A Million Little Things Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Goodnight
Jasmine Blu
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Death is but a natural part of life, and saying goodbye to loved ones is something everyone has to do at some point.
It was another death on A Million Little Things Season 2 Episode 8, and it was someone we knew. But she was a tertiary character, so while sad, the loss wasn't devastating for fans.
It was for Rome, though, and one's heart breaks for him.
The beautiful and warm Renee died of an aneurysm. The series did well in capturing how sudden death can be. Renee was there one moment, she was preparing for her trip, smiling, and having a good time.
She seemed happy and healthy, and she was excited about the next phase of her life, which was going on the honeymoon she dreamed about with her husband of 50 years.
Then, with one phone call, on the same day, hours later, she was gone. Sudden deaths knock the wind right out of you.
Your entire life shifts in the snap of a finger, and then you're left trying to pick up the pieces and make sense of it all. It's something that happens to everyone, and yet you cannot prepare for it.
Rome was due for this type of storyline, where the focus shifted to him. He's one of the best, strongest, and effortlessly likable characters of the series, but he typically plays a bit of a supportive role to the rest of the drama.
Gina: Baby, uh.
Rome: What's wrong?
Gina: Your mom died.
And sometimes it's easy to forget with so much happening, that he still very much battles depression himself.
He hasn't been in a dark place (that we've seen) in some time, but it doesn't mean he has overcome his issues.
Sometimes, it feels like the series has gotten so swept up in secret love children, relationship angst, and more, that it forgot about the primary premise.
At its core, what made AMLT appealing was an unabashed exploration of mental illness and the ripple effects of it. Jon was the one the characters lost, to a silent battle they didn't even know he was fighting.
Eddie: Hey Rome, I really need to ask you a question, but I need to ask it way over there.
Rome: Yes, Absolutely.
Eddie: You OK?
Rome: Better now, thank you.
Rome is the one who suits up and has to fight an arduous, heavily stigmatized fight every single day. The parallels between Jon and Rome have been prevalent in the series since the beginning, but often it feels like we stray away from them.
It's particularly noticeable in the sophomore season when other more pressing issues have taken priority. For as much as many have commented on how little time has passed since Jon's death and how it affects the Dixons, the same goes for Rome and his suicide attempt.
The series needed to dip back into that well and check in on Rome, who has become the comedic relief as of late.
Katherine: It's OK. I got this.
Rome: I can't catch a break.
Gina: Babe.
Rome: I just need a minute.
It's not until it focuses on Rome that one realizes how underutilized he is, and maybe some of it is being misused too.
He's hilarious; Romany Malco has excellent comedic timing, but Rome is so much more than a well-timed joke that admittedly never fails to make one smile.
So, yes, it was refreshing to have the group of friends rally around Rome in his time of need. It's what he deserves, given how much of himself he puts out there for the rest of them.
It also was a quiet reminder that they're not free of the beast that is depression/suicide; the effects of it extend beyond the memories and secrets of Jon Dixon.
Gina: Right now I'm worried about you.
Rome: I know you are. I know everyone is, I'm not going to lie, I haven't felt this low in a while. But it's not the same as before, Gina. My mom just died, I'm supposed to feel sad, but I know I'm going to feel a little better tomorrow, and a little better after that. It's not the same. It's different this time. I know I'm going to get through this. We're going to get through this.
It's in a living friend and part of their family they see and speak to every day.
It's a necessary thread to pull on, but the fridging of a female character will forever be an irritation.
Renee had to die to further Rome's storyline. Renee's death is used as a catalyst to improve and explore the relationship between Rome and his father.
Rome: It was you?
Walter: What?
Rome: The stars I looked up at every night. I thought mom put them there.
Walter: We're your parents, what difference did it make?
Rome: It makes a lot of difference. It makes all the difference, Pop.
The two men have always had a tense relationship, and Renee was their buffer all of the time. Without her, it's up to them to be there for each other and learn to communicate.
The love is there between them; they don't know how to speak the same love language, though.
By the end of the hour, they made progress, but it took them a moment.
It was sad when Rome thought he had to break the news to his father, but Walter already overheard them anyway. We didn't get to see his initial reaction to finding out the love of his life for multiple decades had passed away.
Rome: Mom, she died pop.
