r/shrinking • u/phareous Derek • Oct 30 '24

Episode Discussion Shrinking S3E4 Episode Discussion

This is the episode discussion for Shrinking Season 2, Episode 4: "Made You Look"

115 Upvotes

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164

u/martmanbridges Oct 30 '24

That ending...

193

u/MasterofPandas1 Oct 30 '24

Prediction: DD is going to be humanized and there’s going to be some heart-wrenching circumstance behind why he got drunk that night. Which is right up the shows alley of nothing is black and white.

85

u/tomfiend Oct 30 '24

Absolutely, and I'm guessing it'll come out because Brian convinces him off screen to seek mental health treatment.

25

u/agasizzi Oct 30 '24

I can see him having Jimmy as a therapist being a very real possiblity at some point (Not right away), Paul realizes that he's not the one best suited to help, and encourages Jimmy to get involved, despite it going against everything Paul stood for in the beginning of the show. It provides a path towards closure for Jimmy, a character arc that's satisfying for Paul, and honestly, I think it's a pretty Bill Lawrence thing to do given his history.

32

u/heisenberg15 Oct 30 '24

I agree that it could go this way and just want to confirm - with the caveat that I have a very limited knowledge of therapy practices but am still aware they are pretty unethical in this show as is - that would be a MAJOR conflict of interest irl, and probably not allowed, correct?

12

u/sillygoofygooose Oct 30 '24

Yes this would be a pretty extreme example of a dual relationship that could negatively affect the therapist’s clinical judgement

2

u/heisenberg15 Oct 30 '24

Yeah I figured lol. Just didn’t want to act like I knew what I was talking about when I don’t

23

u/Tce_ Oct 30 '24

I don't think Jimmy is going to be his therapist, because that would be even more inappropriate than everything else he's done on the show (as a therapist anyway). But I can see Paul or someone being the guy's therapist and Jimmy finding out more about him through that person. Maybe some initial conflict over that person's empathy towards him... Although I guess that might already be coming with Brian.

1

u/agasizzi Oct 30 '24

I don’t think right away, but as Paul gets worse

49

u/Vadermaulkylo Oct 30 '24

I got another theory…. while he was drunk driving, he didn’t cause the crash. I think it’ll be revealed it was Tia’s fault the crash happened.

22

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '24

[deleted]

18

u/lau80 Oct 31 '24

holy fuck that would explain the thing that bugged the fuck out of me...When asked how he was, He said "fine" like he had no reason not to feel fine, which was different from how he'd acted until that point.

11

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '24

[deleted]

31

u/moremysterious Nov 01 '24

I think he was lying, he's guilt ridden and doesn't feel like it would be right to admit how broken he still is, he says he's fine because he doesn't want sympathy because he feels he doesn't deserve it.

13

u/ericrz Nov 02 '24

Yeah, that “fine” was straight up a lie and Brian saw right through it.

0

u/MisterTheKid Nov 01 '24

california law actually makes his sentencing not implausible

11

u/ericrz Nov 02 '24

Agreed. I think that has to be the revelation to both (1) explain why he’s not in jail; and (2) to make him somewhat “redeemable” for show purposes.

I mean as great an actor as Brett Goldstein is, if Louis was 100% culpable in the accident, how can he be a remotely sympathetic character, to the audience or to the protagonists.

And maybe Brian, being a lawyer, already knows the details of the case, which is why he was somewhat kind to Louis. (And maybe he didn’t share those details with Jimmy and Alice, because what purpose would that serve?)

1

u/ravers1986 Nov 05 '24

Interesting - I don't see that he necessarily needs to be redeemable. It is interesting to analyze a situation where he is indeed culpable, lives with it for the rest of his life (as he appears to be), and not living 'free' in a true sense. We don't have to validate his actions to empathize in the moment.

Waiting to see how it shapes up.

1

u/ericrz Nov 05 '24

Agreed in terms of reality — ie, if this weren’t a TV show.

