'A Million Little Things' Season 2 Episode 12: Treachery aside, Eric's past is a heartbreaking tale of loss

This story contains major spoilers for Season 2 Episode 12 of 'A Million Little Things' titled 'Guilty' 

Eric (Jason Ritter) has been one complex character on 'A Million Little Things'. Showing up out of nowhere, it was impossible to tell what his intentions were when he first entered Maggie's (Allison Miller) life. 

We then found out that not only does he have a wrongful death lawsuit against him but then he never really had a heart transplant. This means that he lied to Maggie and her mother Patricia (Melora Hardin) about having her brother Chad's heart after his death. 

In Episode 12 titled 'Guilty', Maggie finds out about Eric's breach of trust and she feels even worse now since they have already kissed. Eric later shows up at Maggie's doorstep in a desperate bid to explain himself. 

The day Eric and his fiancée Chloe (Sutton Foster) went on that trip, was the best day of Eric's life - they had only just gotten engaged and Eric couldn't help but thank his stars for Chloe. The couple had their future ahead of them with a lifetime worth of adventures in store. But an accident left Chloe in need of a heart. And that heart was Chad's. 

Chad's heart gave Chloe six more years. But that's about it. Eric blames himself - all these years later he holds himself responsible for Chloe didn't just deserve six more years. And when Maggie's mother reached out to Chloe because she had Chad's heart, Eric responded because he wanted to connect with someone like Patricia - who knew the pain of losing a close one. The way Patricia described her pain and suffering about losing Chad, Eric resonated with it and reached back to her in a bid to not only offer her empathy but seeking empathy. And then one thing led to another and before he knew it, things had gone this far. 

That is not to say that Eric did not have enough chances to come clean to Maggie. There was no need to hide the truth from her. In fact, had he told Maggie about the circumstances under which her mother and he met, it wouldn't have led to tensions in Maggie's life with her mother and Gary. Eric's lie may have started out as a way for him to connect to someone who has lost a loved one just as he did, but did it need to go this far? Perhaps not. 

'A Million Little Things' airs on Thursdays at 10/ 9c on ABC.