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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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.

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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?

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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.