AppleTV+’s comedy drama series Shrinking is back with its second season, after the first iteration received popularity from viewers and praise from critics in equal measure. The plot of the show is centered around a psychotherapist named Jimmy Laird, whose personal struggle to cope with his wife’s accidental death had left him emotionally absent from the life of his teenage daughter, Alice. Throughout Shrinking season 1, Jimmy’s close friends, Paul, Gaby, Liz, and Brian, had helped him recover from this mental slump, and new elements of drama are now introduced along the same lines in Shrinking season 2 episodes 1 and 2.
Spoiler Alert
Is Jimmy held responsible for Grace’s crime?
A sudden and unexpected crime committed by one of Jimmy’s regular patients, Grace, had been the moment of shock with which season 1 had concluded last year. Grace was a good-natured woman who was stuck in an abusive marriage with her husband, Donny, although she was not ready to accept it. She had to face a number of difficulties in her regular life because of the toxic nature of her husband, but she never directly spoke up against him or even complained about him to anyone else. It was through her reports on the incidents and events in her life that Jimmy had figured out that the main reason behind all her life’s problems was Donny. At the time, Jimmy was in an experimental phase in his professional life when he decided to implement psychological vigilantism and directly tell his patients what they should do instead of letting them come to the realization by themselves. Therefore, he forced Grace to leave her husband, or else to give up on taking professional and personal counsel from him.
Grace was always a people-pleaser, and this was also the reason for her inability to acknowledge her husband’s shortcomings, which ultimately led to her lying to Jimmy about having left Donny. When her lies were caught, there was a brief moment of reconciliation before Grace seemingly gave in to her primal instincts and pushed Donny off a cliff during their routine hike, resulting in her being arrested by the police. Shrinking season 2 begins with this very plot line, as Jimmy is seen visiting his patient in prison, as it seems likely he might be held responsible for her crime. To make matters worse, Jimmy reveals that he had indeed once told Grace to push her husband off a cliff, although he had meant it as a harmless joke. But Shrinking is not the kind of serious show where actions have the worst repercussions, and so it is quickly revealed that Donny has not died from the incident, despite being terribly injured, and so Grace is not being charged with murder, of course.
Aside from the legal trouble that Grace finds herself in, she has once again had a complete change in opinions about her therapist, Jimmy, for she has suddenly realized that he has only caused problems and failures in her life. Now that Donny has obviously decided to end their marriage and leave Grace, she regrets her decision to push him off and feels terribly guilty for having done so. But Grace also firmly believes that Jimmy had advised her to take such a drastic step, and so she refuses to talk to him whenever he visits her in prison. The protagonist, however, genuinely wants to help his patient, and his senior colleague and friend Paul even talks about how Jimmy feels like he has failed Grace. Therefore, the therapist keeps visiting the woman, and often with his lawyer best friend, Brian, who is about to represent Grace for free and will fight for her rights. Although Grace does not show any interest in defending herself during the upcoming court trials in the first two episodes of the season, this matter will surely develop further in the episodes to come. Despite not being held responsible for Grace’s actions, though, Jimmy will still be trying to help her out in any manner possible.
Who is the new intruder in Jimmy and Alice’s lives?
Despite having spent ten episodes in season 1 with the central characters, Jimmy and Alice Laird, we were never really told too much about the death of Tia, which had naturally had a devastating effect on both their lives. It was only revealed that Tia had lost her life in a car accident, and there was not much she or her family members could have done to avoid it. By the end of the first season, the father and daughter had both learned to cope with the sorrow of having lost Tia in their own respective ways and had come closer as a family. Although this acceptance has made things easier, the pain of having lost a wife and a mother still lives on in both characters, quite understandably so. Therefore, when there is a new intruder in their lives, one who constantly reminds them of the loss, it is not easy for Jimmy and Alice to control their feelings.
Shrinking season 2, episode 1 shows Jimmy recalling the memories from the fateful night when he was informed by the police that Tia had been in a car accident. One specific memory, which he found quite disturbing for a very long time, was of two police officers chatting between themselves about where to have dinner while Tia’s almost lifeless body was being carried to an ambulance on a stretcher. Jimmy wondered how two people could discuss something so trivial and insignificant at the same moment someone else was losing their life, and a family was being torn apart. But along with this conversation, he also remembered the face of the man who had caused the accident, although he did not get to see him for long as the police arrested him.
Now, the very same man, named Louis, suddenly appears at Jimmy’s clinic one day, stating that he has come to apologize for his actions. Jimmy gives him a moment to utter a few words of apology and then orders him to leave, without even looking him in the eye. It is very evident that he has not forgiven Louis in any sense and still holds the man responsible for driving in a drunk state that night and crashing into Tia’s car. Although Jimmy does not hear from Louis again for the rest of the two episodes, the experience of having met his wife’s killer (as Jimmy perceives Louis to be) rattles Jimmy’s mental state completely. He initially even keeps the matter away from Alice and behaves quite distant from her, just like in the first season. However, Jimmy does learn from his past experiences and soon tells Alice about Louis.
