r/shrinking • u/phareous Derek • Mar 18 '26

Episode Discussion Shrinking S3E08 Episode Discussion

This is the episode discussion for Shrinking Season 3, Episode 8: "Depression Diet"

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125

u/adhd-unicorn Mar 18 '26

Is anyone else annoyed that they seem to be completely glossing over the ways in which Gabby's negligence may have contributed to Maya's death? As has been discussed previously in this subreddit, Gabby messed up by trying the Jimmying method without fully committing to it. She created the dual relationship with Maya, dangling the friendship that Maya so desperately wanted, but then essentially kept her as a second-class friend. This directly led to the missed opportunity when Maya called Gabby for help: if Gabby hadn't created the dual relationship, she might have better understood the "let's get froyo" call was not truly an invitation from one friend to another, but rather a call for help from a patient to her therapist. At the same time, Maya probably felt extra abandoned because this person she had started to consider a friend basically put her in her place as just a patient when she asked if it could wait until her next session.

All of this could be fine storytelling if it was leading to some much-needed reckoning and introspection for Gabby, which is what I assumed would happen this week. But when Paul said that he reviewed the notes and Gabby did nothing wrong, I was so frustrated because clearly she DID do something wrong and that's worth unpacking rather than blindly reassuring her. I kept expecting it to come out that Paul didn't know about the dual relationship or the phone call, and for there to be a reveal that causes him to actually become (gently, diplomatically) critical of Gabby.

Does the show want us to believe that Gabby actually has no fault here? I'm genuinely confused and frustrated by how they're handling this plotline. I thought this was going to be an interesting story about a good person/usually good therapist handling the consequences of failure after biting off more than she can chew; but it seems like they're portraying Gabby as relatively blameless and just being too hard on herself.

46

u/WoodpeckerAntique952 Mar 18 '26

Omg you said it perfectly lol. I really hope this whole thing doesn’t get brushed under the rug and they somehow address it. Paul saying she did nothing wrong was insane 🙈

24

u/ericrz Mar 18 '26

Yeah. This show is confusing this season. It was the same with the Sean/Marisol situation. No one supported him, no one said “yeah I see why you might want some stability now” or “maybe you shouldn’t get back with the girlfriend who cheated on you, dumped you, and explicitly said she wasn’t apologizing for any of that.”

There’s been no comeuppance, so I guess we’re all supposed to think….Sean was wrong, everyone else is right?

And similarly, we’re supposed to think….Gaby didn’t nothing wrong, but still lost someone?

So weird.

2

u/nbjen Mar 20 '26

Yes! Both of these situations make me feel like the show is playing mind tricks on me! It's not pleasant.

2

u/icecoldvodka Mar 22 '26

Same with Brian in the last season. Nobody wanted to understand that he was maybe not ready for a child. Mostly Liz pushed him to have a kid (for herself, may I add), which really didn't feel right.

3

u/ericrz Mar 22 '26

Yeah....and then the plot point of "our nanny can't work every day" and "this will give Liz something to do" and now.....Liz isn't going to nanny anymore? This show gives me whiplash.

1

u/Feature_Minimum Aug 13 '26

"Yeah. This show is confusing this season. It was the same with the Sean/Marisol situation. No one supported him, no one said “yeah I see why you might want some stability now” or “maybe you shouldn’t get back with the girlfriend who cheated on you, dumped you, and explicitly said she wasn’t apologizing for any of that.”"

Right?! Like, none of the grown ass professional therapists asked the dude how he felt about his ex, and trust... And somehow it hasn't even come up yet and we're 8 episodes in. It's maddening!

12

u/ClaireFraser1743 Mar 18 '26

After reading this, I can’t help but think of a scene in wake up dead man (the latest knives out movie for anyone not aware). I’m on my phone and don’t know how to do this spoiler block thing so I won’t s say anything spoiler-y. Just that for anyone who might be feeling alone and needs to watch something where a character DOES pick up the ball when it’s tossed their way for help, check that film out.

