‘Shrinking’ Recap: ‘Potatoes’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Shrinking’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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There comes a point during the grieving process, where certain truths present themselves to us. Such as the fact that this isn’t going to be a simple process. It is going to be complex and drawn out, and it will require a great deal of work for us to find resolution regarding our pain. And when we discover that… we hope that we can focus just upon healing. So, we can put an end to this as quickly as possible and get back on track with our lives and well… it doesn’t take long for us to discover… that simply won’t be the case. Because life doesn’t end while we are grieving, and we still have to deal with all the things we normally would and still figure out how to heal on the right terms internally. Which can make for some supremely stressful times in our lives.
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If anything, that epiphany and the struggles that accompany it are top of mind today, simply because that’s what several characters experienced in the next episode of Shrinking on Apple TV+. For ‘Potatoes’ is a story that saw Jimmy and Paul, primarily, struggle with the day-to-day surprises that come with being a human on planet Earth, while they tried to reconcile their grief. For instance, Paul had to deal with the reality that while he was in good shape with his diagnosis, preparations for the future had to made. The kind that would ensure his family’s financial future and where he needed to inform his family of his diagnosis and what would come next and well… that was just too much for Paul to bear. Because it made his diagnosis real and added a sense of finality to it, and that prompted him to just… wait. Wait for tomorrow and another time when he could in fact, deal with this, and instead… relish in that last bit of normalcy for as long as possible.

As for Jimmy… well he had to deal with the fact that his little girl was growing up. Because Connor, the son of Liz and Derek, was coming home from college. A moment that Liz was relishing in, since it meant the house would be full of the life she was missing, and it was one that Alice was dreading. Simply because… she had lost her virginity to Connor some time ago and him being away at college, kept the awkwardness of the situation at bay. Leading her to worry that things were about to get weird at home with him being around, and they did… but not for the reasons she was expecting. Because she told both Gaby and Jimmy about this, the latter of which requested the truth to try and be the cool dad and well… that revelation was a lot for him to process.

Because it meant Alice really was on her way to full-on adulthood, and the reality of that, and the time he’d already missed because of his grief and desire to be numb from it… put him in a dark place. Wherein his mix of emotions were expressed in an explosive and aggressive manner toward anyone that was in the line of fire for it. Because he was simply overloaded emotionally and couldn’t deal with his grief and the realities of his daughter growing up and that forced Jimmy to apologize and mend fences when he finally came down from his emotional ride and really… these two plotlines were simply brilliant through and through. For they truly expressed… how this process works and how difficult it can be, and they did so… in a powerfully realistic manner. 

After all, this is how we respond in this manner. We lash out, we hide away from the truth because grief is so much to process, and it overwhelms so badly, and daily stress can amplify that. Which makes this… an outright incredible episode. One that really did an amazing job of exploring a corner of the process that is rarely discussed or touched upon and it was of course, expressed beautifully by both Jason Segel and Harrison Ford here. For their performances were honest and raw and hit all the right notes, and it also doesn’t hurt, that their brilliant comedic timing made this engaging through and through and it just goes to show, that this series is going to leave no stone unturned in exploring what grief actually looks like. And that’s great. Because that’s exactly something that needs to be on television right now, and it will be interesting to see what other lessons await us and how these characters begin to move toward the light as this amazing journey continues along. Until next time.

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