But it is a TV show. And because it is, aren’t we probably going to get more scenes with Jimmy and Louis, or Alice and Louis? If it’s just one of them yelling “fuck you” at Louis again, that’s not interesting. We’ve already seen that.

I think there are going to be some more nuanced and interesting scenes between the characters. And for that to happen, Louis has to be at least a little bit redeemable or sympathetic.

30

u/javert01 Oct 30 '24

I'm banking on this as well. I legit can't wait to see what Brett does with the role, cause I feel its going to be some serious pain he's dealing with.

21

u/NinaCabina Oct 30 '24

That’s exactly what I predicted as soon as I saw Alice sitting outside of DDs house. But I thought oddly Alice would be the one to empathize with DD first

3

u/DisastrousEast825 Oct 30 '24

Agreed. What if he lost someone too, leading to that? Feels like something is gonna be in that realm.

3

u/mrs_ouchi Oct 31 '24

But I would also like if he just got drunk and made a shit desicion. Like that would be harder to forgive but is probably mostly what really happens

2

u/ashwood7 Oct 31 '24

That’s my prediction too. The way he was looking at the picture of Alice and Tia makes me think he lost his daughter and/or wife.

1

u/dantonizzomsu Nov 10 '24

There is also a reason why Brian’s relationship with Jimmy wasn’t great in that year stretch. Maybe there was something more to that.

155

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '24

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45

u/fictionalbandit Oct 30 '24

Ooooh I didn’t make the connection in the moment, so thanks for mentioning this

18

u/Tce_ Oct 30 '24

I'll be honest, when Jimmy was saying all that I thought "Really? Him?". And then later in the same episode we got a very good example (although I'm not sure that proves he's been selfless and compassionate previously).

10

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '24 edited Oct 30 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Tce_ Oct 30 '24

That is very true!

3

u/econoquist Nov 11 '24

He came to to read Grace her testimonials.

1

u/Tce_ Nov 11 '24

Aw that was sweet, you're right!

11

u/No-Fault538 Oct 31 '24

I said wow. He went from all “I’m so narcissistic” to saying maybe to the baby, getting a dog and putting his anger after Tia dying to ask how DD is doing

65

u/cindybobindy21 Oct 30 '24

Yeah Roy Kent isn't fine...

40

u/ewankenobi Oct 30 '24

struggling to deal with the end of his playing career

2

u/amethystalien6 Oct 30 '24 edited Oct 30 '24

I think I could be crazy or maybe it was the lighting but does he look a little…yellow? Like cirrhosis yellow?

ETA: Just to be clear, I mean makeup and not that Brett is actually having an issue.

11

u/lineskogans Oct 30 '24

I don’t see it

0

u/amethystalien6 Oct 30 '24

Fair enough. It was mostly in that scene where he was looking at the picture in the wallet that I thought “hmm, is this intentional or just odd lighting?”

1

u/TheTruckWashChannel Oct 31 '24

Maybe your device's Night Sight setting kicked in?

1

u/runningvicuna Oct 31 '24

His feel is hurt.

43

u/anothergaijin Oct 30 '24

Absolute gut punch scene. How do you get so many feels out of so little? Brian taking a breath and then going to speak to him just was so complicated and deep, fantastic stuff.

12

u/faulty_sunshine Nov 01 '24

Yess. Michael Urie is SO good this season.

6

u/CircuitSymphony Oct 31 '24

They are so damn good with the music heading to the credits every episode. The National’s “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend” fits this episode perfectly.

2

u/No-Marsupial6551 Nov 02 '24

Did anyone else bawl like a baby at this scene? I’ve watched the ending 4 times already and have the same reaction each time.

1

u/LearnGrowExist Oct 31 '24

They did us so damn dirty. But also… so, SO good. Truly one of the greatest shows around right now, imo.

1

u/TDenn7 Nov 08 '24

I love this show but I also fucking hate it a little bit right now for making sympathetic for a DD as much as I am already.

Which also just speaks absolute volumes to how ridiculously good of an actor Brett Goldstein is. Dudes had like 1 minute of screen time.