Did ‘Shrinking’ Just Alienate a Portion of Its Fanbase?

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• ‘Shrinking’ Season 2 Did Brian Dirty, Time and Time Again

• That’s Not Even The Wildest Plotline This Season on ‘Shrinking’

Bill Lawrence has a knack for creating comedies with heart: Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and now, Apple TV’s Shrinking. This most recent endeavor, like his others, started as a star vehicle for its lead (Jason Segel) — and, arguably, co-leads (Jessica Williams, Harrison Ford) —but has grown into an ever-expanding ensemble show. This tactic proved unpopular for Scrubs Season 9, a notoriously hated final season for its focus on a new cast of characters and its inconsistent writing of existing ones. Fortunately, Shrinking has managed to maintain much of its original direction and charm so far, but that hasn’t been true across the board.

Shrinking is about a grieving therapist struggling to advocate for sensible, tried-and-true approaches to his clients in a world that no longer makes sense to him. He opts for radical honesty with them instead, and the results prove surprisingly effective. The series also looks into his life at home with his daughter, as well as the personal lives of his fellow therapists and friends.

‘Shrinking’ Season 2 Did Brian Dirty, Time and Time Again

Jason Segel’s character Jimmy failed his best friend Brian (Michael Urie) this season, and fans are taking notice. In fact, pretty much everyone this season has failed or invalidated Brian, which means it’s likely less of an intentional decision on the writers’ part but rather a blind spot.

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The Ugly Betty star discusses his character Brian in Shrinking and shares some details about Season 2, out Oct. 16, 2024.

Brian’s storyline this season follows a pretty common film/TV archetype: The writers clearly don’t know what to do with a pair of characters once they end up together or get married. So, they either start stirring up unprecedented, high-stakes conflict between them or have them go the nuclear family route. In Brian’s case, they did both.

Brian’s new husband, Charlie, opens up to him about wanting to have kids, which is an issue because, for all the years that they’d been together, he had been rather blasé about the matter. Now, suddenly, it’s a dealbreaker. Worst of all, when Brian confides in Liz and Gaby (a therapist), he is told by both it is “not a real problem.” Here’s how the rest of that conversation goes:

Brian: “I’m not having a baby.”

Liz: “Uh, yes you are. That’s how marriage works. If one person wants one, the decision is made.”

Then, Charlie ambushes Brian by bringing an adoption advocate over to their place without telling him first. Brian is polite, but when they get a moment alone, he tells Charlie, “I don’t think I’m ready for this.” Charlie’s response is that he’s basically immovable on it now. Later, Brian tries getting moral support from his best friend (and, need we remind you, another mental health professional) Jimmy. Here’s how that conversation goes:

Brian: “When your partner wants something that bad, how can you say no?”

Jimmy: “Brian, being a parent is awesome — (starts to list the ways)”

Eventually, Brian is persuaded into jumping on board. However, they don’t show the couple weighing their options or discussing the merits of one decision over another. Equal weight is not given to each point of view. Essentially, Brian is poked until faced with the calculation of losing his partner or getting to stay together; he folds. The canonical reasoning is that Brian just didn’t want children out of fear of not being a good father. However, even if that was his only reason, Charlie and his friends should’ve held space for him to talk about why, to have more of a back-and-forth before coming to a conclusion. One fan on the official Apple TV Shrinking subreddit wrote this:

Another simply said:

That’s Not Even the Wildest Plotline This Season on ‘Shrinking’

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Release Date

January 26, 2023

Cast

Jason Segel
, Luke Tennie
, Michael Urie
, Lukita Maxwell
, Harrison Ford
, Jessica Williams
, Christa Miller
, Ted McGinley
, Heidi Gardner
, Devin Kawaoka
, Lilan Bowden
, Kimberly Condict
, Lily Rabe
, Tilky Jones
, Rachel Stubington
, Wendie Malick
, Sawyer Jones
, Mike C. Nelson
, Matt Knudsen
, Kenajuan Bentley
, Adam Foster Ballard

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Shrinking star Ted McGinley teased “a lot of crazy storylines” ahead of the comedy’s second season, and they delivered. In addition to systematically chipping away at Brian’s spirit, writers have also decided to have Jimmy’s daughter Alice befriend the drunk driver who killed her mother in a car accident. This choice left fans befuddled, horrified, and wondering, “Is this show actually just a soap opera with jokes?”

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Who Does Brett Goldstein Play in Shrinking Season 2, And Why Is His Character So Crucial?

Brett Goldstein was confirmed to appear in Season 2 of Shrinking, and now that we know who he plays, his character is bound to be crucial to the plot.

Shrinking Season 2 will change how you see Brett Goldstein, no question about that. He does a brilliant job playing the drunk driver, Louis, a character whose life has shrunk (no pun intended) considerably after one bad, fateful decision. Although, despite the humanity Goldstein brings to the role and Shrinking’s admirable ethos of not villainizing human beings who have made mistakes, the thought that Alice would start pityingly hanging out with the guy is just a little too implausible.

Another honorable mention head-scratcher of a storyline is the one where Sean, the military vet with PTSD, recommends to Gaby’s sister that she join the army. Redditors once again are pretty much on the same page with their reactions:

However, it isn’t as though the series is a total wash in light of these criticisms. If anything, it is because fans loved the first season so much that they feel thrown off by these bizarre and unrealistic choices. If you want to see how the madness unfolds, catch the Shrinking Season 2 finale on Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, on Apple TV+.

You can view the original article HERE.