AppleTV+’s comedy-drama series “Shrinking” returns with its seventh episode after leaving us with a shocker at the end of episode 6. Last week was mainly focused on Brian’s engagement party being held at Jimmy’s house, where the protagonist ruined things not just for his best friend. After getting terribly sick from all the drinking and being helped up to his room by Gaby, Jimmy and Gaby engaged in drunk love making without giving it much thought. “Shrinking” Episode 7 now has Jimmy apologizing to everyone whose plans he had spoiled, in what he calls an “apology tour,” while others in the same situation also set out to do the same.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Shrinking’ Episode 7 Recap & Ending:
The next morning after the engagement party, Jimmy wakes up giggling and hugging Gaby, still not having a grasp on who is lying beside him or what they did the previous night. He soon opens his eyes to realize what is up, and Jimmy freaks out, thinking about what they have done. Gaby is more controlled, probably because she has been awake and therefore thinking about the matter for quite some time now. She tries to convince Jimmy that their drunken hookup was just a casual act born out of her interest to prove to herself that she was still physically attracted to men since she had failed to do so previously with a string of men. Gaby also says that she and Jimmy would never have romantic feelings for each other, and therefore, they were the perfect people to engage in casual intimacy. Jimmy gradually calms down, putting away thoughts of his late wife for a moment, for he has to think of more important matters like keeping the hookup secret from his daughter Alice.
Alice does catch both Jimmy and Gaby acting strangely in the kitchen, but she lets it pass. As it turns out, Paul had also slept at Jimmy’s house the previous night, and now the senior therapist manages to pry out the information that Jimmy and Gaby had slept together. But Paul does not admonish the act; he is probably still slightly under the influence of the gummy bear drugs from the previous night, and he only asks Gaby to drive him home. Later on, when Jimmy reaches the therapy center and meets Gaby there, things are a bit awkward initially, but only from Jimmy’s end. Gaby says that she has already had a heart-to-heart conversation with her late friend Tia about having slept with her husband and that she has understood everything. This is obviously Gaby’s own conscience being able to live with the fact that she hooked up with her late best friend’s husband. She finds it easier to accept herself as a human being with desires and yearnings that often force one to commit mistakes, but she does not ultimately regret what happened between her and Jimmy.
Jimmy tries the same method of talking to Tia’s photograph but cannot bring himself to do it yet. His old patient, Wally, the same who had tried to kiss the therapist earlier, now returns for a session and apologizes for her earlier behavior. Through her conversation, she makes Jimmy feel how he had been so selfish by thinking only about himself and never about Gaby after their hookup. This perhaps also makes him realize, or will make him realize in the future, how he had been extremely self-centered for many months after the passing of Tia. Jimmy now wants to set things straight, at least with Gaby, for the recent incident, and he makes time to do so. Jimmy tells Gaby that he, too, is not regretful of what has happened between them and is rather grateful to Gaby. He admits that although he cannot think of any romantic possibilities with the situation in his life at present, the time he spent with Gaby did make him hopeful that someday in the future, he might be able to return to a normal life. Gaby understands Jimmy’s feelings, and the two embrace in a friendly hug, ending all awkwardness between them.
On the other side, young Alice also felt like she had some apologizing to do to Sean, whom she had tried to kiss the previous night. But Alice is also scared of being abandoned emotionally by the close friend she has recently made and therefore acts quite awkwardly with Sean, always trying to avoid any serious conversation with him. Alice claims in the very beginning that she does not want to have a talk about the previous night with Sean, and even though both seem to try and be friends again, there is now a wall of strangeness between the two characters. Sean seeks the help of his neighbor Liz, for he cannot understand why Alice is so angry with him. It is Liz who explains Alice’s fear of being abandoned, for she had quite recently faced a similar ordeal after the passing of her mother. On the other side, Alice sits down with Gaby, and the latter explains how Sean would never be disgusted or angry with Alice for her romantic interest in him. Gaby also tells Alice how such things are possible to happen in life and that she should not let them ruin her friendship with Sean.
Liz then also goes on to help Sean with a personal matter as well, for he is still being rejected by every job opportunity because of his police record. She tells Sean to try and do something related to what he loves to do instead of going on searching for any petty job. Sean admits that he loves cooking, as that was something that kept him rooted even during his time in the army, and Liz seems ready to partner up with him. An insight into Liz and her husband Derek’s personal lives is also given in “Shrinking” Episode 7 when she tells Derek that despite his impending retirement, she would like him to stay out of the house for some time regularly since she needs her own space. Derek agrees to the need but says that he wants to stay at home after having worked for so many years, and instead, it should be Liz who should go out and find a hobby or passion that would enable her to have her own space.
