A Million Little Things Round Table: Rate the Series Finale!

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The friends on A Million Little Things Season 5, Episode 13 laughed and cried as the series came to an end.

Our TV Fanatics, Jack, Jasmine, and Christine, rate the series finale, debate Gary’s end-of-life plan, and decide which storylines they want to see more of.

And what did they think about that 15-year flash forward? Read on to find out.

A Million Little Things Round Table

Rate this series finale from 1 (I hated it) to 10 (it was amazing).

Jack: I’m giving it a 7. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I could get through it after last week. Watching the first half of Gary’s death was so painful and overly realistic, and I was NOT looking forward to more of that.

Gary's Final Days  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

But the ending tied many things together nicely, had the friends come together one last time to handle the end of Gary’s life, and had his beautiful narration 15 years in the future. So it was a very good ending though a sad one that I did not particularly look forward to seeing.

Jasmine: Yeah, that sounds about right. I am still very much upset that we had to lose Gary at all. And I almost wish they had just logistically had him die in that previous episode and spent the final one with everyone dealing with that loss and exploring what happened with the time jump.

One of my biggest frustrations all season was the terrible pacing. But they managed to make the finale a bit lighter despite how utterly depressing and dark Gary’s slow death was. I thought the humor of it worked better, and it was as good as they could really manage to wrap things up and to come all “full circle.”

It reminded me of some of the early episodes, and considering I didn’t think I would enjoy it at all, they managed to pull things off well and in a sentimental way by the back half of the episode.

Christine: I give the finale a 10. Although I hated that Gary was dying, they did an excellent job of portraying that realistically. I appreciated that they brought dying with dignity into the storyline. It’s something everyone deserves, but not everyone gets, sometimes due to the laws in their state.

Gary's Goodbye  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

I loved that Gary was still Gary to the very end and that his son was still watching his videos 15 years later. Overall, it was an incredibly moving series finale which I’ve watched twice and may watch again.

Now it’s your turn, TV Fanatics. How do you rate the series finale of A Million Little Things?

Was Gary right to have an end-of-life plan? Did you agree with how he, and his friends, handled it?

Jack: He absolutely should have had an end-of-life plan. He knew he was dying and that it was going to be painful.

Gary Passes Away -tall  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

I think it was tough for Rome and Eddie to have to do this for him, and I’m not sure they were the right choice, though they did come through in the end. But Gary was right that lingering on in pain with no quality of life was just cruel.

Jasmine: He should’ve had an end-of-life plan. My surprise was that we didn’t see more of it before since it still felt like it came together rather suddenly and last minute, just like their baby birthing stuff.

It was tough, and I didn’t think they were the best choice for all of this, as evidenced by how poorly they handled getting the drugs from Kevin. But I get it.

Christine: Gary knew he was dying and that it could be tortuously painful. No one should have to go out like that or force their loved ones to watch them die like that. So I was pleased that he had come up with a plan, although disappointed that Massachusetts is a state that doesn’t allow for it.

Rome and Eddie were complete idiots when they approached Kevin! The man was offering to do something genuinely compassionate yet highly illegal, and they were loudly asking him about it, surrounded by his colleagues.

The Final Episode - A Million Little Things

But they were his best friends, and I understand why Gary didn’t want to put the burden solely on Maggie. In the end, they came through for him.

Is there a scene you wish would have happened in the finale but didn’t?

Jack: I would have liked an actual scene of Danny saying goodbye to Gary rather than him only remembering him at that final dinner.

Jasmine: Oh, there are so many. I, too, was bothered that we didn’t get a final scene with Gary and Danny. I’m mad that there was no goodbye scene with Katherine.

I hated that Delilah’s final scene with Gary was longer and more sentimental and in-depth than his goodbye to Rome and Eddie, his brothers, which felt rushed.

Saying Goodbye to their Brother  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

I hated that we didn’t get any Inez mention or references to any of the other people in his life who cared about him. Like Darcy and her son… a reference would have been nice.

