It has been one of the great joys
of my experience is as a viewer to see Shrinking, which in its first two
seasons has become a contender for one of the greatest comedies of the decade.
A collaboration of Bill Lawrence and Jason Segel, it is another in this
decade's trend of comedies about community and friendship , along with such
fellow Emmy nominated and winning series such as Abbott Elementary and Only
Murders in the Building.
So naturally it's taken me six
months since Season Three dropped for me to finally get around to watching
Season Three. In my defense it's not like I've been idle during this period;
indeed much of the last few months have been spent watching some of Apple Tv's
latest crop of brilliant freshman comedies such as Margo's Got Money
Troubles and Widow's Bay both of which, like Shrinking, were
deservedly among the most prominent Emmy nominees for Best Comedy. I haven't
per se been saving the best for last – I did spend much of the last that period
saying goodbye to Hacks – but I had a feeling that since I was going to
spend the leadup to the Emmys dealing with some of the darker dramas and
limited series I was going to need this show as balance.
And indeed having got through the
first two episodes (technically three because the season premiere is a
two-parter that was released as an hour-long one) I'm very grateful I waited.
Because as always Shrinking is just as sublime, sentimental, sometimes
dark, sometimes messy and always hysterical as its always been.
The first two episodes deal as
much with Paul (Harrison Ford has to get the Emmy this year!) dealing with the
fact that his struggles with Parkinson's are getting worse. He has spent much
of the first two episodes having conversations with his doctor girlfriend Julie
(Wendie Malick) about getting power of attorney and all the other negotiations.
Jimmy (Jason Segel) suggested: "Why don't you just get married?"
Paul's response was, as every line out of his mouth, classic: "Did you
just propose to my girlfriend?"
Much of the first two episodes
dealt with the plans for the wedding which was done primarily by Gabby (the
always awesome Jessica Williams) who seemed to be throwing all of her energy in
it because she liked being a wedding planner. This bugged the hell out of Paul
(but doesn't everything?) who spent much of the episode trying to say that she
was meddling. As always Gaby pointed out that she was doing this for her she
was doing this for Julie and it sunk in that he was being a prick to a woman he genuinely loves.
So as always they got married.
Unfortunately after the wedding Paul saw a patient from the Parkinson's clinic
(Michael J. Fox) in his kitchen. And since he knows one of the symptoms is
hallucinations he immediately knows he has an issue. Paul has taken the
position of "Fuck Parkinson's"
and is determined not to let this disease destroy him. That doesn't mean he
enjoys having to lean on other people and he sure as hell doesn't like that Liz
(Christa Miller!) has taken over his scheduling.
Jimmy (Jason Segel) is actually
in a better place than when we met him two seasons ago. He seems to have
managed to come out on the other side where he was, he's trying to get used to
the face that Alice (Lupita Maxwell) is going to college on the other side of
the country, and he's increasingly more balanced then when we first met him. He's
still meddling like the first couple of seasons but it's less problematic then
before; he has accepted the help of Paul when it came to handling certain
problems. The one thing he's still struggling with is the idea that he will
never love again. He thought he got it with Tia and that he can be fine without
it.
But in one of the better
storylines the woman he bought a car from last season (Cobie Smulders!)
actually showed up at his doorstep under the fig leaf of bringing a spare key. The
two of them had a pretty good conversation and it was clear the two are
attracted to each other – and just as endearingly she's just as bad at
approaching another man as he is. Jimmy then walked up her home at the end of
the third episode, then walked away, then walked back, then walked away.
Segel's hasn't gotten as much a chance to do his physical comedy during Shrinking,
it's good to know he's still good at it.
All of the people in Jimmy's
circle are going through their own transitions. Gaby is struggling with whether
the kind of therapy she's doing is the right kind anymore and she was never
thrilled about how both Jimmy and Alice were spending so much time around Louis
(Brett Goldstein) the hit and run driver who killed Tia and whose involvement
in their lives was the focus of Season 2. In an extraordinary monologue Gaby unleashed
all of her anguish about how she can never forgive Louis for killing her best
friend while still managing to be therapeutic. And in keeping with how Shrinking
works this proved an impetus for Louis to finally find a way to move
forward. He found closure with his girlfriend and at the end of the third
episode told Jimmy and Alice that he planned to move to San Diego and carry on
with his life.
Derek (Ted McGinley) continues to
grow as a character along with providing the wonderful marriage that he and Liz
share. Much of the first three episodes was about how their 25 year old son had
moved back home yet again and neither of them could figure out how to tell him
to get on his own. Liz loved being the bad cop but she showed at some level she
didn't like it with her kids and Derek spent time struggling to do the right
thing. He eventually did it and Liz thanked him – and in typical fashion then
went to her son to apologize for him.
Brian (Michael Urie, nominated
for his second consecutive Emmy) has been preparing for the birth of he and his
husband's new child and have trying to figure out how to deal with the adoptive
mother in the picture. Urie has always been good at showing both the selfish
and vulnerable sides of him all at once and this was clear with how they dealt
with the mother. Brian was clearly sensitive to her needs but they'd been
delaying how much they wanted her in the child's life because Brian wanted no
involvement. Liz managed to persuade him it was good to be selfish and he went
to the meeting with the intention of doing so – but once he heard just how bad
her life was he and his husband backed away. Liz then told him what a weak
person he was – and then assured him she would have done the same thing.
I know because I'm very clear of
how the average season of Shrinking works that things will be both bad
and good as the season progresses, that there will be fights, arguments and
messiness all the way through, with darkness and much as light. This has been
the sweet spot that Bill Lawrence has worked in so masterfully in ever since
the classic Scrubs debuted back in 2001 (and now it's back too!) and he
and his incredible writers and actors have created one of the funniest and
sweetest comedies in TV history. And
when you add some of the great comic actors of all time combined with one of
the greatest actors of all time giving arguably the greatest performance
he's ever given (every line out of Ford's mouth is gold) you have a
masterpiece. There are Emmys in this show's future and eventually a Best Comedy
prize. Maybe not this year but it's inevitable for a show that is now on the
shortlist for a show that meets the high bar Bill Lawrence has been setting for
decades and yet incredibly, manages to surpass it.
My score: 5 stars.
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