Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the A Million Little Things Season 4 episode “Pinocchio.”
A Million Little Things answered a pivotal question in the latest episode, “Pinocchio,” regarding what Sophie's teacher Peter would remember if and when he woke up from his coma, and how he would react. While it first appeared that the beating Peter endured at the hands of Gary and Christopher Gregory had left the teacher with short-term memory loss, it was revealed in the episode’s final moments that Peter did, in fact, know it was Gary. So what does Peter’s decision to lie to the police about what he remembered mean?
“Pinocchio” was basically Gary’s worst nightmare come to life, in more ways than he expected. In the first few episodes of A Million Little Things’ fourth season, Gary lived in paranoia that his role in the attack on Peter — who sexually assaulted Sophie as well as Christopher’s daughter — would become known to the police. What Gary didn’t factor in was that Darcy would figure it out on her own and break up with him over it. The police, meanwhile, seemed to know precisely what happened to Peter the night of the attack; they just lacked the evidence to arrest Gary.
So when Peter awoke from his coma and told the police that he didn’t remember anything about the attack, Gary — as well as Millionaires watching at home — breathed a sigh of relief, even if we all kind of knew Gary wasn’t going to get off that easy. That proved to be true, as Peter called Gary and told him they needed to talk, because he knew Gary was guilty. So why did Peter lie to the police? Is it possible Gary’s going to get away with the attack after all?
Maybe Peter didn’t want to implicate Gary in order to keep the ordeal as quiet as possible. If arrests were made, more people would hear about the assault accusations. And as Gary pointed out to the police in “Pinocchio,” who knows how many other students were assaulted as well? More publicity could mean more victims coming forward, so I can see Peter wanting to avoid that.
Another possibility is Peter remembered that it was actually Christopher who lost control that night, telling Gary to leave him alone to exact revenge on Peter for the assault that led to his daughter’s suicide. Gary actually tried to talk Christopher down. Could Peter be looking to strike some kind of deal with Gary that would put sole blame on Christopher? Would Gary even go along with that?
Whatever Peter’s reasons were for telling Gary they needed to talk, Gary’s still got a long way to dig to get himself out of the pit he’s in. In the promo for the next episode, Maggie said she heard what Gary did from Sophie, so now that Sophie nows, how will that affect her relationship with Gary? Was this the last we’ll see of Darcy, and does that mean we might get a rekindled romance between Gary and Maggie?
There are so many questions left to answer, and that’s perfectly fine, because A Million Little Things Season 4 is just getting started. A Million Little Things returns in two weeks, at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday, October 27 on ABC. Check out our 2021 Fall TV Schedule to keep up with all of the upcoming premieres.
