'A Million Little Things' season 2 episode 3 'Mixed Signals': Who is the mystery man in Patricia's life?
Spoilers ahead for season 2 episode 3 'Mixed Signals' of 'A Million Little Things'
Last season, Maggie (Allison Miller) had been through a lot. And just as things had started getting a tad better, they end up getting further messed up.
In the last episode 'Grand Canyon', Maggie's mother Patricia (Melora Hardin) pays her a visit in Boston. Gary (James Roday) and Maggie were under the impression that Patricia is going to stay with them only for the weekend, but the luggage she brought was a testimony to something else.
After arriving in Boston, Patricia breaks the news that she had left Maggie's father for good and that she never intended to go back. Maggie cannot possibly understand how and why there is a divide between her parents. She wonders how the couple who survived the death of their son ended an alliance that has lasted 32 years. Prepared for this, Patricia simply says that she has her life ahead of her and that Maggie's father is not a part of this life.
Disturbed by this, Gary presses the point that when Patricia said that she "must appreciate what you have instead of focusing on what you've lost", she meant that she should focus on Maggie instead of her lost son. He tells her that the sole reason that Patricia came to Boston was for her.
And so, encouraged by this, Maggie goes to the restaurant where her mother, according to Gary, is having a meal all by herself. Once there, she is informed that her mother hasn't arrived yet and that she must wait at the bar, where she meets Eric (Jason Ritter). Unbeknownst to her, Eric is actually there with her mother. They joke around for a while and steps away from the bar only to turn around and see her mother stroke Eric's hair and face.
In the promo for this week's episode 'Mixed Signals', Maggie is seen confronting her mother. "Mom, who is Eric?" a distraught Maggie asks Patricia. "Did you come to Boston to see him? Or me?" And the teaser ends but not before showing Patricia crying.
Could this mean that Gary was wrong? That Patricia really came to Boston for Eric and not Maggie?
'A Million Little Things' airs on Thursdays at 9|8c on ABC.