Written by Brett Goldstein & Neil Goldman
Directed by Randall Keenan Winston
Really, this episode should just be called Daddy Issues: Part 2, or Daddy Issues Redux, or maybe Daddy Issues: Tokyo Drift given we had another obvious fatherhood-focused episode this season – but to be fair, that may also just be the whole show. We pick up right where we left off last week, with Jimmy’s Dad still in town and pushing all his buttons. At least until right before graduation, when he bails: but Alice is actually fine, it’s Jimmy who’s hurt by it.
Every other father – really everyone else – is doing well this week: Brian is scared of being a single Dad for 3 months because Charlie has to go to Tennessee for work, but then Charlie gets family housing approved, so Brian has to decide if he wants to join him. He of course says yes, and that’s his summer set, and Jimmy’s best friend suddenly out of town.
Derek and Liz have all their sons at home, and this is how they learn the not (as) dumb one, Will, is going to be a father. While it’s an unplanned pregnancy, his girlfriend and him decide to keep it. Of course, Liz is absolutely thrilled she finally has a baby in her own family to take care of, and so is Derek, but he does not want to raise yet another child. He wants to use his retirement to travel and smell butt fruit, so eventually Liz compromises by booking them a several months-long trip to Europe – right away, before the baby arrives, which means, they, too, are leaving.
Matthew is moving in with ca. 8 roommates now that his shoe business is going so well, so their apartment is empty again – and Derek offers it to Sean for free. Jorge is still mad at Sean, and they fight it out in the MMA ring, leading to Jorge losing an already fake tooth. But the apartment provides the perfect opportunity for them to patch it up: Sean offers him to become roommates until he gets on his feet. Win-win. Except, again, for Jimmy, whose pool house is now empty.
Paul advises Jimmy to just tell his Dad how he feels, but when he gets a chance to, he bails. It’s clear he has no interest in changing, he just considers everything “touchy feely” – and thinks Jimmy is “too sensitive”. Something Paul echoes, which eventually triggers him. Finally, it all boils over: Jimmy unloads all his disappointment about his emotionally absent father on Paul, but he also isn’t fully wrong to do so. Paul giving the practice to Gaby may have been something they previously discussed, but the fact that he did not talk this over again, and more importantly, tell him personally he’s leaving, is avoidant bullshit. It’s one way Paul has not made as much progress as he thinks with his own Daddy issues. That Jimmy doesn’t show up in the morning to see him off is devastating, but it’s also something that couldn’t have been fixed that easily. And Paul now knows he slept with Meg, which also doesn’t help with sorting out their mess.
I am surprised by how quickly we got here (insert rant about how TV seasons are too short and movies are too long now). We barely spend any time on graduation, but I guess the real big event will be Alice leaving for college. I’m equally surprised to see Paul actually move, and without much further ado as well – as Jimmy points out, he didn’t even tell him personally. We only have one episode left, and it’s wrapping up the originally conceived three-season arc of this show, but they got renewed for Season 4, so there will be more Shrinking. I am not sure if the writers knew it would go on when they wrote next week’s season finale, so I guess we’ll have to see how many loose ends will be tied up. As is, it looks difficult to pull Jimmy out of this hole he is currently in, although in many ways, we always had to end up here to come full circle.
Funniest line: “We like fresh air.” Great callback/full circle moment for Derek peeing from the balcony.
Biggest woof: Obviously the fight between Paul and Jimmy, but the car scene before Alice’s graduation is Jason Segel once again really showing his range.
P.S. Ironically, there actually isn’t a Harrison Ford audio-animatronic at Disneyland yet, because he never officially gave his likeness, or voice, for any of the Star Wars rides nor the Indiana Jones one (or Disney likely did not even ask cause it would have been so expensive.) Indy saying “raw dog” would have been something though. Have I mentioned that I wrote my phd dissertation on Disneyland?