Walter: I know. I heard y'all talking downstairs.
Rome: I don't understand if you heard, what are you doing?
Walter: Packing. It might sound crazy, but I promised your mother I would go on that cruise, and I'm keeping my promise to her.
The others didn't seem to understand where he was coming from at first when he wanted to carry on with the trip, but it made sense.
He promised Renee that trip, and he would go in her honor. It would be no take-backs.
Also, funerals can be such sad affairs and a drawn-out process, but he didn't want that for Renee, and she wouldn't have wanted it either.
Goodnight, mom.
Rome
For Walter, saying goodbye to Renee and mourning her came in the form of that cruise more than a funeral service. Eventually, they were able to understand that.
Walter is a prickly man, and he's so different from his son. They have a lot of similarities, too.
Hands down, the most beautiful scene of the hour was when Rome went to shovel dirt on his mother's grave, and all of his brothers joined him in quiet solidarity.
It was a magnificent scene -- the type the show does so well and reduces you to a puddle of tears (or awkward hiccup noises for those of us emotionally repressed individuals who can't quite cry).
Eddie: Hey Rome, I really need to ask you a question, but I need to ask it way over there.
Rome: Yes, Absolutely.
Eddie: You OK?
Rome: Better now, thank you.
Then, Walter knocked you out of the scene with a biting, sarcastic remark about how he wouldn't have paid the grave digger if he had known Rome would do that, and it's back to being funny again.
Walter hides behind more acerbic humor too. He and Rome both battle depression, but Walter is in denial about it.
Rome is more open with his feelings and sharing them, but he and his father are a lot alike.
When we buried mom today I meant it when I said there is nothing more that she and I needed to say to each other, but I can't say that about you and me, Pop. We have so much crap that we need to work through, but seeing this, seeing how you showed up for me it just makes me think that maybe we can figure it out somehow. But when I don't know you're doing things for me, I can't help but think you don't have my back.
Walter: Nurturing crap. It was always your mother's department, but I guess with her gone, there's a lot of things we need to figure out how to do. I'm going to need you, son.
Rome: Good. Because I'm going to need you too, Pop.
He came to realize how much his father cares when he watched the recording of Walter putting the constellation on the ceiling for him during his childhood.
It took a loss for the others to check back in with Rome, and as he told Gina, he's fine. He knows that he's sad, but he's supposed to be.
It's not the debilitating sadness of a year ago, but the concern for him will be there anyway. It seems like Rome will be set up to play a supportive role to Walter as he deals with grieving and how his grief could compound his untreated depression.
Rome will also have his hands full with PJ, no doubt. He and PJ also shared a special moment. The teen checking in on Rome and quoting his poignant words back to him was another touching scene.
PJ: I'm sorry.
Rome: It's nice of him to come.
Gina: He wanted to be here for you.
Rome: I have to tell him.
Gina: Not today. He'll understand.
He ruined it by snooping and taking the DNA test, but it's PJ. What are you going to do?
So, it does seem the PJ reveal is happening before Charlie.
PJ should be able to understand why Rome and Gina didn't have the time to tell him the truth. Of all the people keeping others in the dark, how they have has made the most sense.
It didn't make sense to tell Delilah about PJ until they knew the truth, but PJ is a freaking wild card.
Delilah: Mitch.
Mitch: What are you doing here?
Delilah: My friend's mom just died, and I -- why are you here?
Mitch: I'm looking for my son. Have you seen Patrick?
It's unfortunate how impulsive he is; he took the test, so you never know if he was headed home to throw it in his mother's face or not.
He's not someone any of them can control, so he leaves them scrambling.
Mitch's stalking paid off, and it brought him to Rome's apartment, but he bumped into Delilah on the way to their door.
PJ is Barbara Morgan's son? Why didn't you tell me?
Delilah
It's no doubt he's probably standing in the hallway near Delilah when the show returns to conclude the scene. Now, on the day of his mother's funeral, Rome and Regina have to explain this PJ situation.
Oh, look it there, Rome's moment of being tended to by the others will get usurped by Delilah. How shocking.
Delilah was not pleased about the Howards keeping PJ's identity from her based on how she reacted at their door.
