Summary
Shrinking Season 2 remains a rollercoaster of emotions, but Episode 11 achieves perhaps its most profound moments yet.
“The Drugs Don’t Work” is the third five-star episode in a row for Shrinking Season 2, which is the first time that has ever happened in the history of this website. I just don’t know what else to do. I was convinced that Episode 11 was a little step down from the beautiful poignancy of Jimmy and Alice’s relationship in Episode 9 and the one-two punch of emotion in Episode 10, but then it got to the last five minutes and almost killed me.
I’m almost perversely looking forward to this season ending just so I can take a break. I’m now so invested in this show that it feels like my actual life, like these are my real friends. I can’t remember the last time I said that about anything. Perhaps I never have. But they’re not easy people to hang with as they have such a laundry list of profound emotional traumas, almost all of which come to the fore in one way or another in this episode.
Jimmy Tries To Jimmy Himself
We might as well start with Jimmy since he’s very central here. After Alice discovered what he said to Louis, she’s still not talking to him. From her point of view, Louis is hurting in a way that Jimmy could probably help him deal with, but he’s too scared and selfish to do it. From Jimmy’s perspective, he shouldn’t have to. But the truth he’s hiding from himself is that he hasn’t healed from the loss of his wife. Sure, he’s not drowning himself in drugs and hookers anymore, but he’s living vicariously through the successes of his patients.
Paul can see this and tells Jimmy outright that he needs to ask for help. If he doesn’t, he’s heading right back to where he started. Because he doesn’t want to hear it, though, he tries to once again paper over the cracks by using his work. He revisits Grace and Donny and tries to “fix” them. He helps another patient, Wally, discover the strength to return a dog she stole (it’s a long story). But nothing helps.
When Jimmy returns home, Alice’s bedroom is empty. The only thing he can think to do is call his old sex work connect, and even she says she hopes he doesn’t call back. But he has to call someone. After roaming around town in a drunk — possibly drugged? — stupor, he eventually does — and, blessedly, it’s Paul.
This is the bit that really set me off. It isn’t just Jimmy’s breakdown, which Jason Segel really sells, or his long-awaited admission that he’s not okay. It’s Paul hugging him. I’m welling up just thinking about it. And, as we’ll see, Paul has his own problems. But he’s still there for his friend in his hour of need, and hopefully, this is the most meaningful step Jimmy has yet taken on the road to recovery.
Paul’s Predicament
I mentioned Paul’s problems above. One of them is that Sean is now in a low-key relationship with his neurologist, Dr. Sykes, but that’s admittedly minor. The other is that his medication isn’t preventing his tremors as well as it once did, and he’s worried that it’s beginning to lose its efficacy.
And he’s right. The scene in which Paul learns this largely works because of Gaby, who quietly reacts to the news while the focus remains on Paul. It’s a very slight moment of emotional texture, but it adds a great deal. You know how Paul’s going to react to learning that in 6-12 months, his medication won’t work at all — he’ll tough it out, probably in a bad mood, and just avoid talking about it. It’s almost like Gaby shoulders some of the burden for him.
And Gaby — all together now — has her own problems.
Lukita Maxwell in Shrinking | Image via Apple TV+
Gaby Can’t Commit
Phyllis still isn’t thrilled with Gaby telling her that she doesn’t want her to move in. Gaby obviously feels guilty about it, which is a situation worsened by Phyllis’s angelic nurse telling her outright that she’s a monster. But in the midst of all this, she’s also grappling with her relationship with Derrick.
Derrick is, on paper, perfect. He hasn’t put a foot wrong. And yet Gaby is still reluctant to commit for reasons that she can’t really articulate, to him or herself. Unfortunately for her, while giving Alice advice about how to ditch her nice but dim boyfriend, Dylan, she gives her own strategy away. She has a tendency to act noncommital until her would-be partner makes the hard decision for her. Derrick is smart enough to immediately recognize that this is what she’s doing to him.
There’s an element of confusion to Derrick confronting her that adds something here. He’s a little harsh about it, but ultimately he’s right in that Gaby has no real reason to be acting the way she is. And on some level, she knows that too. Forcing her to admit who’s going to have Thanksgiving with her while he isn’t invited turns a lightly petty grievance into a powerful example of how much Gaby is mistreating him by refusing to reciprocate the emotions he has already put forward. Gaby has met her match.
Brian and Charlie Get Their Baby; Sean Is At A Crossroads
In a surprising turnaround, Brian and Charlie end up being selected as the parents of Ava’s baby after all, and even more surprisingly, it’s largely thanks to Brian.
Admittedly, he sends a pen with a troll attached back to Ava in a kind of hateful gesture, but she takes it as a kindness. And this, apparently, is enough to sway her. Plus, the other prospective parents are Disney people. “They probably do sex stuff with the ears,” Brian adds, no doubt helpfully.
And then there’s Sean. Things are going well for him — the food truck is making money, he’s making great strides in therapy with Paul, and he’s dating Dr. Sykes. The only issue is he’s still living in Jimmy’s pool house, which isn’t conducive to a long-term romantic relationship.
Derek comes to the rescue. He plans to buy an apartment that he will have to sit on for at least a year before flipping — for tax reasons, naturally — so he offers it to Sean for $100 a month. It’s a steal, but Sean rejects it. At first, it seems like he’s uncomfortable accepting what he perceives to be charity, but there’s a bit more to it than that. He’s actually not ready to move out of the pool house yet.
Derek’s story about his water polo career is somehow profound advice. Whenever Sean’s ready, the universe will accommodate him. But he’s moving at his own speed, which is fine. Now we just need Jimmy to start faring as well as his patients do.
