Psychological Something-ism – The episode begins with Jimmy (Jason Segel) visiting Donny (Tilky Jones) during physical therapy and asking him to drop the charges against Grace (Heidi Gardner). At the same time, Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford) is outraged to learn that Alice (Lukita Maxwell) has been visiting and watching Louis (Brett Goldstein). Although she hasn’t actually spoken to him, he makes her promise to stop, which she does very reluctantly.

A random afternoon in the park with Graham (Logan Carter) leads to Tim (Kenajuan Bentley) learning that Sean (Luke Tennie) abandoned working for him to open the food truck. Tim appears beside himself and nearly speechless but claims the food truck is a really great thing while Sean awkwardly attempts to explain why he hadn’t told him.

Jimmy and Brian (Michael Urie) meet with Grace to prepare for the final stages of the trial, which is revealed to be completely unnecessary when Brian receives word that the State is dropping the case. Despite their excitement, Grace is indifferent. Her mood only darkens when she’s actually released, which leads to Jimmy suggesting that she return to Vancouver with Jennie (Meghan Andrews).

Thanks to the awkward aura now surrounding Jimmy and Gaby Evans (Jessica Williams), it doesn’t take Paul long to realize they’ve stopped sleeping together. He can only briefly comment about the discovery before Doctor Julie Baram (Wendie Malick) shows up with the medicine that he carelessly ran off and left at home. She asks him if he’s prepared to meet Elliot (Robert Arcaro), who is later revealed to be her ailing husband with Dementia.

After learning that Sean is feeling a bit down because his dad didn’t get to see them in action, Liz (Christa Miller) suggests taking the food truck to him the following day. He appears thrilled with the suggestion but has little time to say much thanks to the arrival of Alice, with Jimmy’s request to come over and hang out. No one appears to want him around, especially Gaby.

Both Jimmy and Brain are taken by surprise when they show up at Donny’s house to get the divorce papers signed and learn that Grace is now his nurse. Paul and Julie’s meeting with Elliot is even more awkward but leads to him fearing that his declining health might put her through the same type of trauma. His addressing of those fears leads to a brief but heated argument.

Sean and Liz’s food truck turns out to be a major success with Tim’s coworkers but leads to her discovering that it was Tim who taught Sean to cook. She also later overhears a discussion that the two of them had once dreamed of opening a similar business together.

Summer (Rachel Stubington) and Connor’s (Gavin Lewis) relationship appears to be moving right along and according to her, she hasn’t been this happy in a long time. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Brian and Jimmy’s relationship as their problems with Grace cause each to doubt their friendship.

Alice becomes so overrun with memories of her mother, Tia (Lilan Bowden), that she not only breaks her promise to Paul and visits Louis at work, but she actually tells him who she is. Although he approaches the matter calmly and carefully, she blows up on him and storms out, leaving her wallet behind in the process.

Liz is having an equally tough time now that she knows Sean and his father had once dreamed of opening a restaurant-inspired business. Gaby tells her about psychological egoism, which is the belief all human behavior is motivated by self-interest and pleasure. The trick is finding exactly what it is that makes you happy and doing it. At the same time, Paul turns to Derek for advice about his relationship with Julie. After Paul admits to being in love with Julia, Derek practically tells him that love is the greatest gift life can offer, so you must do whatever you can to protect it.

Trying to do a good thing, Liz makes things worse with Sean when she sells her part of the food truck to Tim. Sean blows up on her and tells her that he never wanted to go into business with his father but didn’t want him to know that. Things aren’t going much better for Jimmy even though Grace finally agrees to sit down with him thanks to Jennie. Despite all this, he doesn’t get much of a chance to address things because Brian soon bursts in, with his recent revelation about friends and friendship. In the process of consulting her character witnesses for the trial, Brian has realized that Grace has helped and inspired a lot of people.

Grace is especially touched when Jennie tells Grace how much she has helped her. This does the trick and Grace is later shown leaving town with Jennie. Paul and Julie have a bit of revelation of their own when they seek out a couple’s therapist. Jimmy also shows that he’s putting more effort into his friendship with Brain when he randomly shows up at his and Charlie’s (Devin Kawaoka) place for dinner.

Things are not going nearly as well for Alice, who is amidst an emotional breakdown after her encounter with Louis. Much to her surprise, Connor is there to comfort her and the episode ends with them kissing.

 

Shrinking Review

I didn’t watch the first season of this series, so season 2 was an entirely new experience for me. I enjoyed the first two episodes, but I was surprised with how intensely deep this third one got. The series might have always been like that, but I certainly didn’t get that feel from the first two episodes. There is a lot going on and appears as if there is still a lot to come. In addition to that, I felt the cast did an excellent job conveying their feelings. Episode 3 gets a firm 6 out of 10.

Get more Shrinking recaps here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying here.