I also wish we had a bit more time with the flash forward to get a sense of how things were with everyone. A lot of it happened so quickly that it took rewatches to catch all the details.

Gina, who really got shortchanged and had the most disappointing and meandering storyline of the lot of them; for example, whatever happened with her, and what did she become in the future? Things like that.

Christine: So much of Regina’s story happened offscreen. I would have loved to find out what she was up to 15 years later.

And Darcy and Gary almost got married not all that long ago, so it felt like there should have been some slight mention of her being told that Gary was dying.  

The Future is Here -tall - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

Was there a storyline you wish the series would have pursued or pursued more of?

Jack: I felt like many stories started and didn’t finish in the final season. I especially would have liked more of Sophie learning to love and trust again after what happened with Peter. I felt like the Tyrell/Sophie story was rushed because of the shortened final season.

Jasmine: I felt like most of the season meandered and was filler, and then they tried to cram too much into the final episodes. So there were plenty of stories that started but never went anywhere or things that were just completely unexplored and could have been.

I would’ve liked the slow build for Sophie and Tyrell. I would’ve loved something meaningful for Gina because the councilwoman thing was random then pointless.

I would’ve liked more of Greta and Katherine navigating both her mental illness and this kid issue.

The Finale Episode Featuring Eddie -tall - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

I would’ve liked some closure on Eddie’s sober counselor arc, and they basically could have just left out the romance stuff and focused on that. All of those types of things would have been great.

Christine: I wish they had spent more time on Greta’s bipolar disorder and her and Katherine deciding to have a child. Those were two big issues for that couple that they never got to explore.

What did you think of everyone 15 years in the future?

Jack: I’m a sucker for these kinds of flash-forwards. That was why I loved This Is Us so much! For me, it was super emotional seeing Maggie with another dog — of course, Colin would have gone to be with Gary sometime before that. I loved Gary’s narration over the final scenes, too.

Jasmine: I, too, am a sucker for these types of things. I thought the makeup was rough, and some of the wigs were horrible. But I still ate it up.

Teenage Javi  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

Javi made me genuinely smile. I loved how unapologetically and proudly Latino he was and how significant that was for Gary. He was so handsome and had Gary traits.

Danny with the frosted tips and husband. The Gary video and narration. New adult Theo, who finally had a concrete age after being frozen in time or fluctuating for seasons. The boys at the Bruins game. Just so many feelings.

Christine: I loved that Rome was wearing a Sophie Dixon concert T-shirt! And Rome looked very handsome with some gray in that beard.

That Gary had “Go B’s!” on his gravestone and that Theo, Tyrell, Danny, and Javi were all friends and going to games together was heartwarming.

Greta and Katherine's Kid  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

What was your favorite quote, scene, or storyline from this episode?

Jack: The final montage is 15 years in the future. I also loved the dinner scene memorializing Gary, which went from laughter to tears and back again. That struck me as particularly realistic and made me remember something similar that happened soon after my grandma passed away.

Finally, I loved Rome and Walter’s final scene, where Walter came full circle in acknowledging Rome’s mental illness. That was beautiful!

Jasmine: The final montage for everything I said before. The adult Band of Dads moment with all of the original guys’ sons was just so sweet.

I loved Rome and Walter’s scene too. Walter had me laughing one minute with his jokes about why you need white friends, then clutching my heart over the meds line and thanking Gary for being a good friend the next minute.

Older Tyrell and Rome -tall  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

Gary and Maggie’s goodbye was done well for as much as I hated it, and Rodriguez and Miller were great. It was such a brief moment, but I loved Gina kissing Gary’s forehead and telling him she loved him.

Christine: Maggie insisting that she was the person who would give Gary the meds and spend his final moments with him. And Colin never leaving his side and whimpering when he died. Those moments were heartbreakingly beautiful.

What, if anything, disappointed you about this series?

Jack: I was very critical of a lot of the final season. I felt like it was meandering, yet not giving stories the seriousness they deserved, and then crammed a ton of emotion into the last two episodes.

