TL;DR – It is rare when a series can both genuinely make me laugh down to my core yet also deliver one of the most potent emotional slaps to the face that I have ever gotten.

Disclosure – I paid for the AppleTV+ service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

In today’s binge-streaming culture, it is almost expected that you will sit down and plough through a series in one or two sessions. Television that is almost just on in the background while you are doing other things. Well, today, we look at a series that respects you as a viewer in a way that you can’t watch all of it in one sitting because you need to savour every moment of it.

So, to set the scene, throughout Season One, Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) was trying to find his place in the world as he was still reeling from the tragic death of his wife Tia (Lilan Bowden) in a car crash years earlier. It was in this space that he decided to try a more hands-on type of therapy with his clients called ‘Jimmying’. There were success stories and failures, but it was working right up until one of Jimmy’s patients, Grace (Heidi Gardner), decided to take some advice a touch too literally and pushed her abusive boyfriend off a cliff. Meanwhile, Gaby (Jessica Williams) is dealing with always having to be the support mechanism for her family while starting a new role as professor, Sean (Luke Tennie) is working through having his dad back in his life, Alice (Lukita Maxwell) is still processing her own grief, and Paul’s (Harrison Ford) Parkinson’s is getting worse. Now, from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Now, I liked the first season of Shrinking because it was fun and quirky, with an emotional edge that made it fascinating to watch. However, aside from Jimmy and Paul, most of the characters in the show didn’t get much more than a surface-level exploration. However, now that Season One has established that foundation, Season Two is then able to rip through that surface and start boring deep into what makes the characters tick. A good example of this is Derek (Ted McGinley), Liz’s long-suffering/supporting husband. In Season One, his most defining moment was to tell of his racist neighbour. In Season Two, he is a complicated character who goes through an entire emotional arc exploring what his marriage means in a world where Liz (Christa Miller) kissed Mac (Josh Hopkins) for more than one Cincinnati.

That is but one example, but every cast member gets to explore deeper parts of their world this season. Sean suffers from setbacks because he is accidentally pushed into a collision course with his father, Tim (Kenajuan Bentley) by Liz, who was only trying to help. At the same time, Gabby is struggling to put down boundaries with her mother, Phyllis (Vernée Watson), because she has spent her life being the one to look after her mother while her sister Courtney (Courtney Taylor) suffered from a substance abuse issue. Now, it is Gabby’s turn to have a life, and yet she must give it all up again. These particular family dynamics would not have worked as well as they do without the actors who bring them to life, but also from the diverse writers’ room that brings depth to everything that happens. It is also fun when many of the writers show up in supporting roles throughout the season.

Much of the growth this season revolves around the introduction of Louis Winston to the show, played by a shockingly beardless Brett Goldstein. Louis was the person who got behind the wheel of his car after having too many drinks and got into the accident that killed Tia. Being confronted by the catalyst of one of the most traumatic moments in your life has different impacts on different characters. It is also the catalyst for the three most impactful moments in the season. The first is when Alice tells Louis that she forgives him, which hits with the emotional force of an entire hand slap to the face. The next is when Jimmy stumbles across Alice, Louis, and Brian (Michael Urie) having a friendly chat in a restaurant, bringing the most significant ‘oh no’ moment of the season. Finally, in the end, where Jimmy stumbles across one of Louis’ texts and realises that he is suicidal and goes and helps. I can tell that all of these moments landed because it was difficult to type them up without feeling emotional.

The one thing that Shrinking nails more than anything else is the banter. Every single character is constantly riffing off each other in a way that a friend group with decades of life experience behind them would. They are getting in each other’s way, butting heads, sneaking around, and always supportive. I think part of this is down to the setting, which is a therapist’s office, so giving advice and trying to be helpful comes naturally to people. But then also it is the commitment to lean into the absurd, such as getting into the ocean, which, given the temperature when I am writing this review, sounds like a good idea. It is the performances that makes the banter indeed land. They have a timing to every exchange that feels like a dance sometimes. There is also the moment of knowing just how far you can escalate something, and then step back and put the cherry on that brings a deep laugh like Liz popping her head back through the door to say that she is sorry that she caved, only to have Alice hear her.

While it is a genially fun time, it is also deeply grounded in trauma, and the show knows when it needs to have those moments ring true. I honestly did not know if Liz and Derek’s marriage would survive that betrayal, and that goes for most of the characters on the show. It is an honest reaction to hurt and the exploration of what that means going forward. Paul has to process both his own declining health and the guilt that he might be taking his new girlfriend, Dr Julie Baram (Wendie Malick), through the same pain that she went through with her first husband. Brian and his husband Charlie (Devin Kawaoka) working out if they want to be parents. Also, Jimmy discovers that he has been using his Jimmying almost like a narcotic drug, and like all narcotics, the hits become less powerful, and the side effects are worse. Watching him fall off that deep end again was difficult viewing. It is that balance between the heightened, humorous, surreal world these people live in and the very real struggles that they are going through.  

In the end, do we recommend Shrinking Season 2? Absolutely. It was a joy to watch all season, even when it made me cry, especially when it made me cry and laugh at the same time. It brought emotional highs and humours lows. It had a cast that was a delight in every moment they were on screen. It also explored some very real emotions that hit home.   

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Shrinking yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Shrinking
Directed by – Randall Keenan Winston, Zach Braff, Jamie Babbit, James Ponsoldt & Anu Valia
Written by – Rachna Fruchbom, Annie Mebane, Brian Gallivan, Sofi Selig, Zack Bornstein, Brett Goldstein, Kyra Brown, CJ Hoke, Sasha Garron, Bill Posley & Ashley Nicole Black
Created by – Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel & Brett Goldstein
Production/Distribution Companies – 3 Chance Productions, Corporate Mandate, Doozer Productions, Warner Bros. Television & AppleTV+
Starring – Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, Ted McGinley, Christa Miller & Harrison Ford with Brett Goldstein,Cobie Smulders,Damon Wayne Jr., Heidi Gardner, Lily Rabe, Gavin Lewis, Rachel Stubington, Courtney Taylor, Devin Kawaoka, Vernée Watson, Neil Flynn, Nore Kirkpatrick, Tanner Zagarino, Josh Hopkins, Lilan Bowden, Meredith Hagner, Kimberly Condict, Mike C. Nelson, Mike Kosinski, Ryan Caltagirone, Jill Knox, Keith Powell, Kenajuan Bentley, Cludia Sulewski, Brian Thomas Smith, Kelly Bishop & Wendie Malick and Mike C. Nelson, Matt Knudsen, Aleah Quiñones, Trey Santiago-Hudson, Meghan Andrews, Logan Carter, Robert Arcaro, Edy Modica, Amy Rosoff, Tilky Jones, Honora Talbott, Natasha Makin, Rebecca Avery, Brian Gallivan, Roscoe Freeman, C.J. Vana, Griff Furst, Mars Crain, Mimi Fletcher, Peter Kim, Jack Stuart, Askley Elyse Rogers, Sydney Malakeh, Markus Silbiger, Matt Mitchell, Eric Chavez, Edgar Blackmon, Ashley Nicole Black, Ashley Elyse Rodgers & Adrienne Lewis   
Episodes Covered – Jimmying, I Love Pain, Psychological Something-ism, Made You Look, Honesty Era, In a Lonely Place, Get in the Sea, Last Drink, Full Grown Dude Face, Changing Patterns, The Drugs Don’t Work & The Last Thanksgiving