The Maggie, Gary, Darcy, and Jamie quadrangle is about to be awkward and exhausting, isn’t it?
Jamie arrived in America by the end of A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 6, and he was a welcomed sight for Maggie after her ordeal, but what will this do to complicate matters?
The friendship group is constantly evolving.
Kudos to the series for choosing to go through with Maggie’s abortion this time since Delilah’s predicament garnered some discourse.
Of course, the nature of Maggie’s situation as a woman recovering from chemotherapy and in remission from cancer led to an evocative moment relating to what that means for her as well as providing a sympathetic justification for it.
And as with most milestones in Maggie’s life since moving to Boston, Gary was there as moral support.
The series loves to remind us of how close Maggie and Gary are and how well they know each other. With no prompting whatsoever, Gary flat out asked Maggie if she was pregnant. We still don’t know how he came to that conclusion; he just knew.
Maggie and Gary are at this point where they’re trying to be friends and treating each other as such. However, their friendship naturally bleeds into established relationship territory. They haven’t figured out the balance.
Gary was caught off guard by her pregnancy and sexual relationship with her roommate in England, but he wasn’t judging, and he recognized why she had to have an abortion.
Are you pregnant?
Gary [to Maggie]
And Gary being Gary, he offered to be by her side, knowing that she needed a friend in her time of need, even though it could’ve interfered with his camping trip with Darcy and Liam.
And he was right there to take her to the clinic. Gary even went inside with Maggie without her asking because of her terrified look. Poor Gary becoming the go-to guy to accompany women to clinics is on-brand for him.
Did anyone else get distracted by the pandemic aspect of things? It’s the early stages of it, and countries and states are already in lockdown, but everyone was moving around freely, and no one is wearing masks.
Maggie: So I know I didn’t call you after my screening.
Jamie: Yeah, are you OK?
Maggie: What I am is pregnant.
Jamie: Uh, but we used a–
Maggie: Yeah, I know, so congrats on having super strong sperm.
If Eddie couldn’t attend PT anymore or get his cortisone shot because of it not being essential, then how was Maggie able to bring another person into the room with her while she got her abortion meds?
Maggie has a hold on Gary, and everyone knows it. It’s also evident that when it comes down to choosing between Maggie and Darcy, he puts Maggie first.
Gary doesn’t mean to do it, and he’ll even go as far as splitting the baby if he can. But he’s incapable of making that choice where Darcy comes first. It’ll wear and tear at his relationship with her. Unfortunately, based on her venting her frustrations when he told her why he had to bail, it already has affected them.
How can Gary’s relationship with Darcy sustain itself when he and Maggie are so codependent they’re practically symbiotic? Maggie is always the third person in their relationship.
And the thing is, there is ALWAYS something happening with Maggie. And because of that, it puts Darcy in this situation where she can’t even feel valid in her feelings about Gary running to Maggie’s aid, cape flailing behind him, without feeling like a terrible, jealous person.
Darcy had every right to be pissed off that minutes before they were supposed to get on the road, Gary told her he couldn’t go because of Maggie needing him. And it made it worse that Maggie went out of her way to send Gary away to respect the plans he had with Darcy and her son, and Gary still chose to put Maggie ahead of that.
Gary: Listen, I am so, so sorry. I can’t go.
Darcy: What?
Darcy: We’re picking up Liam. We’re going.
Gary: I know, I know. But I don’t think I can leave.
Darcy: What are you talking about?
Gary: Maggie needs me.
Darcy: Gary, we’re about to go pick my son from school to go camping. Who is finally going to spend time with my boyfriend, and you’re telling me that you can’t go because Maggie needs you?
Gary: I know it sounds bad.
Darcy: Teah, it sounds really bad. I’ve been so understanding. The airport, all of those skype calls, letting her stay at your apartment. I am such an idiot. Are you and Maggie back together?
Gary: No, what? Darcy, no.
Darcy: Then can you explain to me why you have to be with Maggie right now?
Darcy didn’t (and rarely does) have the space to feel upset, hurt, jealous, or whatever else without setting those feelings aside because of the validity of Maggie’s needs. Essentially, Darcy is forced to put Maggie’s needs ahead of her own, too.
Maggie spent most of her time in England speaking to Regina. If it came down to it and she was honest with Gina, then she would’ve dropped things, left Rome in charge, and been there for Maggie.
Rome is a doting, sensitive, supportive friend. He would’ve happily and easily been by Maggie’s side if she asked. She was there for him after all.
It was a situation that didn’t call for Gary specifically, but he would’ve managed to insert himself into it anyway because of his love for Maggie. And in that sense, it’s never going to be fair to Darcy that she plays second.
Gary: How do you feel?
Maggie: I feel stupid. I mean I actually fell for it. I was finally healthy and I let myself believe that I could let somebody else’s life, and I let myself believe that my cancer is gone.
Gary: Because it is gone.
Maggie: It’s not. It still makes every decision for me. Even though it isn’t in my body right now, it still controls it.
It was a series of scenes that felt as if Maggie became the new Delilah who needed someone holding her hand through everything, only Gary’s behavior on the matter made sense because of his feelings for her.
Only after he went back to his apartment and saw Jamie at the door and Maggie embracing him did Gary go back to making things up to Darcy and Liam by lugging a toboggan all the way to the cabin only to leave again.
