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Shrinking season 2 premiered on Apple TV on October 16, 2024. The show was co-created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, and Bret Goldstein. It follows the life of Jimmy Laird, a psychotherapist who works at a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy center and has recently faced a major upheaval after his wife, Tia, died in a car accident.
As a consequence of this, Jimmy becomes more attached to his patients and adopts a maverick approach to his therapy practice, whether for better or for worse. The season 1 finale showed how his unconventional methods can have unintended consequences, as his patient Grace, who's been suffering in an abusive relationship, pushes her husband off a cliff.
Having to deal with the repercussions of one of his patients committing such a grave crime, Jimmy struggles to keep himself together. With his unorthodox practices under scrutiny and some personal demons coming back to haunt him, is Jimmy himself close to the edge of collapse?
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Shrinking season 2 shows the cracks appearing in Jimmy's methods
Jimmy Laird's maverick approach to therapy was a key hook in the first season of Shrinking. However, by the halfway point, the focus on Jimmy's unconventional methods faded to refocus on the character development of the broader cast.
After the season one finale brought back the focus on Jimmy's questionable methods, the Shrinking season 2 premiere continues to focus on the fallout from them. Jimmy's maverick tendencies are portrayed as a kind of addiction to help him cope with the death of his wife, which had previously pushed him towards alcoholism and drug abuse.
Grace's attempted murder of her husband has crippled him and may potentially land her with a life sentence. While Jimmy tries to rationalize this as a "pattern interruption," it's clear from Grace's own reactions that Jimmy's influence has changed her life for the worse.
In a dream sequence, Jimmy imagines his mentor, Paul, pointing out his shortcomings on the matter.
While Paul is able to maintain a healthy separation between his professional and personal life by leaving his patients to be responsible for their own lives, Jimmy is getting far too invested in what becomes of his patients. The implication is that Jimmy would fall apart if things didn't work out for his clients.
Shrinking season 2 sees Jimmy struggle to maintain professional boundaries
Jimmy is reassured by the real Paul not to take Grace's actions too personally. However, Paul advises him to return to practicing therapy by the book. Despite his attempts to follow this advice, Jimmy doesn't stick to it for long, as his strained relationship with his daughter, Alice, inadvertently pushes him into slipping back into his old ways.
This also impacts Jimmy's relationship with his patients in Shrinking season 2, particularly with Sean, who becomes so afraid of disappointing him that he doesn't open up about his problems. While Sean has had some positive developments, thanks to Liz and his food truck business taking off, he still has issues coming to terms with his past.
When one of Sean's army friends comes to visit, he is reluctant to see him again. When Jimmy uses his maverick methods to try and push him into taking that risk, Sean eventually flakes out and lies to Jimmy about it.
Realizing that his relationship with Jimmy is no longer helping, Sean books his next session with Paul instead. Paul points out that Sean's overreliance on friends from Jimmy's network shows that his connection with his therapist has gone beyond a simple doctor-patient one.
Jimmy faces a harsh reminder from the past in the Shrinking season 2 premiere
At the start of Shrinking season 2, Jimmy continues his casual affair with Gaby, who admits the relationship is uneven. She admits to Liz that she wants to have a conversation about where the affair is going, but the timing just isn't matching up yet, and the longer the affair drags on, the more her feelings get hurt.
Meanwhile, another subplot involves Paul and his growing feelings for his girlfriend, Julie. Unlike Jimmy, Paul's problem is that he struggles to fully express his emotions, and so he pushes Julie away for a bit. This simply makes him realize the true depths of his feelings, so he eventually just confesses to her that he loves her, and she accepts.
Jimmy's character arc takes a turn when he ends up confronting the drunk driver responsible for his wife's death. This makes him utterly lose his composure, and he has a vicious reaction to his past catching up with him.
As much as Jimmy turns to his therapy work as a coping mechanism, it becomes clear that he doesn't have his own emotions in order. This is further highlighted by his insistence to Alice that he's doing fine when he clearly isn't.
Will Jimmy learn to get his own house in order and become a better professional in the process? Or will his unhealthy tendencies lead him down the path of even greater ruin?
Shrinking season 2 is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
