Heartfelt Comedy Shrinking Is Still Apple TV+’s Most Underrated Gem in Warm, Expansive Season 2
Photo: Apple TV+
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Apple TV+ has some of the best shows you’re probably not watching. While the streamer has had several breakout hits like Ted Lasso, Severance, and Slow Horses, the average viewer is likely unaware of just how vast the streamer’s library of genuinely excellent originals has become in recent years. From crime dramas (Criminal Record) and period pieces (The Buccaneers) to thrillers (Hijack) and science fiction (For All Mankind), far too many people are really missing out on some truly excellent television.
Unfortunately, this isn’t all that surprising. Our current streaming environment is full to bursting with more content than any of us could ever hope to watch in a single lifetime, and Apple TV+ is particularly bad at promoting its own content beyond a handful of titles. (Even then, those series tend to have to break into the zeitgeist on their own first.) So it’s probably even odds whether you’ve even heard of Shrinking, the streamer’s other hilariously heartfelt comedy about hope, healing, and the family you make along the way.
Therefore, allow me to fill you in: Shrinking is one part delicate, emotionally honest exploration of grief, one part surprisingly realistic family drama, and one part love letter to the mental health industry. Its humor is often uncomfortably honest, its characters can sometimes be embarrassingly cringe-y, and its dialogue is peppered with every flavor of therapy speak. But it also has an absolutely enormous heart, walking a delicate balance between hard truths and twee platitudes. If there is such a thing as “feel-good” television anymore, well, this is probably it.
On paper, Shrinking follows the story of an occasionally goofy therapist struggling to process his grief over the death of his wife and the assortment of oddball people in his life. But this is a series whose whole is much greater than the sum of its parts, achieving a magical sort of narrative alchemy through a tremendous cast and a genuine dedication to tackling tough issues with nuance. And that’s more true than ever in the series’ excellent second season, which doubles down on everything that made its first so compelling to watch.
As Season 2 begins, unorthodox therapist Jimmy (Jason Segal) seems largely back on his feet. He’s pulled himself out of the haze of drugs and booze he found himself in following his wife Tia’s (Lilan Bowden) death. He’s rebuilding his relationship with teen daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) and feels his unique, often overly involved treatment style—which multiple people have taken to referring to as “Jimmying”—is genuinely helping his patients. (Except maybe the one who’s now in prison for shoving her husband off a cliff.)
To be clear, he’s still deeply affected by the loss of his wife—in one of the season’s most interesting subplots, Jimmy’s grief journey takes an unexpected turn thanks to the introduction of a surprising new character—but as his life has come to be defined by more than Tia’s absence, so too has the rest of the show around him. Season 2 is wonderfully expansive, fleshing out the larger world of Jimmy’s circle and their relationships with one another in rich and exciting news way throughout the eight episodes that were available to screen for critics (out of a total of twelve).