The teenage girl is naturally angry at the man immediately, just like her father, and she struggles even more to accept that Louis gets to walk around freely after causing her mother’s death. Alice starts to write a letter addressed to Louis, in which she vents out her anger and frustration, although she does not intend to ever post this letter. However, at the end of Shrinking season 2 episode 2, Alice is seen to have driven to Louis’ house, and she sits and watches the man inside his house, with tears in her eyes. It seems this season will largely focus on Jimmy and Alice learning to forgive the man who had mistakenly changed their lives so drastically. After all, Louis obviously did not have any intention to cause the accident and kill Tia, but accepting this and the fact that it was really fate that had changed their lives will be very difficult for Jimmy and Alice.
How does Sean face his fears?
Another one of Jimmy’s closest and most important patients, the young man named Sean, had almost become like a family member to him and even to his neighbors. Jimmy’s next-door neighbor, Liz, had decided to support Sean and help the young man get a livelihood of his own while also pursuing his interests. Once a member of the US Army, Sean had witnessed some gruesome and violent action overseas, which had left him with PTSD and socially stunted him as well. Any mention of the army brought back horrifying memories to him, and his overly violent nature did not help either. Sean often resorted to violence in any kind of situation, which led to fistfights and arrests as well. His trouble with the law had led to his parents turning him away, as well as employers refusing to hire him, as they felt it would only bring them trouble.
Therefore, Liz and her just-retired husband Derek, both of whom have a lot of wealth and currently equal amounts of leisure time, decided to chip in and help Sean mend his life, especially after learning that the young man has a passion for cooking. Liz and Sean decided to start a co-catering business, which is really funded by Liz and Derek, and now, in season 2, it has finally become a reality in the form of a food truck. Helmed by Sean’s culinary skills and Liz’s management abilities, the food truck gained popularity within a short time and brought in good business. Although cooking is supposed to work as therapy for Sean, and it does work out for the most part, he still struggles to face his fears. One of his biggest difficulties throughout the series has been with regards to having confrontations, for Sean always runs from any situation that is uncomfortable for him.
This is why he is currently not in touch with his parents or anyone else in his family at all, and the man does not even have many friends or companions. At the beginning of season 2, an old friend comes to town and wants to catch up with Sean, but the latter is extremely scared of the meeting since the friend is from his army days, and so mention of their time in the army would surely come up. Sean is still terrified of remembering those memories and talking about them, and so he simply runs away from the restaurant where he is supposed to meet with the friend, even after momentarily showing up and greeting his friend. The embarrassment and awkwardness of literally running away from any situation are far better to him than having to face his fears. When Jimmy finds out about this incident, he finally decides that Sean should now be treated or mentored by the more experienced therapist, Paul.
Eventually, Sean has to face another extremely difficult situation, which he unfortunately cannot avoid, when Liz wants to bring a guest blogger to their food truck in the hopes of their business becoming even more popular. Sean admits to Paul that he does not want bloggers to run stories on the food truck since they would most definitely mention his past in the army to gain more sympathy, and Sean simply does not want that association. But he struggles to come clean to Liz about it and eventually has to adopt a new technique taught to him by Paul, in which he speaks out loudly all by himself and prepares himself for confrontations. Ultimately, Sean is able to tell Liz that he does not want the blogger to write about the food truck, and Liz does not really mind much either. This experience will perhaps help Sean deal with his problems better, although we can surely expect that he will have to go through more learnings.
Are Jimmy and Gaby a couple now?
Almost halfway through season 1, Jimmy and his dear friend and colleague Gaby had started to get intimately involved with each other, and it seemed possible that they might even be in a relationship in season 2. However, as the new season begins, it is clear that things are not that great between the two characters, and their romantic endeavors have actually been hurting their friendship as well. Gaby reveals to their mutual friends that although she is very interested in pursuing a wholehearted romantic relationship with Jimmy, the latter does not have any such intentions. It might be that the idea of dating Gaby is still a bit strange to Jimmy, since Gaby used to be Tia’s best friend, but then he clearly does not have the same reservations while getting physically intimate with her.
Finally, in Shrinking season 2, episode 2, Gaby tells Jimmy that their present arrangement of simply getting intimate without any expression of romance is not working out for her and that she wants to stop it. Jimmy agrees to it and suggests that they resume their original friendship, but then he turns out to be still looking for some sexual action when he visits Gaby’s house, apparently just as a friend. Ultimately, Gaby comes to the conclusion that Jimmy has been simply using her for physical gratification, and he cannot help but accept the accusation. This incident massively damages the friendship between Gaby and Jimmy, and season 2 might also be about their reconciliation, which should happen but might take quite some time.
