Shrinking Season 1 Recap: Therapy Gone Wild
Taking a look at the first season of the Apple TV+ show Shrinking before next week's premiere of Season 2
Next Wednesday the new season of Shrinking drops on Apple TV+. I plan to do a regular weekly recap of each episode, but before we get into it, I wanted to share some thoughts about season 1.
Shrinking came out just as Ted Lasso was wrapping up. The creators for Shrinking include both Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence (the creator of Scrubs, another one of the all-time great dramedies), so a lot of the same crew was involved, and the same general vibes exist in both shows. Both shows deal with complicated family dynamics. Both shows heavily feature men caring for their mental health. Both shows have some amazing friendships displayed. If you’re a fan of Ted Lasso, you will probably be a fan of Shrinking.
The first time we meet Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel), he is drunk and high at his pool with two sex workers, and his next-door neighbor, Liz (Christa Miller), needs to tell him to go to bed because it’s the middle of the night. The following morning, he has a contentious interaction with his daughter, Alice (Lukita Maxwell), and then realizes that his car is out of gas and he has to bike where he’s going. Eventually, we see him enter a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center only to realize that this absolute mess of a person is the one offering therapy.
It is an impressive opening to the show.
We do get more of the story as the season unfolds. Jimmy’s wife, Tia (Lilan Bowden), was killed in a car accident a year ago, and Jimmy cut off everyone and numbed himself with drugs and booze rather than deal with his pain. We discover that Liz and her husband, Derek (Ted McGinley), have essentially been raising Alice. Jimmy’s co-workers, Gaby (Jessica Williams) and Paul (Harrison Ford), have been propping him up. His best friend, Brian (Michael Urie), has been left out of his life. Jimmy is a mess.
And then, one day, he loses it with a patient. He tells her that if she doesn’t leave her abusive husband, he won’t continue to be her therapist. Shocked, she agrees, sending Jimmy on a mission to change how he approaches therapy. This happens right as Gaby asks him to take on a new patient that she doesn’t have time for - Sean (Luke Tennie), a former soldier struggling with PTSD and violent tendencies.
One of the fascinating things about the first season of Shrinking is that, especially at the start, it looks closely at these relationships almost exclusively through Jimmy’s perspective. It’s a clever thing for the writers to do because, at the beginning of the show, Jimmy is incredibly self-centered. While suddenly losing a spouse is, of course, grounds for sorrow and mourning, Jimmy turns so far inside that he is unable to see the needs of anyone else.
What the show does well is to show this kind of selfishness honestly, but never with malice. As audience members, we feel bad for Jimmy, but the show stops short of allowing us to make excuses for his bad behavior.
By choosing this route, Shrinking allows viewers to have a better understanding of themselves as well. We can see how an inward-focused perspective can make us miss the issues plaguing those we love and care about. Throughout the show, Jimmy receives various reminders that he is behaving selfishly, particularly when it comes to his daughter.
Again, one of the things that makes this show work is the way we see some of the other relationships, especially parenting relationships, play out and then are able to relate those back to Jimmy. We understand that Paul and his daughter Meg (Lily Rabe) have a relationship that has been strained for decades and that even as an excellent therapist, Paul struggles to find the best way to reconnect with her. In episode 7, “Apology Tour” (which happens to be my favorite episode), we get a beautiful example of how quickly old wounds can immediately block out any goodwill that might have been building and how there is no straight path forward for rebuilding trust that has been broken.
I never watched How I Met Your Mother, so I didn't have much context for Segel’s acting abilities, but I will say that he wildly impressed me in this show. He is funny, and he has some great physical comedy chops, but when he needs to be tender or angry or grieving, he is incredibly expressive.
And if you thought that Harrison Ford’s best days were behind him, think again. He is phenomenal in his role; honestly, if you just watched the show because he was in it, you wouldn't be disappointed.
Shrinking manages to keep its episodes to a tight 30-minute length. It doesn't indulge in grandstanding but instead makes efficient use of its time to build characters who are engaging and relatable (even if their housing situation isn't). Overall, in its first season, Shrinking is a show that tackles some critical and challenging themes with compassion and humor.
Join me next Wednesday for a breakdown of the first episode of Season 2 when it airs on Apple TV+. Also, if you're a fan of Shrinking and/or Ted Lasso, you should check out my book, The Ted Lasso Relationship Guide. You can read the foreword from author Matthew Paul Turner here.
I loved this show so much! Can’t wait for the next season.