Both sides of Liz’s advice to Sean seem to combine at the end of “Shrinking” Episode 7 when Sean arranges for a barbeque party at Jimmy’s house, where he cooks up hamburgers. Instructed by Liz about how he should approach Alice nonchalantly to become friends again, Sean does so, and finally, things start to fall back into place between him and Alice. All wrongs now seem to have been made right, for Jimmy also had, in the meantime, called up Brian and apologized for his behavior. Brian admitted that despite the hick-ups, it was the best engagement party he could have thought of since his boyfriend had agreed to marry him.
Jimmy had also had a word with Alice, apologizing for his behavior in his own way, and Alice did seem fine with it, ready to forgive her father and move on. However, trouble brews between the father and daughter once again at the very end of the episode when Jimmy sits down to talk to his late wife’s photograph. The fact that he is still hurting from her loss is evident when Jimmy says that she, too, owes him an apology for having died and leaving him alone in the world. In a jokey manner, he then says out loud how he had slept with her best friend, Gaby, unaware of the fact that Alice is standing by his door at this very moment. Alice’s face makes it clear that she has heard it all, and she disgustedly walks away from her father’s room, with Jimmy looking on ashamedly, and “Shrinking” episode 7 comes to an end.
What Happens Between Paul And His Daughter Meg?
Paul had been very skeptical and rather fearful of what might happen when his daughter Meg came down to take care of him after hearing of his Alzheimer’s. That moment does arrive when Meg comes to her father’s house with an entire itinerary of methods to help him out. Keeping in mind the advice of Liz from the previous night about being grateful rather than mopey, Paul now tries to address his absence from Meg’s life during her childhood. The daughter does not seem very interested in bringing up old matters, though, as she says that she has moved on from her childhood days and was happy to be with her father. Paul, too, admits that he is very grateful for Meg’s presence in his life. However, such claims of having moved on and being happy seem very ungenuine after some time, as the father and daughter have a serious disagreement. With excitement, Meg tells Paul that she and her family want him to move in with them on a permanent basis. In this way, she and her son could spend quality time with Paul while he was still relatively healthy, and she could also take care of her father comfortably. But this is perhaps the fate that Paul has feared the most.
Even though he had earlier expressed a great wish to spend a few days at his daughter’s house and get to know his grandson, Meg had turned him down multiple times. Yet, now that she felt obliged to look after her father, she wanted to make a settlement that would best suit her to do so. Paul simply admits that he has his whole life set in this city and that he cannot move with Meg to her house. This angers the daughter, and she does bring up matters from her childhood, where he got no chance to know her father. Meg says that she now wants to finally get to know Paul properly before he is beyond help, but her father is turning her down even now. Meg angrily leaves the house with all her bags, denoting that she is returning to her house, and even though Paul wants to stop her, he cannot as he gets frozen to the spot due to his Alzheimer’s at that very moment.
Although both the father and daughter have their own reasons for being upset and making the decisions that they do, it is tough not to side with Paul in this instance. There is a sense of Paul being treated like someone unable to look after himself and one who would perish without the help of his daughter. While it might be true in the future due to his Alzheimer’s, Paul would surely have his ways of finding someone to help him out. After all, Gaby and Jimmy, and even Brian to some extent, have been established to love the senior therapist to the extent of doing anything to help him out. Also, there is his bond with Alice, which makes Meg envious when she sees it, comparing Alice to her own self when she was young and had been abandoned by her father.
What Is To Be Expected Next From ‘Shrinking’ Episode 8?
Following the incidents of “Shrinking” Episode 7, the most immediate matter that needs solving is the severe disagreement and misunderstanding that has made its way between the two father-daughter duos. Alice overhears Jimmy’s jokey confession of having slept with Gaby, and she is disgusted not just by the whole proposition but also by the fact that neither Jimmy nor Gaby directly told her about it. On the other side, Meg is angry at her father for turning down the opportunity to keep him close to her when he is sick and needs help. She fears that her father will soon get more sick and that there will be no chance for her to get to know him anymore. How both these relations are ironed out would be interesting to watch in the following episodes. Also, whether Sean and Liz actually team up to start some business or pastime venture related to cooking would be something to expect, as it can be believed to have been hinted at in “Shrinking” episode 7.
