A Heartfelt Shrinking Goes Back To The Beginning

“You want therapy Gabby or friend Gabby?” is the line from this episode (titled “Last Drink”) that made me sit up. For it seemed like the first time the show was acknowledging the porous though clearly separate roles friends and therapists can perform in our lives. For much of Shrinking, after all, the very idea of such boundaries has been freely (some would say obscenely and maybe borderline irresponsibly) blurred. The pep talks from those who know you well and the harder talks you get from someone whose job and mission is to help better your mental health can and sometimes do overlap. But the distinction has always been the point of therapy. Jimmy (Jason Segel) has made a point, and Shrinking has made a plot, out of what may happen when such ethical lines are crossed and you start treating patients more like friends—and maybe start helping your friends as if you were their therapist. The results, while humorous most of the time, have been mixed—both for the series and its characters.

So it was a joy to watch the episode at least gesture to that distinction—all while flashing back and fleshing out the days leading up to the fateful event that initially set Shrinking’s main storyline in motion: the death of Jimmy’s wife, Tia (Lilan Bowden), at the hands of a drunken driver (Brett Goldstein’s Louis). The incident has always loomed large over the series. It also has, perhaps, always rung a lot darker and more dramatic than the comedy series that’s followed so I was intrigued by how Shrinking would tackle this flashback. And, as with everything else on the show, going back felt a bit too pat and too neat—but all for a heartfelt purpose.

Louis’ life couldn’t have been going better. He and his girlfriend (Meredith Hagner) were ready to move in. She’s clearly in love with him and even forgives him for refusing to get rid of that Miss Congeniality poster he still has up in his apartment. They have a lovely rhythm going, so much so that they enjoy a night out with friends to much gaiety and laughter. It’s that night, when he has but one more drink than he should’ve (he’s by no means plastered but perhaps not sober enough to drive home) that the worst thing happens. In true Shrinking manner, we don’t get to see the accident, just its aftermath—namely, Alice grieving and finding solace in Liz and Derek’s home and Jimmy spiraling. (Is there a less convincing subplot here than the idea that Segel’s Jimmy would spend nights out drinking, doing drugs, and hooking up with endless air-headed girls?)

Anyways, we slowly see how Louis’ life spirals: He gets one year in prison for his DUI conviction and rebuffs any attempts by his girlfriend to stay together. As he tells her in one of the most revealing moments of the episode: “I made the biggest mistake of my life, and every time I look at you that’s all I’ll ever see.” It’s a heartbreaking line and tees up the Louis we’ve come to know, the kind who can laugh and enjoy his time with Alice and Brian. Which is exactly what he was doing when Jimmy got to see his daughter, his best friend, and the guy who killed his wife enjoying a lovely meal out…and it all but breaks him.

Much like when Alice first saw that Brian and Louis were hanging out, we’re treated to another one of Michael Urie’s whirlwind, anxious monologues (actually, it’s almost word for word the same spiel), which is a delight but still leaves Jimmy at a loss. There’s been so much kept from him. So much hurt. And it may take some time for him to forgive those closest to him.

Speaking of forgiveness, Liz and Derek are still somewhat estranged over her kiss with Mac. He’s still giving his wife the cold shoulder, resorting to staying with Gabby while things cool off. That’s how he ends up chatting with both Gabby and Brian, brainstorming ways of moving forward. And, of course, while Gabby suggests the more sensible idea (self-care in the form of a nap), Derek opts to follow Brian’s ill-guided advice: confront Mac. Which Derek does in the most Derek-like way—by being quite cordial and accepting a pint at Mac’s microbrewery as they gaze upon Liz’s dog portraits, which serve as a reminder of how Derek had probably been neglecting his wife’s interests and her depressive episode. (He hadn’t even looked at them when she first took them.) It’s all quite civil and a reminder that, at its best, Shrinking is a show that aims to offer models for how to deal with interpersonal problems with maturity—which is hard to do since so much of the humor of sitcoms relies on quite the opposite. That’s what eventually gets him to chat with Gabby, who gives him advice both as a friend and as a therapist: There may be stuff he and Liz need to figure out together, which they’re set to do once he offers as beautiful an olive branch as you’d expect: all three of her sons at home for an impromptu non-birthday dinner together. Maybe they will make it after all.

Which brings us back to Jimmy, who, after a tough chat with Paul and a heart to heart with Liz (while rock hunting!) decides to visit Louis and offer the most merciful thing he can: his forgiveness. But with one caveat: He never wants to see him ever again, and he needs to stop being involved with Alice and Brian. It's a seemingly small price to pay except, of course, we know just how in shambles his life was before he connected with them both. Not that he shares that with his daughter and friend. All he says is he’s forgiven Louis, all before he then chats with Paul and self-examines why he remains so angry (and why he still struggles with being kinder with himself about how he handled his grief). It’s a great first step toward, hopefully, a better life ahead.

Stray observations