Shrinking Season 3 Premiere Review: Moving On Begins

Critic’s Rating: 5 / 5.0

5

One benefit to streaming platforms is that half-hour format shows can trot out the occasional super-sized offering without having to snap it into artificial halves. The Shrinking Season 3 premiere, “My Bad,” is a perfect hour of television.

To quantify it, the writers provided a medley of scenes in the first 10 minutes of the show, elegantly getting us up to speed on every character’s story from Jimmy to Louis. And introducing Jerry. Love that guy.

Then, framing the theme around Sean’s reluctance to move forward, they use the next 50 to bring each narrative to dynamic life with humor and heart. It’s the ideal ratio of exposition to action. Honestly, it doesn’t get better than this.

Shrinking, “My Bad”

An adage about writers is that they fall into two categories: architects and gardeners. While the writing team behind Apple TV’s Shrinking is a large collaborative room, Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence, and Jason Siegel came to the project with a plan.

They originally pitched the series as a three-season arc which would deal with grief, healing, and moving on, respectively.

Sticking with the plan, Shrinking Season 3 hits us with a whirlwind of change. And although usually more positively-viewed, change is just as challenging as grief and healing. “My Bad” kicks things off unapologetically with Dr. Sykes dumping Sean as part of her self-prescribed moving-on strategy.

This sets Paul up to introduce Sean to his concept of The Field.

“The Field is an intelligent energy force that knows who you’re supposed to be, and it’s going to keep demonstrating to you what it is you need to work on most over and over again until you start to do it.” – Dr. Paul Rhoades

The Field will make its presence felt on all our core characters as they become greater versions of themselves in the process of moving on. As Alice learns here, moving on doesn’t mean letting go of everything. Both she and Jimmy must overcome the fear they prepare for next steps.

F*ck Parkinson’s

As Paul’s Parkinson’s Disease progresses, the implications on his life and livelihood are clear. He broaches the topic with Jimmy, considers what it means for him and Julie, and even graphically talks through the optics of covering up his tremors while in session with a client.

Meeting Jerry in Dr. Sykes’s waiting room and commiserating on the disease’s symptoms foreshadows the next stages of his Parkinson’s. But first, it provides the Season 3 mantra. “F*ck Parkison’s,” Jerry tells him, then insists he say it back.

Once he shares it with the group, it’s their touchstone. It conveys solidarity in defiance of the disease’s effects on Paul and, by extension, on their collective.

Everyone loves a bookend, it’s true. The premiere begins and ends with him and Julie together. We open on him dealing with tremors and grumping at her desire to shower while he’s finishing up his ablutions. And it ends with them realizing he’s hallucinating Jerry eating cake at his dining room table.

The Dead Mom Card

Part of moving forward for Alice and Jimmy is being able to joke about things like Tia’s death. Not to make light of the event, but to accept it as part of the world they live in. It’s no longer taboo territory because they’ve put the work into healing the wound.

As it turns out, everyone has a version of the Dead Mom Card. Alice’s is obviously the most effective, with Tia literally being her dead mom, but every member of the village that raised her during Jimmy’s breakdown all lay claim to some level of that trauma trump.

While it’s a bit morbid to think that there’s a silver lining to Tia’s death, Alice does realize when describing her found family to the Wesleyan scout that she fears losing them the way she lost her mom.

“That was my cranky therapist-grandpa. And that tall lady wearing all the colors? She’s my hero-godmother. Then there was Brian who’s my guncle-godfather. And Sean…. And the woman who made our goalie cry, that’s my neighbor-mother…. And heads up, I can’t be responsible for what any of those people will do if you don’t let me onto the team.” – Alice

Part of the charm of Shrinking is how we’ve seen these characters grow and heal only to become more defined and refined versions of themselves. At their core, they haven’t changed, but they’re healthier, hopefully happier, and definitely feeling more secure.

Liz’s Limits

The most intriguing development “My Bad” presents is the two-pronged Liz plotline, wherein her expertise as Brian and Charlie’s Nanny-zilla is contradicted by son Matthew’s return, unemployed and chronically clueless.

Obsessed with controlling every aspect of the imminent baby’s existence, she’s flummoxed by what to do about her own progeny’s failures in life.

It’s a fascinating peek behind the aggressively confident grand dame of rock tumbling.

We’ve Been Jimmy-ed

Maybe if you were leaping into Shrinking Season 3 with no context, this premiere would seem frenetic, cacophonous, and contrived. But we’ve seen these characters put the work in. We’re in on the jokes. We’re part of the family now. And there’s no take-backs on that.

We’re right there, grunting like constipated warthogs alongside Jimmy and Paul, propelling Alice to Victory. When the Dereks express shock over the shop’s lack of belts, we feel their outrage. Jimmy’s cantaloupe joke violates us just as much as Paul and the wedding guests.

Finales will always be more challenging to pull off well than premieres. That’s a hill I’m ready to die on. But as far as premieres go — especially for the premiere of a planned finale season — “My Bad” is nothing but good stuff.

From Michael J. Fox to wedding hecklers, getting dumped to playing the Dead Mom Card, Winnie the Pooh to the One Year Rule, Shrinking Season 3 envelops us once more in the messiness, craziness, and flat-out lovingness of this ragtag band of deeply flawed folks. And we’re so here for it.

For the record, Jimmy’s understanding of punctuation is one of his deep flaws. Also, he never asked Paul and Julie for their “I do”s. In his role of officiant, I have notes.

Which garden path do you most look forward to wandering down, Fanatics? Will married life change Paul and Julie? Will Alice’s departure send Jimmy into a new spiral? What will be the knock-on effect of Ava’s presence on the Brian-Charlie-Liz triad?

Are YOU ready to move on? Hit the comments with your hopes and fears for this season!

Shrinking Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Apple TV. Season 3 drops new episodes every Wednesday.

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