Ladies and gentlemen, we can once again start an episode by saying…Gary f**ks. It’s been too long? Gary and Maggie are back, Cam the perfect hockey player is in for several rough surprises, Sophie is freaking out Eddie with her plan to tour instead of go to school, Katherine and Greta get semi-busted by Theo, and Rome needs to step back after pressuring Tyrell about his college applications. As Sophie heads out, and Delilah is in France, we ask…are we writing off the entire original Dixon family? Maybe…except for the show’s real hero’s return…

Gary and Maggie are magnets and cannot be stopped, not even by a perfect hockey boyfriend. Katherine has a scare that takes her to the hospital and causes an awkward meeting between her new girlfriend and her old husband Eddie, and Rome gets to be fun with everyone except for when he’s super mean to Gina (until his apology). Also, Eddie and Anna are, we regret to say, not done yet. 

What a mix in this episode! There’s some great stuff (the ending beat, particularly — also Gina’s realistic, nuanced portrayal of dealing with a partner with depression), and a bunch of absolutely batsh*t insane stuff that seems like they were trying to end an improv scene that got out of hand (everything with Anna/Eddie storyline, her magical memory) etc. Also big ups to Katherine for finding the one place to “secretly” make out where literally all your friends could see you. And hey: no one hire that radio producer who is sweet but literally the worst at her job of all time!

Oh my God the show is back — and so are we. Katherine is making moves, specifically with a childhood friend (who is a real life friend of Kevin’s!). Maggie goes on a drive with Gary to find her stalker, Rome and Eddie drive around and then go for a swim, and Gina tracks down her co-worker she accidentally outed as an ex-con. 

Sophie’s got her big audition, Liam runs away to Gary, we meet Darcey’s husband Stephen (a massive drip of a guy), Maggie and her hockey guy exchange I love you’s, and Rome and Gina face a crossroads when the woman who has been helping him with his movie admits she has feelings for him — and that she doesn’t think he’s “happily married.” Eddie also has a talk with Gina that we think is some of the best writing we’ve heard in a while. Eddie? No longer a weiner! (Stephen has taken that title.)

We’ll see you back in late February! “If I lay here…”

Let’s start with the good: Rome and Gina with some subtle and incredible acting toward the end. A Colin the Dog appearance. A very human Gary episode. An absolutely hilarious, end-of-episode plot twist in Maggie’s stalker case. Sam Pancake said “pancake” a lot.

And THEN, Eddie bringing the pedophilic teacher’s now ex-wife into Sophie’s home -- without Sophie's consent -- so the wife (Anna) could apologize. Sociopathic stuff. Just cut this out in the reruns, folks.

We’re back in TWO weeks with the winter finale!

In what we agree is a very good use of flash forward storylining, we’ve bounced six months into the future after a bunch of big turns last week. Rome and Gina are trying to make long distance work while she’s on the movie set in Miami, and Rome meets a nice publicist who gives him her number for…professional reasons (really). Eddie is driving for NOT Uber, and has a heart to heart with hard-partying Sophie. Maggie confronts some doubts about her seemingly great new relationship with the hockey player, and Gary bumps into a (spoiler) PREGNANT Darcy, has a trip to memory lane when he spots his old car, and tries to move on.

Gary confronts the pervy teacher, who blackmails him and demands Sophie delete the podcast…which leads to big problems in a way you might not guess. Katherine and her new possible leading lady have a real moment, Gina gets a job offer that might take her out of town, Eddie uses the money from the lady who hit him to…give her his apartment? Feels like we deleted some scenes in that story line! Finally the thing Kevin’s most excited about: Ryan Hansen of Veronica Mars & Party Down fame is here to romance Maggie.

Rome’s got career highs and lows in about a 10-minute span, but he gets an actual good (and sometimes funny!) hang with his dad, so we’re counting this as a win. Maggie continues to have no idea how to behave, on Earth, anywhere, Gina makes a new friend at the new job, Eddie finally finds the woman who hit him and explores the butterfly effect of everyone’s choices. And Gary? He’s got the law closing in, and Darcy moving out of his life. It’s a big one!

It’s a Divorce Party for the gals, and a Bruins game for the guys. Both parties fall apart but we get a game of never have I ever that reveals some new secrets, a grand gesture from Theo to a girl he likes, Sophie & Maggie bumping into the wife of the perverted, comatose teacher, and a trip to a dumpster to find Gary’s lucky hat. Can someone just watch a dang Bruins game with Rome?!