Shrinking Review: Stream It or Skip It?

Some series simply sit with you for a long time, and we are here to talk about one of them, even though there have only been six episodes so far, and there are two more to go before the season ends.

This review and recap will be about the recent series on Apple TV titled “Shrinking” and if you haven’t watched it yet, what are you waiting for? When we first talked about Shrinking on our website, we had some high expectations set on this series purely based on the cast and premise of the show, and so far, Shrinking has exceeded all our expectations and been on the receiving end of some incredible critics reviews as well as love from the viewers.

If you have been to therapy before or have been through some tough times, then this show is going to resonate with you in some way or another, and that is the beauty of it. Shrinking is a comedy-drama, and right now, it might just be one of the top shows on Apple TV, and that’s not us just saying that, it is statistics.

In this article, we will talk about why we think you need to drop everything and go ahead and watch Shrinking, and you can let us know in the comments what you thought about it. There will be spoilers here, but nothing that could ruin the feel of the series!

Brilliant Characters, Impactful Dialogues, and Comedy That Works for Everyone

If you don’t know what Shrinking is about, we’ll give you a brief description before you dive into this review. Shrinking revolves around the main protagonist Jimmy, who is a successful therapist but has recently been in a self-sabotaging rut.

Jimmy has a young daughter, Alice, and a wife who sadly passed away in a car accident. Jimmy never really got over her death and spends his day listening to other people go on about their problems, while all he wants to do is give them advice that will simply solve their problems, despite being a little unethical.

One day, Jimmy reaches his breaking point and does exactly that. He is convinced that he has uncovered a new form of therapy, but it doesn’t go the way he hoped, not every time, at least.

Before watching Shrinking, we were convinced that the series would follow a different patient and advice in every episode, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, we got delivered something a lot better. The focus of Shrinking remains on Jimmy and his relationships with the people around him, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Shrinking is an honest portrayal of a grieving husband and father who is trying to navigate life without breaking down every few seconds. One of the main relationships that are looked at is the relationship between Jimmy and Alice, the father-daughter relationship which has a lot of room for improvement and healing.

This relationship is portrayed as beautifully as possible and we love how hard Jimmy is trying to be a good father while also trying to keep his life afloat, even if that means going to Alice’s soccer game and getting beat up by his client’s husband. Well, you are going to have to watch that episode for a little more context.

While Jimmy is seeing different patients every now and then, the one patient who has remained a constant is Sean. Frankly, we have grown attached to Sean too at this point. The most recent episode definitely made us realize that maybe we misread things just as Alice did, but hopefully, there is more to Alice and Sean’s relationship in the future, which might be under a lot of observation by Jimmy, but that’s a problem for another day.

Right now, Sean rejecting Alice might be great for Jimmy and Alice’s relationship, because he would get to play the role of a supportive dad with some great advice on boys and loves. Maybe this will also give room for them to talk about their mother, which is something they haven’t done so far.

There aren’t too many episodes left in Shrinking, so we are hoping that the last episodes unpack everything that hasn’t been talked about yet.

There are so many wonderful characters in Shrinking, that we could spend hours talking about them, but we would end up occupying far too much space if we did that. Nevertheless, we have to talk about the one character who has stolen the show, and that is Paul.

Paul is the senior most therapist at the practice and is played by none other than Harrison Ford himself. This has truly been one of the best additions to Shrinking and the series would simply not be the same without him.

Paul might have his own set of patients, but he also acts as a therapist for Jimmy, Alice, and every other character at some point of Shrinking. His presence has made this series what it is and we are hoping that there is no sad ending for Paul, not his season at least. Paul is suffering from Parkinsons’ and it is an important part of his character and his relationship with the people around him.

It will be interesting to see if there are any developments in the next two episodes, but if not, there definitely will be if there is another season, which we are truly hoping for.

Of course, when we are talking about brilliant characters, we can’t go without mentioning Gaby, Liz, and Brian, who have all played very important roles in the episodes so far.

One of our favorite things about Shrinking as a series is the fact that there might be several characters but each of them has an equally important role to play in Jimmy’s life as well as the narrative of the story, and that is drawing viewers in more than any other series in recent times.

Shrinking is a well-structured series with several layers of humor, emotion, and love, and it showcases that relationships come in all shapes and forms, and so do people. Whether you are looking for a good laugh or some raw emotions, Shrinking is the perfect series for you.

We absolutely can’t end this article without mentioning the brilliant performance given by Jason Segal who plays the role of Jimmy. Segel’s performance definitely deserves a lot of nominations and wins in the next award season, and we hope that happens.

If you are still undecided about Shrinking, we recommend watching the pilot episode, and that will be more than enough to make you binge all the episodes that have been released.

We are looking forward to the next episode of Shrinking, because Gaby and Jimmy have a lot to answer after their kiss which was the perfect cliffhanger, and a long time coming.

It will also be interesting to see if Alice confides in her father after Sean’s rejection and whether or not that will help them move forward. There’s a lot to look forward to in the next couple of episodes, and we will make sure we review them too!

Conclusion

Apple TV is definitely getting a lot more attention in 2023 and Shrinking has been a strong start for the streaming platform.

Do let us know in the comments what you thought about Shrinking!