It seems to have appeased Darcy at the moment, and Gary said all the right words by claiming he wants to reintroduce himself to Liam as Darcy’s boyfriend at the perfect time, but it’s hard to undo what happened.
The entire situation has revealed things about Gary’s priorities that he can’t walk back. Darcy is pacified at the moment. But everything she said to him about his relationship with Maggie is right.
Gary: Listen, I am so, so sorry. I can’t go.
Darcy: What?
Darcy: We’re picking up Liam. We’re going.
Gary: I know, I know. But I don’t think I can leave.
Darcy: What are you talking about?
Gary: Maggie needs me.
Darcy: Gary, we’re about to go pick my son from school to go camping. Who is finally going to spend time with my boyfriend, and you’re telling me that you can’t go because Maggie needs you?
Gary: I know it sounds bad.
Darcy: Teah, it sounds really bad. I’ve been so understanding. The airport, all of those skype calls, letting her stay at your apartment. I am such an idiot. Are you and Maggie back together?
Gary: No, what? Darcy, no.
Darcy: Then can you explain to me why you have to be with Maggie right now?
It’s an open wound in their relationship as a result.
Maggie’s thoughts about her abortion were interesting and gave the unique perspective of a woman who has beaten cancer twice but never feels spared from it.
She has a host of reasons why she didn’t feel prepared for a baby. The result of her getting an abortion probably would’ve been the same, even though she likely does want kids. Though her choice could’ve been the same, cancer itself robbed her of the ability to choose at all.
She and Gary have shown how even when they’re free of cancer, it still rules them. It’s something that forever bonds them in ways that they don’t have with Darcy or Jamie.
Speaking of Jamie, he’s a great guy, and he had the best reaction to Maggie upon finding out the news. You could tell it killed him being away from her, and somehow, despite the multiple discussions of the country shutting down, he managed to hop on a flight and get to her in Boston.
It’s a sweet gesture, one of a man who has developed deeper feelings than a casual hookup. The feelings between Jamie and Maggie feel one-sided.
However, now that he’s in her world, among her friends, and Maggie will likely want to ensure her friendship with Gary doesn’t ruin his relationship with Darcy, I can see Maggie and Jamie becoming more serious.
And it’ll affect Gary in some way.
Speaking of effects, Rome was not handling the news of his movie getting shutdown well. But he gets credit for seeing how overwhelmed his wife was and offering to help out at Someday.
He just sucked at it.
Gina is overworked and struggling to pay all of her employees as the pandemic’s effects on restaurants hit Someday hard.
The introduction of Tyrell was cool, and I hope he’s someone who will stick around. Rome was rude as hell to the teen, which sucked, but it was easy to get worked up when he took the deliveries.
The kid has hustle, though, and he delivered the food faster than anyone else had been, so maybe Gina can find a way to hire him. It’s touching that he’s trying to make ends meet to help support his mother, and that’s something that resonated with Rome.
Whatever it was about the kid, between him and videos of Jon, Rome is starting to write again. Maybe his movie was halted for now, but if he throws himself into telling another story in the interim, it’s a productive use of his time.
Meanwhile, Eddie continues to spiral as he juggles fatherhood with his version of pain management. HOW is he going this long without anyone around him picking up that something is wrong?
The man looks horrible!
Eddie relapsing means he’s resorting to all the maneuvers that addicts do — manipulation, scheming, and lying, all of it.
The only reason he reached out to Dakota was because of him thinking that she was still using. And then he didn’t even consider helping her with her music until he heard that she was the only sober one in the group.
Dakota: Oh my God. You didn’t call me to catch up. You called me because you thought I was still using and you wanted me to get you pills. Unbelievable, after that guilt trip you gave me about how I brought drugs into your life, about how I was throwing my future away!
Eddie: I don’t have the future you have–
Dakota: Oh, give me a break, Eddie! You’re throwing away, what, ten years of sobriety to get high on oxy?
Eddie: Don’t you judge me. I wake up in pain every day, and I’m going to be stuck in this chair probably for the rest of my life!
Dakota going off of Eddie for his treatment was warranted. Even though his situation is sympathetic given his accident and the pain he’s in, he can’t continue using that as a justification.
It’s unfortunate that Dakota has figured out what’s happening to Eddie, knows that he has relapsed, and jumped to help him by providing drugs in exchange for musical assistance rather than getting him help or sounding the alarms.
She probably doesn’t feel good about it, and maybe she’ll come to regret it and do the right thing down the road, but for now, she’s an opportunist.
Dakota: Are you taking the pills for physical pain or something else?
Eddie: If I need to take a few pills because somehow that gets me through the day, then that’s what I’m going to do, and you know what, I don’t need to explain to you.
Eddie does get sympathy in a situation where he’s trying to medicate himself to assuage his pain, and there’s enough there for Dakota to feel as if she’s doing a good thing where they both win.
But now Eddie’s deep into his addiction, and he has a dealer. How much farther is Eddie about to fall?
Over to you, AMLT Fanatics. Thoughts on the Maggie, Gary, Darcy, and Jamie debacle? What about the recent development with Eddie and Dakota? Hit the comments below!
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.