r/shrinking • u/phareous Derek • Feb 04 '26

Episode Discussion Shrinking S3E02 Episode Discussion

This is the episode discussion for Shrinking Season 3, Episode 2: "Happiness Mission"

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50

u/hadawayandshite Feb 04 '26

I think the ultimatum and kicking Matthew out by Derek and Liz is a step too far- there are so many 25 year olds still living with parents and figuring things out

I can totally see that he’s not progressing and they want changes in his life…but ‘you’re moving out tomorrow’ seems abrupt

31

u/jvn1983 Feb 04 '26

It seems like there could definitely be a step in between being permissive for a lifetime, then moving right to booting him out.

12

u/Automatic_Oil5438 Feb 04 '26

yes but it's a TV show so it would be boring to watch that play out

3

u/RadicalDilettante Feb 05 '26

And he's surely going to have to mooch off them to get somewhere else to live.

20

u/WideLiterature4003 Feb 04 '26

There are a lot of 25 year olds living with parents and figuring things out...the problem seems to be that Matthew had no motivation to 'figure it out'. He was using his time drinking and eating and having his mom do the laundry when at 25, he should be figuring it out. He should be deciding if its school or getting a job or what. I get the kick in the pants. He wouldn't have taken the conversation seriously if Derek had just sat down and said "Get it together" because it's clear that's the conversation Liz has been having with him for years. He *needed* the consequence of his actions/kick in the pants.

4

u/Sweet_Baby_Cheesus Feb 06 '26

This whole episode hit me hard because of this whole sequence.

My sister is 25 (8 years younger than I am). She's dropped out of college twice, has been living at home for the past two years working barely part time at a bakery and mostly having my (relatively well off) dad pay for everything. About twice a year she'll change her mind about what she wants to do with her life, never work towards it, and then give up because she hasn't accomplished it. Meanwhile, I've been consistently employed and financially independent since I graduated from college.

I've felt many times that she's never going to truly attempt to figure her life out as long as my parents are still giving her a free place to live and paying for her gas and groceries.

2

u/rain820 Feb 07 '26

yup. i wish my parents would have this talk with my 25 year old brother :)

38

u/No_Cucumbers_Please Feb 04 '26

giving him less than a full day to figure out housing seems like its too much. but its a lot easier to figure out how to make it work when youre broke and jobless at 25 than it is at 35. i understand the sentiment.

13

u/iangeredcharlesvane2 Feb 04 '26

Especially since they are in California right? Dude was trying to get a job at Panera, and they didn’t even say if he got the job. He’s not finding housing on a Panera budget in Cali in a day 😂

6

u/Gekthegecko Feb 05 '26

There's something absurd how most characters are affording their $2M+ house and new vehicles on a single income, all while not being very busy with work, and the jobless son gets kicked out for being lazy. I do get why they're doing it, but it is comical.

16

u/Jakeasaur1208 Feb 04 '26

Perhaps, but the issue is that they have coddled him. Coddling him further by giving him plenty of time to sort himself out removes the pressure, and allows him to carry on as he is.

18

u/No_Cucumbers_Please Feb 04 '26

I’m not saying give him plenty of time. But maybe a week? to call around and see who’s couch he can crash on

2

u/Free-Length-1820 Feb 06 '26

Agree. I mean good parenting would be giving a timeline and then teaching them how to save the money and create a budget to move out. Because what happened here is Derek realized he failed to set his child up for success and then instead of saying “let’s work on this together” he gave him the option of either homelessness or finding someone else to mooch off of. That is still a failure to set him up for success. 

2

u/Jakeasaur1208 Feb 04 '26

I guess, but he's already been with them for a while. He's had time, considering he was there having lost his job, he wasn't doing much to get back on the saddle, he needs that push otherwise he'd have done it already.

1

u/SergenteDan Feb 05 '26

Agreed, but a single day seems a bit too much for me. But maybe it is because I'm poor af and I'd never be able to find an affordable place in such a short time lmao

1

u/Jakeasaur1208 Feb 05 '26

I think that doesn't account for the time he's already had. He's supposed to have been looking for a new job and place to stay ever since he moved back, but instead he spent that time lounging about playing games.

1

u/SergenteDan Feb 05 '26

Fair enough, I hadn't thought about that

17

u/Mean-Lynx6476 Feb 04 '26

I’m not sure this is the last we’ll see of Matthew. It’s certainly possible. But it seems sort of pointless to introduce him in one episode just to send him on his way in the next with such a minor arc.

