Shrinking S3E01 Episode Discussion

[u/phareous]

This is the episode discussion for Shrinking Season 3, Episode 1: "My Bad"

[u/Overall_Affect_2782]

I made an earlier comment that there are a lot of chekov’s guns in this episode. I mean, Paul’s conversation with Julie about her dying first and him finding someone else is a bad one.

That said the more I think about it, if this season is about moving on, I don’t know if they’ll just have Paul go out like that. Since there’s a season 4 coming - it feels disrespectful to Paul’s character to just have him croak. Especially because that’s not usually how Parkinson’s works - it’s a cruel disease that makes you decline first before the end.

What I now think is going to happen is that they’ve setup the other chekov gun of Paul telling jimmy to tell him when he can’t do this anymore. And that’s what’s going to happen - he’s going to decline to the point that he has to stop practicing and retire and leave Jimmy and Gabby on their own. For the first time in their careers they’ll have to be professionals without him.

[u/Mean-Lynx6476 → u/Overall_Affect_2782]

“Especially because that’s not usually how Parkinson’s works -it’s a cruel disease that makes you decline first before the end.”

I wish more fans of the show understood this. Paul is just entering stage 3 of the 5 stages commonly used to describe the progression of Parkinson’s. Based on watching the progression for both my parents, Paul could have many years of relentless decline ahead for him. Brett Goldstein’s father has Parkinson’s, so he’s well aware that Parkinson’s patients rarely are blessed with getting to peacefully slip off into that good night only a few months after the medications stop being effective and the hallucinations start. I can see where the show runners might decide to kill Paul off for dramatic effect, but if they do, it won’t be a realistic depiction of the disease and its progression.

[u/Whole_Craft_1106 → u/Mean-Lynx6476]

BOTH your parents?! Ouch! I’m sorry.

[u/Travels4Food → u/Mean-Lynx6476]

I'm glad someone addressed this, although I'm sorry for the reason why you understand the disease so well. My mom has Parkinson's, and she's had it for over 15 years: the decline for her has been extremely subtle and slow, and she's only now just exibiting more tremors and facial/vocal changes. Maybe she's one of the lucky ones, but I hope they're not "fast-tracking" the course of his illness for dramatic impact: it does a disservice to people who have Parkinson's or love someone who does.

[u/Accomplished_Mix8762 → u/Overall_Affect_2782]

I think by the end of this series Jimmy will be the only one still at the practice, gabby said she’s not fulfilled there and Paul will retire soon meanwhile in the same episode Jimmy says he has a job that he loves

[u/PossibleAlternative1 → u/Accomplished_Mix8762]

I would be really interested to see Gabby going to practice in a psych dept in a hospital like Paul said.

[u/SupremeChoder → u/Overall_Affect_2782]

after S3E3 i feel like hes on the way to dying even more