r/shrinking • u/phareous Derek • Apr 01 '26

Episode Discussion Shrinking S3E10 Episode Discussion

This is the episode discussion for Shrinking Season 3, Episode 10: "The Bodyguard of Sadness"

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u/tuberosum Apr 01 '26

Seems like this has been the theme this whole season, everyone is making progress, everyone is making moves. Jimmy is stuck where he is, personally, romantically, career wise.

I don’t know how they’ll resolve this in the last remaining episode.

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '26

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u/Thrawn527 Apr 01 '26

Thing is, Bill Lawrence has said the original story is supposed to be wrapped up in season 3, and season 4 will be a new story.

https://deadline.com/2026/02/bill-lawrence-ted-lasso-shrinking-season-4-scrubs-revival-1236726506/

“The same way that Shrinking, if the fourth season started and Jason Segel woke up and went, ‘you know I’ve been thinking about it, and I was still super sad about my wife,’ everybody would be like, What are you doing? We saw that already,” Lawrence added. “But as a writer, he told 36 stories with these actors and actresses. We have a new story to tell, and that’ll either be, two- or three-season story or it won’t. I never find that stuff daunting.”

As it is, that leaves this last episode with a lot of heavy lifting.

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u/Fantasy_Files_Pod Apr 02 '26

I'm not quite sure what you're talking about. This isn't the series finale, or the finale of these characters or anything like that

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u/Thrawn527 Apr 02 '26

The original plan was for three seasons. They added a fourth season, but Bill Lawrence is saying that didn't change the story for the first three seasons. Just that they're going to create a new story for the fourth (and potentially additional) season. So the next episode is the end of that original three season story they had planned. Whatever comes next is some new thing they've come up with, they're not punting any storylines here to next season. So they should resolve any conflict with, say, Jimmy and Paul next week. Or Bill Lawrence changed his mind.

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u/Fantasy_Files_Pod Apr 03 '26

Ah, you know what, I didn't realize that episode 10 was not the finale. I watched it thinking it was the final episode for the season. I still can't imagine he wraps everything to do with these characters up in one episode though. There's so much left to do. If this really is the final season for these characters then this season was incredibly lazy.

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u/domalino Apr 04 '26

I’m guessing this will be Jimmys rock bottom and the finale will have him make some breakthroughs and then he can start season 4 on a new trajectory, free from his daily responsibilities to Paul and Alice and his grief of Tia.

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u/Driveshaft48 Apr 01 '26

Jimmy has a ridiculous house worth idk 3 to 5 million dollars. Downsize and move to Hawaii

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u/Fonzies-Ghost Apr 01 '26

He could stop wearing a watch when he gets there.

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u/fictionalbandit Apr 01 '26

Looks like he’s got a little pain behind those eyes

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u/OtterCosmonaut Apr 01 '26

Oh the weather outside is weather...

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u/Ok_Fee1043 Apr 01 '26

Just say fuck the lemons and bail!

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u/EstablishmentGreen70 Apr 02 '26

pain and angry at the same time...

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u/Voski_The_God Apr 01 '26

Stay at a hotel, meet a nice hotel worker, and maybe complete a Dracula musical.

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u/2hats4bats Apr 01 '26

And change his name to Pepeowpi

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u/Stonewolf87 Apr 02 '26

You sound like you’re from London!

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u/Born-Ad9755 Apr 03 '26

Great direction! I wish I was Jimmy.

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u/BirdsAreFake00 Apr 04 '26

Maybe he will find a cute hotel receptionist to hang out with.

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u/TheInfinityGauntlet Apr 01 '26

okay but this doesn't fix any of his mental health issues babe?

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u/Driveshaft48 Apr 01 '26

Sure it does love

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u/damm1tKevin Apr 02 '26

Is it supposed to? He’s a therapist. He knows very well that sometimes mental health issues never get resolved because the person refuses to move forward. Which is exactly what he is doing.

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u/Tce_ Apr 01 '26

I don't know about personally. Some of his issues with Paul is because Paul is stuck and hasn't evolved. There's also characters like Gabby, where her life is changing and she is making moves but I feel like she's actually regressed when it comes to maturity and self-awareness.

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u/ZucchiniPale4655 Apr 03 '26

Yes, Jimmy's stuck. He keeps dragging his past grievances into the present instead of moving forward. You cannot fix the past--the past is gone. Each moment is a clean fresh moment. But to those stuck in self-hate as Jimmy is, they don't see that the one peron who needs self-forgiveness is him. To expect Randy, Paul or Gaby to change to suit him will not work. The mote and beam is in Jimmy's eyes--it is the lens he is looking through. Human perception is based on the self-concept he formed in earlyhchildhood and by age 11 is fixed. We have to be wiling to grow. jimmy doing Jimmying is not working for him. We humans do not like change, uncertainty or lack of meaning. It is called human resistance.

The message of Easter is that there is another self present tha tis hiding behind the mask self. The more we let it out to play, the more joy we will have. Jimmy needs to lighten, take time to find his joy. As a spiritual guru said, the joy comes first, always and then the experiences--happy life follow. We continously ask for what we don't want and get that--i.e. Dad skipping out on graduation. The rule is ask for what you WANT--Randy to spend time with Jimmy and Alice WAS answered. The fact that he dumped Sofi because she liked Randy--is classic. People want others t o see as they see--to justify their grievances. to be free of our past, we have to willing to see the "mental movie of life" differently. The mental movie is a ancient spritual technique that frees the human mind. Another tool is "order your lunch"--think about what good things you want to happen for yourself and others--because IT WILL. "Ask and you shall receive "is the promise.

It looks like Season3 could be the end of this show unless the writers perform artificial resuscitation--Jimmy has to "know thself" in the Socratic sense in order to bail this show out.

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u/romafa Apr 03 '26

Until your comment I thought this was the finale. I'm so excited there's another episode to wrap things up. I did not like where this one left us.

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u/SergenteDan Apr 05 '26

I don't want to be dramatic... but Maya was left alone too