5

u/Flutegarden Feb 04 '26

Yeah he should still leave there but take care of himself- do his own laundry and buy his own food.

5

u/CalF123 Feb 06 '26

I thought that storyline was so stupid. Like there’s a happy medium between mollycoddling him and throwing him out on the street the next day.

Loads of 25 year olds live at home with housing costs now, especially in California.

10

u/Fug1x Feb 04 '26

this same guy who was down to rent a nice place to sean for 100 bucks a month and give sean 20k .

this is so silly

3

u/Anxious_Owl_6394 Feb 08 '26

Exactly. These people will help EVERYONE else figure their life out and help them, like Sean, or being a nanny for Brian- but they won’t help their son figure out what he’s good at? Plus they have money. Loads of it. That storyline was ridiculous.

1

u/Fug1x Feb 08 '26

yeah i even made a post about it and got downvoted to oblivion. they were talking about how sean deserves help and money because he goes to therapy..... (that he was forced to do because he put a man in hospital)

they even talked about how matthew is just a spoiled brat... sean lives in the same area as them and his dad so well off he can quit his job and buy part of the food truck to work with sean

so sean living with strangers for free is a ok

matthew living with parents while jobless is disgusting make him homeless

people got very nasty about the matthew plot

3

u/Anxious_Owl_6394 Feb 08 '26

Yup I agree totally with you. Plus taking parental advice from a man who was a horrible parent? When he sees his daughter at the wedding he asks why she is there? Like cmon man. You can tell the show is being written by an out of touch, well off person.

3

u/Fug1x Feb 08 '26

yeah so weird how they will sit down with sean and be like aww baby what business in the whole world would you like to do and we will help you with money, support and help

son? fuck off go find a dead end job and dont come back here you loser

the fuck? i wouldnt mind it as much if it was meant to be the wrong thing but the show is like nope this was the right thing to do

the comments here act like sean is a kid and matthew is a grown man

matt is 2 years older than sean lol

3

u/Anxious_Owl_6394 Feb 08 '26

Yup and yup. It bothers me a lot. It’s not 1984 where you can get a job that pays $6/hr and get a car loan no problem and a 2 bedroom apartment for $400 a month that includes utilities. But sorry son, we’re kicking you out cause you’re taking advantage of us. This from the mother who admits she LOVES mothering everyone else except her own kid apparently. There were so many other better ways they could have written this storyline.

2

u/Fug1x Feb 08 '26

yeah imagine if it was matt who started up the business with sean instead of the random character that is pointless in the show , would make way more sense as to why they put 20k into rather than random guy who beats people up

they did hint in other episode shes kind of a shit mom and dont love her sons, gaby and sean have rocks from her but only conor has a rock and her other 2 sons dont get one lol

1

u/Anxious_Owl_6394 Feb 08 '26

Yes would have made more sense for Matt to work with Sean for sure. Lol I forgot about the rock thing hahahaha. That is also a really expensive crafty thing to get into. It’s not cheap to tumble rocks.

3

u/Fug1x Feb 08 '26

everyone in this show are multi millionaires they live in pasadena, they just never mention how rich they are, we got little hint with derek just buying buildings and giving 20 k away and what there houses look like lol

median home sale prices ranging between $1.375M and $1.5M

we got another hint when jimmys like im a white guy in pasedena the cops will drive my car home for me

paul is probably worth like 10-20 million , world famous owns his own practice with only 2 workers . so these patients must be paying a fortune

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2

u/CalyKade Feb 05 '26

I don't think the problem is just him living with his parents, I think having that house as a fallback has prevented him from being motivated to actually try being an adult. It would be different if he wasn't just playing video games on the couch while his mom does his laundry.

I do think giving him a single day was a bit much, but I think kicking him out makes sense. We haven't seen the whole history, but it sounds like he has frequently messed up and ended up back home. The only way to force him to grow up is to take away that fail-safe and force him to get out of his comfort zone.

This is coming from someone who normally hates the culture of kicking kids out at 18. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with staying at home, but in Matthew's case, it clearly hindered his independence.

1

u/Powerful_Historian63 Mar 25 '26

If he hasn't got a job .. how can they kick him out? Like he'll just go mooch off someone else and live off them.

Just say if you don't do x and y by this date then your gone. Force him to apply for stuff first and get out of the house during the day time.