Heartfelt Comedy Shrinking Is Still Apple TV+’s Most Underrated Gem in Warm, Expansive Season 2

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).  

Season 2 gives virtually every member of Shrinking’s supporting cast more to do this time around, and each character gets the chance to step out of Jimmy’s shadow and into arcs of their own. As Gabby (Jessica Williams) navigates a messy new sexual dynamic with Jimmy, the series also delves into her complicated relationships with her mother and sister. Christa Miller’s Liz gets a new business partner in Sean (Luke Tennie) and the show further explores her relationship with her family, including her son Connor (Gavin Lewis). 

Segal, given the often thankless task of making the act of grieving compelling without being depressing, is warm and relatable as a Jimmy who’s finding his way back to himself and cares deeply and fully about those around him. Michael Urie, as Jimmy’s gay BFF Brian, and Ted McGinley as Liz’s remarkably chill husband Derek are both given surprisingly weighty subplots that allow each to do more than simply serve as comic relief. And Harrison Ford remains an absolute comedic force as Jimmy’s boss Paul, who’s dealing with his own anxieties about the realities of living with Parkinson’s even as he tries to teach his protege about the necessary power of boundaries. (And maybe learns a little bit about opening up himself along the way.) 

Perhaps Shrinking shines brighter in the wake of the third-season collapse of Ted Lasso, the Apple TV+ series to which it was most frequently compared during its inaugural outing. And, yes, Season 2 does succeed because it remembers what Lasso ultimately forgot, that the story we’re watching doesn’t matter if it doesn’t tell us something meaningful about these characters, their relationships, and the choices they make because of them. (Justice for Roy and Keeley, is what I’m saying.) The technical details of its plot are absolutely the least important or interesting thing about Shrinking—and the show is all the better for it.

A story that’s about both the hard work of healing and the faith that something better is waiting on the other side of your darkest day, Shrinking shines when it’s reminding its characters (and subsequently its viewers) that sometimes the most important thing we can do for one another is simply to show up. That real love, at the end of the day, is an active verb, a conscious choice that must be made over and over again, in actions ranging from a simple invitation to forgiving a life-changing transgression. That community can and does come in many forms, and relationships are complicated, but that is, in the end, what makes them worth fighting for.

The lessons of Shrinking are simple: Choose each other, especially when it’s hard. Listen always. Apologize when you know you’ve done something wrong. Be present for the people who matter to you. Genuinely hilarious but also deeply affirming, Shrinking isn’t a show for cynics, despite what its biting banter might seem to want you to believe. And maybe we’ve never needed it and its transcendent power of faith in ourselves, writ large, more than we do right now. 

Shrinking Season 2 premieres October 16 on Apple TV+. 

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB.

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