‘Shrinking’ Recap: ‘Last Drink’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Jason Segel and Harrison Ford as Jimmy and Paul in Episode 208 of ‘Shrinking’ – ‘Last Drink’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 208 of ‘Shrinking’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One important question that a great deal of therapists will ask a particular patient when the time is right, is what is it that is truly upsetting them? And they ask that question, simply because… there comes a point where we move beyond that which ails us and have made actual peace with it. Yet, we are still upset by mention of it or get fired up when we have to face it any capacity and well, our therapist wants to know why. Not for their benefit of course, but for ours. Because that means, we can finally look at the root cause of why we are upset and really address what’s eating at us so we can finally move on.

If anything, this is top of mind today, simply because it was brought up in the next episode of Shrinking on Apple TV+. That is, after an important moment was handled for Paul. Because he was struggling to sleep in this episode, and that of course meant tremors and memory issues and he wanted to address them and learned, more life changes were on the horizon. Such as giving up drinking, and well, to showcase the growth that Paul has undergone… he agreed to this. Because he really has come to understand the power of the moment and of enjoying it, so he shared his last drink with Jimmy, who was one half of the equation of this week’s exploration.

The other was Derek. Who left home and was living in anger over what happened between Liz and her former beau. But not for reasons that he thought. Because once he cooled down, he came to realize, with Gaby’s help, that he wasn’t really mad at Liz. He was mad that he stepped aside and just let her be, rather than being present and being there when she needed it. Because that is what drove her to that kiss, and that maybe, if he was present more often… there would be no questions regarding their love. So, he came home and did right by Liz and that informed us that understanding the root cause of a matter can showcase what went wrong and how to fix it.

But Jimmy’s understanding of this was more complex, and far more powerful than we might have expected. But obviously, he was mad here, because of the fact that his daughter and bestie were hanging out with the man that changed it all. But the question was… why. Because Alice and Brian were doing the right thing and making peace and offering forgiveness, all tenets of healing and growth. Which meant, this anger was something deeper, and some facetime with Louis and a request he leave the family alone revealed to Jimmy… he was still mad and still shattered that he ‘failed’ as a father. That he didn’t stand tall and guide her in her darkest hour after that devastating loss, and he needed to heal from that and forgive himself.

Which made for a powerful episode for certain. One that explored a question that we all should answer the next time we think about a moment that deeply upset us from long ago. To really understand if there’s an unresolved trauma, if we’re sliding into survivor mode… or if… we’re hanging onto something else we need to let go of, and that really did bring about a special story. One that also explored how we came to this point and the gravity of that powerful day and well, we should expect nothing less from a story about healing. Because there’s no better way to help an audience learn how to, than by showing us every single step, and every single mistake as we work for the peace we crave. Until next time.

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