Shrinking SN2 Ep12
Things wrap up nicely for season 2, with Harrison Ford getting a humdinger of a speech and the rest of the cast each getting a moment or two to shine.
After the dour note of the last episode of “Shrinking,” I was worried the showrunners were planning to pull out a cliffhanger for the end of season 2, knowing that season 3 already has a green light. That would be a way to generate energy and momentum while the Apple TV+ show is on hiatus.
Without giving anything away, there isn’t anything to give away. Episode 12, “The Last Thanksgiving,” nicely wraps things up without any inauthentic moments to gin up our anxiety. In fact, every cast member seems to be in a more or less good and shape, and each is given a moment or two in the spotlight to shine.
The highlight, no doubt, will be the speech resident cranky oldster Paul (Harrison Ford) gives to the group’s assembled Thanksgiving celebration. Again, you won’t find any spoiler here, but if you’ve been watching you know Paul’s Parkinson’s has been getting worse and his medication less effective in controlling it. The man with a big heart and even bigger ego is having to face that is life is going to be changing, permanently and in dramatic ways.
He didn’t really even want to go to the Thanksgiving feast at the new home of Gaby (Jessica Williams), but girlfriend Julie (Wendy Malick) kinda/sorta kidnaps him and makes him. “I’m here under duress!” he protests to anyone who asks… and even those who don’t. He declines to participate in the holiday tradition of each attendee saying what they’re most welcome for.
But then, Paul is moved to say something after all and well, it’s an absolute humdinger. Beautifully written, and delivered with grace and a touch of humor, it’s sure to have Ford in the Emmy conversation. Again.
Jimmy (Jason Segel) had a big crash at the end of episode 11, and finally takes to heart Paul’s advice to truly be vulnerable to his daughter, Alice (Lukita Maxwell), about how he abandoned her emotionally in the wake of the death of his wife and her mother. It’s a quiet but a big moment in the show, and in a lot of ways the entire thing has been building toward it. Again, big payoff.
We also return to the plight of Louis (Brett Goldstein), the drunk driver who was responsible for their loss. I’ve been a little disappointed in how his character was set aside for the last half of the season, but he’s back and there’s a major event in his story arc.
Gaby’s dithering romance with Derrick (Damon Wayons Jr.), completely crashed onto the rocks by her self-sabotage, gets some CPR and… well, you’ll just have to wait to see how it turns out.
As I predicted, the rest of the main cast’s storylines were wrapped up awhile ago, so they take a back seat to the ‘big 3.’ Still, Brian (Brian (Michael Urie), Sean (Luke Tennie) and old marrieds Derek (Ted McGinley) and Liz (Christa Miller) are still integral parts of the show and feel like family.
If there’s one takeaway I have from this season, it is this idea of found family. At the start of last season, many of these characters didn’t even know each other, and even those that did were experiencing some degree of estrangement.
Centered around the plight of Jimmy, and to a lesser extent Gaby and Paul, they’ve become a tight-knit group that you just enjoy spending time with — even when they’re struggling and not being their best selves. And, the comedic quotient is always super-high, and I appreciate the mix of quick one-liners and longer slow-burn laughs.
As we finish up this season’s episode-by-episode reviews, feel free to drop a note and let me know how you felt about this format. It’s hard to review an entire season in one article; on the other hand, it’s a lot of reading for you (and writing for me) to hit each and every episode. Let’s hear from you!