‘Shrinking’ Season 2 Review: A Nearly Perfect Dramedy
Apple TV+’s best comedy is back, and it’s still just as good at warming your heart as it is at making you laugh.
Shrinking Season 2 opens with the fallout of Grace (Heidi Gardner), one of Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) patients, pushing her boyfriend off a cliff—ironically the cliffhanger ending of Season 1. While the boyfriend survives, Grace still gets arrested and awaits her legal fate as Jimmy tries to fix it as best he can.
To call this the barebones plot of the second season—hell, the barebones plot of the first episode of the season—would be an understatement. There is a whole lot going on, and if I had to get through every storyline, we’d be here all day.
However, looming over this chaos comes Louis (Brett Goldstein), who plays the drunk driver who killed Jimmy’s wife, Gia, who is also Alice’s mom (Lukita Maxwell), prior to the start of the series. A major focus of the season is dealing with Louis and the fallout of his actions.
The real difference between Shrinking Seasons 1 and 2 is how much more of an ensemble the latter feels like. While the first season was also an ensemble in many ways, there was still a clear pecking order with Jimmy at the top. Now it feels like there’s equal material for everyone, which really works well in many ways.
The humor is also different—not radically, but it’s a noticeable shift. Season 1 used more varieties of comedy, more prominently physical humor, for example. Season 2 feels more like a mid-2000s sitcom in terms of the comedy employed. While this could be seen as a negative by some, it does fit the show nicely.
It helps that the show is really funny, and the cast is absolutely brilliant. Every single cast member pulls their weight and then some, which is why the ensemble really does work.
Jason Segel was born to make dramedies. I don’t think I know many actors today who embody a mix of both genres as magnificently as he can. I think he’s one of, if not the most, versatile actors working in comedy films and TV today.
And Harrison Ford—what can I say about the man that hasn’t been said? He’s absolutely brilliant. To pull off an arguably career-best performance at 82 years old is remarkable. Shrinking really makes him shine in so many ways comedically, and it gives him just enough material to work with dramatically to showcase his excellence on both ends.
Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, Christa Miller, and Michael Urie are all fantastic in their own right. They are so good in their own storylines, but what makes the ensemble great is that they all work just as well, if not better, as side characters in different storylines.
However, the real standout among the cast is Ted McGinley as Derek. He was a recurring character in Season 1, and he stole every single scene he was in. He got bumped to a starring role, and somehow he still steals every scene he’s in.
While I did appreciate all the characters getting their shine, it did hurt the show in some ways. The biggest issue is that there are simply too many storylines to juggle. Despite adding two more episodes to Season 2 to make it 12, it felt like they still overstuffed it. The turkey was cooked perfectly, but there was simply too much stuffing.
An issue surrounding that is how quickly storylines get resolved. There are major moments, and they just end so quickly, when the truth is that they deserve more time. And once they’re resolved, they’re quickly forgotten about. They’re now a thing of the past, and the consequences don’t really affect anything.
There’s a storyline involving Derek and Liz (Christa Miller) that is a major storyline about their relationship and infidelity of sorts. It somehow gets resolved in about two episodes, and it’s barely brought up again despite being such a major moment in their marriage.
While this alone may not be jarring, I think other storylines and relationships having the same effect certainly are. Once a storyline gets resolved, the relationship between the characters involved is instantly repaired and not a factor. There are about five or six similar storylines that really did feel unsatisfying in that way.
What makes up for this, however, is that the show really does the comedy well. In every episode, there are so many jokes that capture the heart of the show and are really funny. It’s easy to forget about some storylines here and there when you get a laugh.
There are also dramatic storylines that really do work well, and they’re genuinely the best part of the show. The heart and essence of the show are incredible at capturing that rare feeling inside of you, and it’s coupled with fantastic acting that is really compelling.
That’s the magic of the show—in one scene, it can make you laugh, and in another scene, it can even tug at your heartstrings. It’s still just as good at doing that as it was in Season 1.
Shrinking Season 2 stars Jason Segel as Jimmy, Jessica Williams as Gaby, Luke Tennie as Sean, Michael Urie as Brian, Lukita Maxwell as Alice, Christa Miller as Liz, Harrison Ford as Paul, and Ted McGinley as Derek. Shrinking is streaming on Apple TV+. Shrinking Season 3 is reportedly set to start filming in January 2025.