And the unfortunate thing about Delilah is there are moments when she should be more sympathetic, and one could understand where she's coming from, but she's so hypocritical, unaware, and annoying that it takes away from those moments.
Rome: Maybe PJ will be excited.
Gina: To learn his parents have been lying to him since the day he was born? Totally.
Objectively, Delilah has every right to be upset about them not telling her that PJ is Barbara Morgan's son, but it always goes back to it being rich coming from Delilah who withholds hides, or lies about some of everything.
If Delilah could understand why people respond to her the way that they do, instead of wallowing in self-imposed victimhood, then we'd have something to work with here.
She doesn't do that, though.
She also gets way too defensive for someone who knows she has done shady shit and is rarely called out on it.
Gina: I really need to talk to you about something.
Delilah: I'm sorry if I've been a little short with you, it's just I've been feeling really ganged up on about all this Charlie stuff.
Gina: I hear that, but-
Delilah: I don't understand how all of a sudden you would take Eddie and Katherine's side. You're my best friend.
Gina: I know, D. I don't want you to feel that way, but being a best friend is not about telling you what you want to hear. Sometimes it's telling you what you need to hear. Which is why this really difficult.
How long did she think she could carry on without a single soul expressing themselves, disagreeing with her, or challenging her?
It's ludicrous.
Delilah does have reason to be frustrated that she thought she and Eddie decided on something, and now he changed his mind.
It's inconvenient for her, but that's life. She has certainly inconvenienced everyone else more than once.
Delilah: That was really beautiful, what you guys did for Rome over there.
Eddie: Well, we couldn't let him do it alone. We'd be here all day.
But where does she understand what she put all of these people through and how it's affecting them?
She can be frustrated all she wants while acknowledging she's the reason she's in this mess in the first place.
Again, so is Eddie, but we know and have seen how he continues to pay for his choices.
Eddie: OK, so this France thing doesn't seem great. I mean Charlie just started recognizing my voice, and I swear she smiles when she sees me now. Who knows what she's going to be doing by the end of the summer.
Katherine: It's a long time to be away.
Eddie: I'm sorry, you're the last person I should be complaining to.
Katherine: She's your daughter. You have every right to be upset.
Eddie: It's like I don't have a say in Charlie's life. Could she do that?
Katherine: Well, yeah. She can, if ...
Eddie: If what?
Katherine: I don't even know if I should ask this but to get a passport for a baby, you need to have a birth certificate. Do you know if you're on Charlie's?
But here we are, where it's hitting Eddie that he doesn't have rights to his child. Eddie shouldn't have found out from Sophie that Delilah was thinking about going to France for the entire summer with all of the kids.
If it was a solid enough plan for her to tell a teenager exciting news about traveling to another country, then she should've texted Eddie.
She knew Sophie was going to Eddie's house for a guitar lessor for f**k's sake.
Conveniently, after a blowup at the Saville home, she decided she wanted to take a family trip to France, and we're not supposed to think she's being spiteful and running away from an issue?
Eddie: Sophie said something about you guys going to France.
Delilah: Yeah, I was just thinking about it. It might be fun for the kids to see where I grew up. Meet some of my relatives, maybe brush up on their non-existent French.
Eddie: And this doesn't have anything to do with Katherine wanting to tell the kids the truth?
Delilah: Eddie --
Eddie: If you are going to take Charlie to France, don't you think you need to talk about that first? I mean you say want me to be a part of her life, but you're not really acting like it.
Delilah: How can you say that? Of course, I do. That's why I ran her name by you first. That's why I did that photo shoot to get you in her birth announcement. Eddie, I'm doing everything I can.
Eddie: And I appreciate it, but let me ask you this, who is listed as the father on Charlie's birth certificate?
Delilah: You know it's Jon. Eddie, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what we agreed to.
Eddie: Yeah, but I guess what I didn't plan on is feeling this way.
One need only listen to what she said about the France trip. In the 16 years she's had children, despite her wealthy husband, she never once took the family to France.
She said it would be nice if her kids met her relatives, which implies they haven't met them before at all. At any point, they could've gone on a family trip together.
Even if Jon didn't accompany them, he would've happily sent her and the kids to France for a trip, but it never came up.
Now, after this disagreement, she has decided she wants to head out of the country and take Charlie with her.
