with the favorite character dying a horrible death.👎
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P
Worst ending to a series ever - Gary was the glue who kept everyone together. Given all that he & Maggie have gone through - why could there not be a happy ending!!
😮💨
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P
What a horrible way to end the show. The world is a sad place these days. We watched these shows to escape all the sadness. We all need a happy ending. (certainly not this).
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O
The funeral they show was a clip of John’s funeral considering Eddie was standing giving his speech.
We don’t know for sure if they actually kill off Gary.
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G
Wow - Did not catch the show was ending. I came here wondering why they were killing off Gary. Great show. Really sad to see it end. Bet the last one is a jump ahead.
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