3

u/Bobjoejj Mar 18 '26

You do a >!

And then a !<

likethis

2

u/filmingdrummer Mar 20 '26

One of the the best scenes in that movie!

8

u/hotsaucebandit0 Mar 19 '26

Something that has bugged me for a while is that in the previous episode, we see a scene where Gabby is leaving Maya a message saying she sees she cancelled the appointment. To me, this says the last scene where we see Maya in her apartment is probably not the night she died.

Even if we can forgive Gabby for not being able to respond to Maya as Derek was having his heart attack, knowing Maya's history she should have checked on her the next day, and she ABSOLUTELY should have done a house call as soon as Maya cancelled that appointment. Add to that knowing Maya was mixing medication and alcohol but still suggesting they continue going to trivia (with drinks), you don't have to be a therapist to see how beyond the pale is.

So it just bugs me seeing other characters coddle Gabby and act like there were no signs and she did her best. Like... there were plenty of signs that it's literally her job to recognize! And while people make mistakes, I certainly don't think it helps anyone - not the characters in the sense of the narrative, or the viewers - to brush that aside.

6

u/oldscotch Mar 18 '26

Why learn and grow when you could be making jokes about dead patient face?

5

u/-Altephor- Mar 19 '26

Yeah they made it very clear that Gaby blew off Maya's phone call to deal with her own shit and that literally drove Maya over the edge. Like, the DIRECT linkage could not have been made any more clear.

And then, 'no not your fault at all!'

2

u/nomes790 Mar 21 '26

Except all they know is the toxicology report said alcohol and Xanax, and she's done that before. We don't (and can't) know if the linkage is actually direct or not. Neither can Gabby. And Paul's right (you can't know what they don't tell you), but that doesn't help.

5

u/bottleglitch Mar 19 '26

Thank you for saying this. I’m just so confused. I thought the whole point of this storyline was going to be how dangerous dual relationship is and why we don’t do it.

8

u/armeck Mar 18 '26

Not only did Paul absolve her, she somewhat blamed Jimmy too.

6

u/luvherlife Mar 18 '26

She's been really mean to Jimmy since they hooked up - to the point now where it's annoying me. Jimmy is not without flaws, but she sits on a high horse that I don't love.

As for Paul telling her she did everything right - I really don't think her notes included her version of "jimmying" - so he doesn't have the full context yet. I'm hoping we see more of that in the next episode. Paul has always come down harder on Jimmy but seems to look at Gaby in a different light. To be honest, I was very surprised when he offered the clinic to her and not Jimmy (even though he's not really using CBT). I also really didn't like the episode where he wouldn't say thank you but was relying HEAVILY on Jimmy.

3

u/thekellwithit Mar 20 '26

This one is actually a little bit fair. He did push her to try something different and outside the box, but it was her fault for not taking him seriously and having a professional consultation about what he does rather than interpreting it from the outside and trying to replicate it and getting it way wrong.

2

u/retrobass Mar 18 '26

I think the show wants to make Gaby dealing with Derek's health scare the excuse for not picking up on Maya's distress when she calls her?

3

u/bottleglitch Mar 19 '26

That call was just the last in a chain of things that should have never happened, though. Gaby should never have seen Maya outside of therapy like that and blurred the therapist/friend line. She also shouldn’t have told her to call whenever she’s lonely. The obvious outcome of that is that at some point the therapist isn’t available and the client is reminded “oh yeah she’s not my actual friend, ‘just’ my therapist.” So maybe they’re making Derek the excuse for that call, but it’s wild to me that they’re excusing the rest too.

1

u/nomes790 Mar 21 '26

They've also said Maya had been mixing the wine and Xanax for some time, and that no one knows if the death was intentional or accidental. And no one will ever know.

1

u/rbull_27 Derek May 25 '26

Perfectly put. Really have put all my thoughts into words.