Beyond that, I’m annoyed that Eddie and Delilah ended up together. In the early seasons, he was in love with her while she was using him, and it felt like a severe rewrite of history for them to be each other’s true loves after all that.

Aged Delilah and Eddie -tall  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

Jasmine: To put it bluntly, I do feel like they wasted a lot of their final season. We had so many storylines that dragged, weren’t explored, or were pointless by the end.

As I said, out of the main characters, I feel like Gina got shafted the most, especially when you weigh where she started to where she ended. It felt like they didn’t know what to do with her this season. I echo Jack’s sentiments completely.

And at this point, I can firmly say that I would’ve been content if Delilah hadn’t returned. They literally brought her back and did nothing to give her a proper redemption or show growth.

They shoved her back in with the group as though nothing happened and then randomly forced this Eddie and Delilah thing on us with no decent buildup to sell it (even if I would’ve hated it regardless).

I would’ve MUCH preferred seeing Eddie have an arc becoming a sober counselor than this poor, unsavory attempt at fixing his disastrous love life. Delilah getting the best and one of the few goodbyes to Gary outside of Maggie just made me rage.

Delilah and Gary's Final Goodbye (GIF) - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

To its final moments, they still shoved this unlikeable character down our throats, hoping that sentiments would change about her with zero effort.

I also wish there was more of a Jon connection. I thought the flashback with Sophie’s namesake was very random and misplaced. I would’ve loved a Jon voice-over or Gary seeing a vision of him or something.

Christine: That Delilah had the longest goodbye scene with Gary, and it was filled with fart jokes. That may have been one of my most hated scenes of the entire series.

Regina’s final season story arc was a rambling mess. New characters, like Gary and Maggie’s new best friends, were given too much screen time for no real payoff.

Danny and His Husband - tall  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

Overall, what did you love about this series?

Jack: I loved the family storylines, Gary’s relationship with Danny, and how this group of friends all banded together to be a family.

I loved that it explored LGBTQ+ issues, sexual assault, suicide, and other serious issues respectfully. Losing AMLT a year after losing This Is Us is painful because there are not a lot of shows like this on anymore.

Jasmine: I know I have been critical of the show, snarky at times, and brutally honest about my distaste for a certain character, but this show has always been one of my babies and special to me.

I love found families. They’re catnip to me and just offer this light in a dark world. I will miss that because it feels like the end of an era and genre of series that pulls off and captures a family drama so well.

Katherine and Theo in the Future -tall  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

Before This Is Us and AMLT, we probably didn’t have that type of solid family drama since Parenthood.

I loved all the topics they covered. I loved all the strong feelings that this series always invokes. I will miss these complex, at times but utterly human characters.

And this cast was fantastic… I’m going to miss the incredible performances that the cast would deliver, award-worthy performances at one point or another from everyone from Malco and Rodriguez to Miller, Giuntolo, and Greene like; truly, there was no shortage of them from the main cast members to guest stars.

I will miss how I felt watching young actors like Chance Hurstfield grow up before our eyes. I love that kid to pieces. I love the overall message of this series and hate that we’re losing that at a time when we need it most.

Christine: For all my kvetching, this series was extraordinary. It began with a main character’s suicide! It faced grief, depression, and sexual assault head-on in ways that made us feel connected to these characters.

Final Scene Cast Photo  - A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13

I loved Gary being Danny’s most prominent supporter when he came out as gay as an adolescent. I loved the blended, loving family that Katherine, Greta, Eddie, and even Delilah became by the end.

Rome’s long and ongoing journey with depression was probably the most realistic I’ve ever seen on TV.

And even as much as I hated learning that Gary would die, as unfair as that seemed to fans, it was so well done that now that it’s over, I can’t even complain.

There isn’t another show like A Million Little Things on the air right now, and it will truly be missed.

Now it’s your turn, TV Fanatics. One last time, hit that SHOW COMMENTS BUTTON and tell us how you felt about the series as a whole and this finale.

Then check out Jasmine’s A Million Little Things Season 5 Episode 13 review, and watch A Million Little Things online here at TV Fanatic.

C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.

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