Written by C.J. Hoke
(who started out as a writer’s assistant on the show in S1, shout out!)
Directed by Randall Keenan Winston
This is definitely one of the angstiest episodes of Shrinking, which is funny to say about a TV series that mainly deals with therapy and trauma. Because yes, I will beat this dead horse again: this is very much not a hangout show, no matter how many critics want to make fetch happen. Sure, the cast has the workings of one, but I still don’t recall the Friends episode about Parkinson’s or someone with anxiety sitting alone in their dark apartment. When How I Met Your Mother killed off Marshall’s father, it was a bold move, but it was also ultimately something only possible years into it, and mainly dealt with in one memorable cliffhanger (feat. another great performance by Jason Segel) and one funeral episode that already found the funny again.
But anyway, here we are, in the Shrinking episode where Dereks don’t die, but one of them has to have emergency bypass surgery (called it). But before Derek has the EKG that gets him there, him and Liz are guilting Jimmy into doing a session with Matthew. It turns out, they paid Matthew to go, which of course doesn’t work – after all, “you can’t help anyone who doesn’t want help.”
Jimmy wakes up mortified about his hookup with Meg – but at least she confesses she is separated from her husband. Paul doesn’t know, and while Jimmy pushes her to tell her Dad about that, he urges her not to tell him they had sex (not that she would). All of this has shades of the Jimmy/Gaby hookup, although it’s a little less zany – mostly cause Meg snuck out before an awkward morning after, and there’s significantly less talk of how vaginas are like Florida (thanks again, Brett.) But we do learn this week that vaginas are like Roombas – self-cleaning (thanks, CJ.).
In another season 1 throwback, Brian bursts into one of Jimmy’s sessions. He needs his help because has not told his conservative Texan father that him and Charlie had a baby yet – given all he’s ever done is disapprove of his gayness, his marriage… but this week, fathers surprise everyone. Jimmy cold calls his Dad for him and forces him to tell him, and he’s thrilled. As Gaby points out, Jimmy gives good advice, so Meg also tells Paul about her separation, and he’s super supportive – spurring her on to call her husband to try and make amends. I still wonder if her and Jimmy will turn into more, but for now, their one night stand made them “hopeful” about romance again, and that’s quite something.
Sean meanwhile is still doing incredibly well – a local restaurateur, Dre Thibodeaux (Herve Clermont) asks him to interview to be a sous chef. Naturally, it freaks him out, but Paul tells him to grow a pair. And one office over, Gaby keeps treating Maya and her jimmying (gabying?) continues when she takes her to MMA with Sean, Jorge (Trey Santiago-Hudson) and Alice. (Apparently they still meet there two times a week.)
There’s ripple effects on everyone, however, when Derek is rushed into surgery: Gaby tells her mother she loves her, Sean hugs his father. Liz calls Derek’s Mom, and their sons, and is trying to micromanage and plan herself through her feelings (been there). Jimmy consoles her, and then drops in on Matthew to ask him what he once needed to hear: “Are you going to be like this forever?” He urges him go to show up, or he’ll regret it forever.
In many ways, he’s an ersatz father when he needs one, and while it’s not quite the same as Liz and Derek taking care of Alice for a year, he’s clearly making good here. Matthew goes to the hospital and does his mother proud, cornering a nurse to figure out how long Derek still has in surgery, and takes care of his mother. Derek is fine. And it further pushes everyone to take the steps they need to: Sean calls Dre, Alice invites her grandpa to graduation, and Derrick is about to propose to Gaby, but she wants to go to the hospital – so that’s for next week.
Also for next week is the cliffhanger of Maya calling Gaby while in distress – seeing all her former friends on Instagram still triggers her, and because Gaby is busy in the ER, she postpones talking to her. Instead, she drinks wine by herself, clearly shook. In case you’re ever wondering what it looks like when you’re dealing with anxiety and depression, it’s pretty much all of this. Including managing to call someone, but then feeling too much of an imposition to truly say how you feel. Particularly if you’re high functioning.
But hey, Maya, for the record: I made friends by joining an improv group. You gotta do what you gotta do if you’re over 30. But maybe do a bit more therapy before that, nobody will “yes, and” themselves out of a mental health crisis. But at least if you do it in LA you may end up on SNL eventually. Or at least Dropout.
Funniest line: The Roomba. But Michael Urie’s spot-on impression of Jason Segel deserves a shoutout, too.
Biggest woof: The last scene. I just deflected from how much that hit by making a joke.
P.S. It’s really funny that this episode is the first one in a while (or ever?!) that we heard most character’s last names. Like you could have put a gun to my head and I would not have known what Liz and Derek’s is, or Sean’s.
