The Apple TV+ drama “Shrinking” is (or at least was) about a therapist, Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel), who jettisoned professional ethics after the tragic death of his wife. Whatever you thought about how the show portrayed therapy, and a lot of were shocked by the idea that the boundaries between doctor and patient are a more annoying inconvenience than an ironclad principle, Season 1 of “Shrinking” at least had a poignant premise from which to structure the broader study of grief. Season 2, which premieres this week after a 19-month hiatus due to last year’s strikes, deviates from these basic foundations, leaving behind a story that’s just as tonally muddled but even less focused.
In the show’s defense, the show never took a strong stance on Jimmy’s new approach, which followed a year of catatonia, debauchery, and pledging his teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) to their neighbor Liz (Christa Miller) as a surrogate parent. . In the season 2 premiere, when Jimmy’s boss and mentor Paul (a grumpy Harrison Ford) demands his protégé to stop treating Sean (Luke Tennie), the veteran with anger issues who crashes on Jimmy’s couch, it’s unclear why he puts his foot on the ground. now and not at any earlier time. But on “Shrinking” — a team-up of Segel and “Ted Lasso” collaborators Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein — Jimmy’s antics are neither a new twist in the widower’s downward spiral nor a brilliant innovation that his peers could learn from, no matter how problematic. such a corner could be. They’re just a setup for a handful of vaguely comedic situations, like Jimmy ruining a patient’s date. Because ‘Shrinking’ initially had little interest in the practice of therapy, she already becomes distracted.
In season 2, Jimmy gives his technique a name (“Jimmy-ing”), but seems to do less of it than ever. With Sean out of his role, a natural new focus would be Grace (Heidi Gardner of “SNL”), a woman who snapped in the Season 1 finale and pushed her abusive husband off a cliff, inspired by Jimmy’s unfiltered advice. This outcome is a logical reason for Jimmy to do some serious introspection. That never comes, leaving poor, imprisoned Grace subjected to a wildly varying spectrum of stakes. Jimmy’s other patients don’t appear until mid-season; he doesn’t hire new ones. Sean continues to hang around, but his relationship with Jimmy and Paul bears less and less resemblance to any form of therapy, traditional or otherwise. He’s just another participant in a rough hangout, an oversharing friend among many.
Jimmy’s colleagues are also not involved. Paul pushes his old boss Raymond (Neil Flynn) out of the nest, allowing him to focus on his Parkinson’s prognosis and the budding romance with neurologist Julie (Wendie Malick). Gaby (Jessica Williams), Jimmy’s colleague, good friend and sometimes fuck buddy, has focused much of her attention on teaching a college class, as well as a family feud that is abruptly introduced. Along with Miller, Williams gives one of the few performances that seems to understand that “Shrinking” is essentially a sitcom, but she’s left stranded on a more entertaining show.
This pivot begs the question: If “Shrinking” isn’t about therapy, what is? is talking about? The long tail of grief continues, with Goldstein casting himself as a character who plays an important role in Jimmy and Alice’s processing of their trauma. The specific role is considered a spoiler, although the performance provides ample opportunity for Goldstein to look pained while on the verge of tears. Perhaps the writer and performer wanted to show off his dramatic range. The arc is nonetheless an overcorrection to the comic rage of Roy Kent from “Ted Lasso.”
But for the most part, “Shrink” without shrinking is a shapeless, listless mess. The show is set in a version of Pasadena, the affluent Los Angeles suburb that appears to be the size of a snow globe, or perhaps in palm-tree-lined Stars Hollow. Characters constantly collide randomly, like when Sean’s semi-estranged father comes across the food truck he started with Liz. The Sean-Liz partnership is one of many random-seeming relationships within the ensemble, an undifferentiated mass in which everyone seems equal and unconvincingly close to everyone else.
Jimmy’s lack of boundaries may no longer be as relevant to his professional life, but it’s still palpable in the series’ structure, or lack thereof. Storylines feel increasingly atomized: Jimmy’s boyfriend Brian (Michael Urie) considers having a baby; Gaby guides her students; Liz, now an empty nester, casts around with a purpose. The performances are also contradictory; Segel and Urie in particular go so big that they drown out more subtle deadpans, like Ford’s, or dramatic work, like Maxwell’s. Platonic chemistry alone cannot provide enough glue to stick these mismatched parts together. “Shrinking” is supposed to be about healing wounds, but in season 2 it’s broken into more pieces than when it started.
The first two episodes of “Shrinking” are available to stream now on Apple TV+, with the remaining episodes airing weekly on Fridays.