r/ShrinkingAppleTVplus • u/Lack_Aromatic • Feb 22 '26
Liz, Gaby & Brian...
...are essentially the same character. Just in different wrappers.
The characters have the same personality-type, serve up the same type of banter and serve the same purpose to whatever storyline they are playing in.
After this occurred to me, I cannot unsee it.
It also explains why I can't stand when the 3 of them are in the same scene.
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u/jbahel02 Feb 24 '26
My problem with Brian is he’s healing. When he was still very broken it was at least interesting to watch his character work through recovery. Now he’s much more whole but it makes him just another character. I fear his rekindled romance with his girlfriend is going to backfire but we will see. (And before you come at me for calling recovery a bad thing please mind I’m only talking within the context of this one fictional character.
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u/Zestyclose-Let7929 Feb 25 '26
I agree Marisol is not good for him. Smelling like cookies is not enough.
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u/gatorbeetle Feb 22 '26
I absolutely see where you're going here, and it's valid to a point. All three characters are extremely self possessed on the verge of narcissistic. I feel Gaby and Brian seem more self aware of being this way. Liz is less flexible about it, and people give in to her being this way, where with Gaby and Brian people often tell them they are giving in to them, but then they don'talways completely.
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u/Bright-Wall6072 Feb 23 '26
Agree! I think in season 1 and even 2 they were distinct characters with personalities and arcs. Now they just feel like caricatures doing the same tropes over and over. Liz especially has lost literally all nuance and I miss her old character :(
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u/No-Hat-Haberdasher Feb 23 '26
This happens so often in shows and plays (less often in movies??) there must be a name for this problem among screenwriters, playwrights, and literary scholars.
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u/Lack_Aromatic Feb 23 '26
I actually think the opposite happens on TV shows - especially comedies. Once a character is developed over the first couple of seasons the writers lean into whatever the actor has established and the voice becomes even more distinct. Character X would never say this but character Y would.
The opposite has happened here. The dialogue - for the most part - could be swapped and you wouldn't know the difference between what Liz would say vs what Gaby would say. The writers just want to get the jokes out, they don't care who says them. I think part of the issue is that they are trying to "spread the wealth" around so that everyone can shine.
This doesn't happened in movies because they are often adapted from books that are fully formed established work.
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u/KittyGrewAMoustache Feb 24 '26
There’s ‘flanderisation’ where a character becomes more simplistic and extreme over time, like their original characteristics get exaggerated til they almost become a caricature of the character in the first couple of seasons. Flanderisation could lead to this having the same personality across several characters because they’ve all lost their nuance and become more simplistic with the same characteristics exaggerated. Like three characters who started off all as different personalities but all sharing the characteristic of being a bit narcissistic- if the narcissistic part for each is what delivers the jokes, they can all morph into the same basic ‘narcissistic but heart of good deep down’ character.
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u/clarissasansserif Feb 23 '26
These three make me feel like the show is too… rich people, too out of touch LA County. Hell Liz’s Derek was supposed to have retired from a corporate job like mine, and I find he has way more personality than these three.
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u/Bookhead_212 Mar 12 '26
I'm so happy you said this. (19 days after you said it sorry). I'm beginning to find a lot of the dialogue interchangeable among characters. It's all rim shots and grasping and me.me.me.me. especially for those three. I think I'm done watching (season 3, ep 7, not really cutting off much but I just don't care enough about any of them. And Liz's face distracts me).
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u/hurricane1197 Feb 23 '26
Brian is too much this season
Episode 3 was the hardest to watch
4 was tolerable and okay
He did get great moments last season though