Shrinking

The best part about this season of "Shrinking," even beyond the greatness of the cast and their work together, is the show's courage to be about more than joy.

So far, the biggest problem with Shrinking season 2 is how much time it devotes to the Jimmy-Gabby situationship. .... Otherwise, the new episodes deliver plenty of the dynamics that worked so well in season 1: Gaby and Liz’s deepening friendship, based on truth-telling and making fun of Jimmy; Paul and Jimmy’s reason-versus-emotion antics; and Ted McGinley — as Liz’s affably Zen husband, Derek — with anybody.

Contrary to its title, Shrinking continues to grow from strength to strength with a stellar sophomore season that’s more than up to the task of filling the Ted Lasso-shaped hole in our lives. 

The latest chapters (11 of which were made available to review) keep enough of that treatment theme going to grant the comedy heft and heart, earning the moments when someone’s stifled anguish or self-doubt gets the better of them.

In the second season of Shrinking, Lawrence’s patented “found family” vibe is in place, with different segments of the excellent cast mixing and matching easily in storylines that feel earned and unforced.

A smart, shambling, character-driven, good-natured workplace dramedy that delves into the home lives of its three messed-up therapist protagonists.

Shrinking has expanded to become something we all need in our roster of streaming shows: an ensemble piece stuffed with people who are just like us, but a shade smarter, funnier and more outspoken.

It will be interesting to see how fans of season 1 take to season 2. In so many ways, it is a superior set of episodes, even if the emotional weight is perhaps slightly less palpable, given the shift of focus.

“Shrinking” has a habit of getting a bit too overwritten, sometimes verging on soap opera in its narrative twists and turns, but I’ve either gotten used to it or come to like these characters enough not to care anymore. The humor is sharper this year; the emotion lands harder.

Fortunately, Shrinking still feels like itself: a big-hearted comedy that’s unapologetically messy, in terms of story and tone(*), and one that can still turn on a dime from silliness into sorrow.

The jokes are the fleece that lines that trauma blanket to keep us warm, but the emotional depth is the stitches and seams that hold everything together. All of that comes together for one of the best series on TV — even though, like its characters, it’s not without its flaws.

It’s less reliant on the big two of Segel and Ford, bringing in Lasso’s Brett Goldstein (also a writer on this show) in a surprising role as Segel’s new antagonist. It works up to a point but to this gnarled old churl there’s still too much growing and learning going on, and all among wealthy people with Elle Deco lives.

While I’d hoped the final moments of the comedy’s freshman season would usher in a decidedly more biting tone, the first two episodes of Shrinking season two establish that very little has changed, at least tonally or narratively.

Unfortunately, it’s rinse-and-repeat for season two. The adage “If it ain’t broke” has never rung more accurately than it does here. .... It’s not all bad. Damon Wayans Jr. has joined the chat as a love interest of Gaby, teetering between his usual persona and an avalanche of dad jokes. The humor overall sees noticeable improvement with each episode.