ABC

A Million Little Things: “trust me”

By Cay | April 16, 2021

A Million Little Things picked right up from last week’s somewhat shocking reveal that Sophie was lying to Gary and Danny about being with her boyfriend when she was actually with her guitar teacher. Here is the official synopsis for this episode (season 3, episode 10) entitled “trust me”:

Sophie is distraught after a disturbing encounter, and Gary calls in Maggie and Regina for support. Meanwhile, Eddie makes an unexpected friend.

Nice Girls Cay and Rueben share their thoughts on this episode [spoiler alert]:

Cay:

The Sophie storyline really was the focus of this episode. I guess we both owe Sophie a big apology as it turns out that her guitar teacher was really a predator and was playing the long game. It was so much more innocent (on her part) than it seemed! She wasn’t having an affair with him as it had originally appeared, especially with the lying to get away to see him. Although, now, thinking about it, even if she had been having an affair with him, I don’t think that she would be any more at fault considering the power dynamic and age difference, so I feel bad for thinking that and being upset at her. It seems that we “fell for” exactly the point that the writers likely wanted to make – our society tends to do a lot of victim blaming and shaming when it comes to women and all matters involving sex.

Maggie and Regina were the perfect duo to get the story out of Sophie and to help her through it. Clearly the repercussions on her emotionally will continue to be part of the storyline for a while. Her first guitar teacher, Eddie, crushes her by having an affair with her mother, and then the next one is a sexual predator. I wonder if this will be enough for her to give up music entirely?

Kudos to Gary for trying to be a father to Sophie and Danny. His heart is always in the right place even though he often fumbles. I’m glad that he didn’t end up doing anything stupid to Peter…at least not yet.

The only other real plotline was about Rome and his dad and the mystery woman. I liked the idea that they were finally able to communicate more deeply via text even though they still had the same adversarial relationship in person. Although, I have to admit it crossed my mind that it might not really be his father, although I didn’t have any sense of who else it would be. So, that brings us to the mystery woman. Who is she?? She seems to be quite a close friend or confidant of Rome’s father, but what exactly is their relationship? He doesn’t seem like he’d have a girlfriend already, but maybe an old friend that Rome never knew? Or is it possible that she’s not real and was a dream or other device to help Rome communicate with his dad??

We also saw Eddie briefly in this episode, but the importance of his conversation with the other rehab patient is unclear other than as a way for the show to expand their representation and inclusion and make a political point, similar to how they have addressed racism, abortion, and other hot button social issues. I hope that she does end up being a pivotal component of Eddie’s recovery rather than just being a passing character that checks a diversity box.

There was not much levity in this episode, but I think a sensitive topic was well-handled.

RELATED: A Million Little Things

Rueben:

I’m not going to be able to be as eloquent with my wording as you have Cay, but this very special episode was moving, heartbreaking and tragic all wrapped up into one. I agree that we do owe Sophie an apology. I was totally thinking that she was being irresponsible rather than the victim of a predator who knew how to play her. He made all of his ideas to get her out of her comfort zone seem legitimate. This whole situation will have a lasting affect on Sophie no matter how much time goes by. I wonder if calling her mom to tell her what happened is what will drive Delilah to find a way to get home from overseas? The other question is just how long can Gary contain his anger without going after Peter. Obviously, Gary is being pissed and wants to get revenge on Peter, but hopefully he will see what Maggie said that by doing so won’t really help Sophie in the long run.

When Rome got that first text from his dad, I wondered if it was really his dad – given all we know about their relationship. Perhaps it’s easier for Rome’s dad to show his “softer” side in texts rather than in person; but part of me was wondering if Rome was imagining the texts or if something else was going on. The show doesn’t have any supernatural elements, but a small part of me kept wondering if somehow his mom was trying to send him a message through those texts. The lady at the cemetery also left me puzzled as to who she is, how long has she known Rome’s dad and what kind of friendship do they have? They wouldn’t have introduced her if she wasn’t going to appear in at least another episode (or two, or three).

I have a feeling that we will see more of the other rehab patient who was playing that card game with Eddie. Again, it’s another new character that I can’t see them putting into the story without expanding on why they are in the story.

This was definitely an episode with a tough storyline, but as you said, they handled it well. It could’ve turned into a cliche telling of victim versus predator, but it wasn’t. I hope that in some way this story will help other victims, and that they will allow Sophie to deal with what happened without glossing over it all.