So, what was it? Is it that she didn't like what Katherine and Eddie had to say, and she wants to assert the power she has over Charlie?
Sophie: I tried to kiss him. Yeah, that's how I got into that accident.
Delilah: Oh, Soph.
Sophie: It's just that he backed away so fast like I was the grossest thing in the world.
Delilah: I know I'm your mother, and I know you think I'm biased but trust me when I tell you that you're not the grossest thing in the world. Not even top five.
Sophie: Can we please just go to France already?
Is it that now that more than one person is putting her feet to the fire and "ganging up" on her by not coddling her, she wants to run away from the conflict in a grander fashion?
They can't track her down in France!
Or, now that her chosen family has hurt her feelings by telling her the truth, she has decided she wants to go visit her biological relatives instead?
Delilah's timing sucks, period.
Delilah: I'm sure you've been talking to Eddie.
Katherine: My husband? Yes, I've been talking to him.
Delilah: Well then maybe you can tell me what's going on. You really think I would take Charlie away from him? That I would leave the country and never come back?
Katherine: There are a lot of things you've done that I don't understand. But what I do understand is how Eddie feels.
Delilah: Katherine.
Katherine: Is Eddie Charlie's father?
Delilah: You know he is.
Katherine: Then put it on record.
Once again, she failed to tell somebody something that affected them, allowed the truth to come out from some other source, and then acted like a victim when someone confronted her about it.
Whether she realized it or not (and that's what probably makes her irritating, she doesn't set out to be this way, she just is), she wanted to guilt Regina into feeling bad for telling her the truth.
She reiterated how she felt ganged up on by everyone and that she can't understand why they would attack her when they reached an agreement.
It's like at first we wanted the same things but then we grew in different directions, you know?
Omar
But then, she was mad again when Gina asked her if she was deliberately running away.
Regina was right; a true friend tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. The only agitating part about her saying it was that it took this long for her to walk the walk herself.
Where was this energy before, Regina? But thank the heavens, she found it.
The fact that Delilah acted so affronted by Eddie approaching her (and these people suck at holding life-altering conversations in the worst places), only confirms that she does manipulate him.
She never thought Eddie would challenge her on anything, so she has steamrolled over him often. To her credit, he's the same way with Katherine.
Eddie wasn't supposed to believe the worst of her or question her intentions. But Delilah is emotional and flaky, so he has reason to doubt her.
Gary: How long is this fellowship?
Maggie: A year.
Gary: That's longer than we've known each other.
More than anything, for Eddie, it was about her respecting him, period. She couldn't give him a heads up. She never does.
But if anyone had reason to doubt her intentions, Katherine sure as hell did.
Katherine is such a lawyer. I won't even deny she started this latest bout of friction by planting seeds of doubt in Eddie, and she probably wanted to broach this topic and was eager to get the ball rolling, but she's not wrong for wanting to do it.
She cares about her family and even that baby, and she knows how this type of thing works out. Everyone else gives Delilah the benefit of the doubt, but Katherine doesn't have a reason to do it.
Katherine: There's a form you and Eddie can both sign to correct the mistake on the birth certificate.
Delilah: I'm sorry, I can't do that.
Katherine: Here's the thing. The reason you're in your house is because I'm a good lawyer, so trust me when I tell you you do not want to go up against me.
Delilah: I know you're a good lawyer, Katherine. I'm asking you to be a good person.
Any rational person who isn't kissing Deliah's ass would suspect Delilah canceled Eddie's playdate with his daughter out of spite.
But any reasonable person would have their doubts when they found out from a third-party that Delilah was taking Charlie out of the country.
They need boundaries and to establish something, and it's the reason why they can't keep this under wraps for long.
If they chose to keep it a secret, fine, but rules still need to be in place.
Delilah claimed she does everything to make this easy on Eddie, but where does she do that? She brought up a photoshoot that she wouldn't have even taken if Sophie hadn't insisted on a family photo, and she only brought the entire group in to appease Danny and Sophie, not Charlie or Eddie.
Katherine: There's a form you and Eddie can both sign to correct the mistake on the birth certificate.
Delilah: I'm sorry, I can't do that.
Katherine: Here's the thing. The reason you're in your house is because I'm a good lawyer, so trust me when I tell you you do not want to go up against me.
