A Million Little Things' Gary Says His Goodbyes in Series' Penultimate Ep (But Hold On, There's a Twist)

Kimberly Roots
·5 min read
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There’s no easy way of putting this, A Million Little Things faithful: It really looks like Javier “Gary” Mendez Jr. is not long for this world.

The character’s imminent death shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who’s been watching the show this season: In the premiere, James Roday Rodriguez’s character was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. As his oncologist told him, the advanced stage of the illness meant that there was no chance of remission; the treatment plan involved using medicine to stave off the disease’s advance for as long as possible.

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That plan worked for about a year. But in this week’s episode, titled “Tough Stuff,” Gary’s luck runs out. We learn that the blood he coughed up at Katherine and Greta’s wedding in Episode 11 is evidence that his tumor is no longer responding well to treatment, news that has Gary and Maggie struggling to hold it together in the emergency room. His oncologist says there are other ways they can fight, but warns him: “Gary, this will be a fight.”

The montage that follows covers several months and shows Gary going back to chemotherapy, shaving his head in advance of losing his hair again and teasing Maggie that she should do so, as well, in solidarity. (“Tell you what,” she offers instead, “I will shave my pits.”) By the time of Javi’s first birthday party, Gary is still alive but very ill.

And the following day, at his oncologist visit, Gary and Maggie get very bad news: There’s nothing more to be done other than make Gary as comfortable as possible. Maggie immediately rejects this, bringing up an experimental trial in Mexico City that has had promising results. Later, at his session with Dr. Jessica, Gary says he’s not scared of dying, but he is really, really tired. Still, when Maggie hears back from Mexico City and learns they have a spot for Gary, she begs him to try. “The only reason I am still here is because you never let me give up,” Maggie says, reminding him of when she wanted to stop treatment for her breast cancer. He maintains that was different, but she doesn’t want to hear it. “Mendez, I dare you to go to Mexico,” she says. “I dare you to fight this.” So he agrees… but later confides in Rome and Eddie that he’s only going so that after his death, Maggie won’t wonder if she could’ve tried something else.

The Mexico program is for eight weeks. Sophie volunteers to go with Gary and Maggie so she can help take care of Javi while they’re there. And everyone else — except Danny, which we’ll get to in a moment — gathers outside the airport to say their goodbyes, realizing that there’s a very good chance it will be the last time they see Gary alive. There are lots of tears and hugs, and then Maggie wheels Gary’s chair into the airport so they can catch their flight. Everyone turns to go… until a moment later, when Gary, Maggie, Sophie and Javi come back outside. “I realize that he needs to be here, for whatever time…” she says, trailing off. “He just needs to be here, with all of us.” (True! And sob!)

The reality of that decision hits Maggie hard, however, when the hospice coordinator suggests bringing a hospital bed to their apartment so that Gary can rest easier. After she has a sobbing breakdown in front of Delilah, Maggie gets an idea that seems to galvanize her. And later, when she approaches Gary with a ring box, we find out what it was.

She tracked down the engagement ring he pawned to pay for Eddie’s rehab a few seasons back. As she presents it to him, she says she wants to celebrate every moment they have left together, “and I want to do that as your wife.” Then she asks him to marry her, and he says yes. So they gather their friends (and Colin!), get dressed up and get hitched in their living room while The Kinks’ “Strangers” plays on the soundtrack.

Elsewhere in the episode:

* Greta lets Katherine know that she froze some of her eggs years ago, but was hesitant to share that news because her ex-wife, Julia, had always worried about their potential children inheriting Greta’s bipolar disorder. Katherine tells her new wife that if she wants to be a mom, they should try to make that happen.

* Eddie and Delilah plan to buy a house in Springfield, Mass., which is big enough for their expanded family but which is also more than an hour away from Boston. But they eventually purchase a condo in Gary and Maddie’s building… right down the hall, in fact.

* Though Danny claims that a rescheduled Harvard interview kept him from going to the airport with Gary, Sophie later susses out that it was because her brother was scared to say goodbye to his surrogate dad. So he goes to Gary’s apartment to spend some time with him, and everything is smoothed over.

* Between Regina’s low fundraising totals and her skipping an important public event in order to be at the airport with Gary, it seems like her city council campaign is effectively over.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have any wishes or predictions for next week’s finale? What about thoughts regarding these teases? Hit the comments and let us know!

Launch Gallery: TV Shows Ending in 2023: <I>The Flash, Manifest, A Million Little Things, Barry, Mrs. Maisel</I> and 30+ Others

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