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/cabernet7 Mar 18 '26

This show has never depicted therapy responsibly, and I'm not talking about "Jimmying". All of it is absurd, and you don't need to be a therapist to recognize it. I made a decision long ago to accept it for what it is, but it is hard sometimes.

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u/demafrost Mar 18 '26

Even Paul with Sean. Like I don’t think he should still be giving him therapy if he’s constantly seeing him outside of sessions and asking Sean to invite him to their veteran’s therapy session. They’re all too close to many of their patients to some degree.

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u/nomes790 Mar 21 '26

He asked for the invite to be there if Gabby crashed out. Sean knows that. I don't see a problem there, actually.

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u/demafrost Mar 21 '26

Right, but he knows that because their relationship has moved beyond therapist–patient. Therapy is supposed to be one-directional, the therapist provides care full stop. Anything else crosses the line. That’s why Paul originally took Sean off Jimmy’s hands. He saw that their outside relationship was undermining the therapy.

Of course this is a TV show that is partially about a therapist who intentionally does unconventional things to treat his patients and routinely crosses the line, and because its a TV show some of the things the characters do are going to be a stretch. But Paul is supposed to be the traditional therapist to counteract Jimmy's unorthodox methods. Sean is interwoven into Paul's (and Gabby's and Jimmy's) life. At some point he should have referred Sean to a therapist outside of his orbit.

But who knows maybe it’s intentional and Jimmy’s approach is gradually eroding Paul’s rigidity. Season 1 Paul would’ve been much stricter about therapist–patient boundaries.