Delilah: I know you're a good lawyer, Katherine. I'm asking you to be a good person.
She told Eddie what she wanted to name Charlie, and she wanted him to agree; they didn't brainstorm on it with each other.
She didn't even invite him to watch his kid because of how awkward she thought it was, and he had to find out Rome was babysitting on his own.
She only lets him babysit now because of Katherine being OK with it, and also, her refusal to hire a babysitter. In what way has she made this easier for Eddie?
How is Katherine wrong for assuming she would do something vindicative? Delilah tried to play the "you know me, why would I do that" card with KATHERINE, the woman whose husband she slept with and had a child.
Everything Katherine thought she knew about Delilah is marred by the pesky affair thing, so you know.
It's hard to utter the words "do you really think I would do that" to the woman whose husband you slept with and all. Katherine can't put much past Delilah at this rate.
Eddie: So if Delilah took Charlie out of the country and decided not to come back, there's nothing I can do about it?
Katherine: Not if you're not on the birth certificate.
Eddie: I just, I can't imagine she'd do that.
Katherine: I don't know, Eddie. I know you're hoping it really doesn't come to this. I make a living standing up for people and right now that's you and Charlie.
Eddie: You are amazing.
Katherine: We're in this together.
Delilah felt backed into a corner when Katherine suggested that she change the father on the birth certificate, and yeah, she should've.
Katherine was backing her into a corner, and Delilah was asked to do something of which she didn't want to do. It was aggressive, and Katherine was asserting her power like a boss. Delilah was catching it.
Do I care? No, not necessarily. Katherine came out swinging during that scene reminding Delilah of how she saved her home, and it was particularly inspired.
No one reacts well when you throw something back in their face, but again, Delilah's blase behavior to everything up until this point is how she got there in the first place, so her hurt feelings are nobody else's problem. Sorry, not sorry.
Why is your work stuff ... oh my God, you were fired?
Gina
I will add her telling Katherine to "be a good person" on the laundry list of things she says and does that supports her being emotionally manipulative, though.
The audacity of that woman after everything she's done to chastise Katherine for, what? Not treating her with kid gloves or for being every bit as reactionary as Delilah has been all this time?
You have to hand it to Delilah, she's a gaslight extraordinaire.
"Be the better person," she says to the person who has been far better than most in this situation. Oh, Delilah.
Now, she'll use this to garner sympathy, justify her decisions, and plan her trip to France.
She's going to use Sophie as a reason to go to France because of Sophie being mad at PJ for not reciprocating her kiss.
Even if PJ wasn't her brother, so what if he didn't want to kiss her? He still wanted to be friends, so it wasn't like he didn't want to be bothered with her at all.
What if he was gay or asexual and didn't want someone trying to maul him in a car? What if he was a germaphobe? What if he wasn't attracted to her?
Sophie: I tried to kiss him. Yeah, that's how I got into that accident.
Delilah: Oh, Soph.
Sophie: It's just that he backed away so fast like I was the grossest thing in the world.
Delilah: I know I'm your mother, and I know you think I'm biased but trust me when I tell you that you're not the grossest thing in the world. Not even top five.
Sophie: Can we please just go to France already?
Sophie is her mother's daughter.
Maybe Gary can drive Delilah and the kids, and Maggie to the airport at the same time.
It's not much to be said about Gary and Maggie. Not only did they keep Wesley/Colin, but they still call him Colin, so there's that.
Maggie has an opportunity to participate in a summer fellowship in England, and she failed to tell Gary about it.
Gary: How long is this fellowship?
Maggie: A year.
Gary: That's longer than we've known each other.
For a therapist, Maggie sucks at communicating.
It's part of letting Maggie grow outside of their relationship. As silly as Rome's brother, Omar, is he was onto something.
Maggie should go on this fellowship. Gary does have to stop thinking everything that comes up in their relationship is a reflection on him.
But in other, funnier news: Gary got fired from that job we never see him at because of all the time he missed.
Most of it is blamed on him supporting Maggie through cancer, but let's be real; he was never at work for anything at all ever. I would've fired him too.
Reality and consequences, people!
Over to you, AMLT Fanatics. Hit the comments below!
You can watch A Million Little Things online here via TV Fanatic.
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Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
