‘Shrinking’ Recap: ‘Honesty Era’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Harrison Ford, Michael Urie, and Kelly Bishop as Paul, Brian, and Susan in Episode 205 of ‘Shrinking’ – ‘Honesty Era’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 205 of ‘Shrinking’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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If there is one thing we fear when we are in the midst of trying to heal… it is honesty. Because when we are healing, we make a bevy of mistakes and we do dumb things, and we know they are unhealthy and stupid. But we do them because in that moment we truly believe we need to feel something. Feel whatever it is that silly act is going to supply us with, and we simply don’t want to hear from people that we love and mean the world to us… that we are THAT person in that moment. Or we do those things to punish ourselves because we think we deserve sorrow, and we don’t want to hear we are worthy of something good and pure. But one way or another, that honesty will arrive, especially if we have a good support network and what we learn from that honesty… can be beautiful.

If anything, this part of the healing process is top of mind today, simply because it was put on display in the next episode of Shrinking on Apple TV+. For ‘Honesty Era’ saw several characters receive that raw honesty for the silly stuff they were doing, or to make peace. Gaby for instance, kept avoiding her sister and all the needs of her family to just live her life, her way, and sister called her out for that, and later so did Jimmy. But she needed to hear that, because she was in an avoidance phase, one designed to just not let her feel anything. But life goes on and people need us, and sometimes we need to be reminded of the fact that we cannot shirk our responsibilities and commitments, nor can we avoid our feelings, and hearing that honesty, helped her plenty here, and showcased how it can refocus and improve us.

Paul’s journey, however, was a story that explored how we hide from honesty to punish ourselves. Because his ex-wife, Susan, was in town to hear Meg speak… and she was being kind and being nice to him. Which freaked him out, for reasons that Brian had to work to get out of him. Which as it turned out, related to the fact that Paul screwed up. He cheated on Susan; he made his career the real priority and he felt guilty. He felt as though he needed to be punished for blowing up his family and not talking to her, and not talking to her, and facing his mistakes were somehow a better, act of contrition than talking to her about how he screwed up, and why she was being so kind. But thankfully an honest talk revealed that she was back to make peace with him, to close things out before his illness robbed him of everything. Giving rise to the reality that we are worthy of forgiveness and freedom from our sins when we’ve atoned, and we don’t need to punish ourselves for all time.  

All of which gave rise to some beautiful storytelling for certain. The kind that showcased positive ends to honesty. But since this series shows us everything about the process, it looked at the bad as well. Since it did let us know what happens when we keep pushing away honesty when we actually need it. Which is what Sean did here. Because he wanted to have an honest talk with his dad, and really break down those walls. He wanted to find that peace and was denied it by his father’s old school mentality of feelings are for fools and because of that, and because of the rough and tumble things he said to Sean, Sean felt he deserved his own punishment. He deserved to suffer for trying to let go of his pain and heal in a healthy manner, because sometimes… we do that when things don’t go our way, and hopefully he will be okay after what he imparted upon himself.

Which was, a bittersweet ending to the story for certain, but we take the good with the bad in this life, and sometimes we have to accept that honesty also gets us nowhere. Since Liz’s frustrations were out into the void here, and well, that made for a powerful episode for certain. One that once more, honestly exposed the sour things we do when we heal and how hard it is to get to the right spot to heal. Because healing is stunningly difficult work and this show deserves applause for pointing that out and for showcasing the ups and the downs that accompany it, so that everyone understands we will stumble, we will fall, as we work toward the peace we so desperately seek in our souls, and it will be interesting to see what other powerhouse lessons await us as season two of this brilliant show continues along. Until next time.

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