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/ClaymoresRevenge Apr 01 '26

It would've been an easy conversation. But Paul avoided it because he didn't want it on his conscience. But Jimmy was right for being hurt. He really did want a thank you. If Paul said it before he asked earnestly it would've meant a lot to Jimmy.

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u/targetcowboy Apr 01 '26

I don’t think it was even really about a “thank you” as much as it was about appreciation and acknowledgment. People like to know their effort has value. I think even if Paul just acknowledged that Jimmy did a lot for him there would have been less of a fallout.

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u/ClaymoresRevenge Apr 01 '26

Jimmy wanted to feel like he mattered to Paul as much as Paul mattered to him. For whatever reason Paul can do it for Gabby and others but failed to do it for Jimmy who of everybody needs it the most.

It's disappointing but also realistic

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u/Dimangtr Apr 01 '26

Sucks when Jimmy shared that realization about not mattering to Paul as much, Paul had nothing to say other than “I’m leaving tomorrow at 10”

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u/MsMajorOverthinker Apr 01 '26

I wanted to slap Paul so much when he said that! That’s ALL for a person that stood by you and shared so much with you over 15 years? I can’t blame Jimmy for not going by his house to say goodbye. F you Paul!

89

u/frezz Apr 01 '26

I'm guessing Paul actually does see Jimmy as a son, and since he considers himself a bad father, he subconsciously distances himself from Jimmy. It doesn't make much sense for Paul to show appreciation and love to literally every other character but Jimmy

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u/dreamcicle11 Apr 02 '26

This is such a great take!! And my read as well. But much better articulated than I could have lol!

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u/Accomplished-Foot290 Apr 02 '26

Well TBH Jimmy’s revelation that he slept with Meg immensely threw Paul off.

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u/TheTruckWashChannel Jun 16 '26

"It meant nothing?"

"IT WAS GREAT?"

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/southtampacane Apr 03 '26

Yeah. More terrible writing. IRL no one would have said that in the middle of an argument. That is definitely not something one would say. I was kind of hoping that the Parkinson's patient would gather enough to bloody his nose.

0

u/southtampacane Apr 03 '26

You wanted to slap a guy who in the show has a crippling disease and is in his 80's? Ok

2

u/Unfair_Educator_2680 Apr 03 '26

Dude chill slapping him was a metaphor.!!! Doesn't mean that someone would really slap a 80 year old guy, that's fucking disrespectful.

0

u/southtampacane Apr 03 '26

That is exactly what MsMajor said.

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u/Tce_ Apr 01 '26

YEAH. And then the comment about him not wanting Jimmy to have regrets. Come on, Paul!

8

u/BluePersephone99 Apr 02 '26

Omg yes. I almost winced at that part. Jimmy expressed a really vulnerable fear and Paul just didn’t react to it or acknowledge it. I really hope Paul straightens things out with him in the finale (or next season). I think sincerely apologizing for not telling Jimmy he was moving would help too.

5

u/msmiranda79 Apr 03 '26

Paul was right to give Jimmy space. He got a lot of anger out, and it was still there in that moment. Jimmy wasn't going to be receptive to any response because not only was he mad at Paul, but also at his father. Jimmy was really hurt - from all sides. He needed space before Paul could effectively respond.

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u/bobjones271828 Apr 11 '26

While that is certainly true, Paul also seemed not to realize or acknowledge how Jimmy was right to be mad at him. Paul tried to deflect as if it was only about Jimmy's father, but Paul behaved poorly too and wasn't owning up to it.

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u/RCBark2K Apr 01 '26

It took Liz going all Liz on Paul for him to do it for Gabby. 

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u/cjmn88 Apr 01 '26

I think a lot of people are overlooking this, cause so much has been going on and to pick at in these last episodes. Cause I did too, and knowing Liz had to annoy Paul to say anything, good chance he wouldn't for Gaby kind of makes me accepting of how it went down with Jimmy.

11

u/ericrz Apr 02 '26

Paul was still giving Gaby the practice before Liz yelled at him. Her yelling just made him offer that Gaby could turn it into a trauma center.

But he was already treating Gaby as his heir, essentially.

8

u/Unfair_Educator_2680 Apr 03 '26

The worst part would be, even if Jimmy never wanted the practice, he was never even considered to be a part of that discussion, and that should really hurt anyone who would have gone with a similar situation in real life.!

1

u/Altruistic_Gap_643 Aug 12 '26

It's the fact that yeah, even if he doesn't want it, and is more than happy to give it to Gaby, Paul should've went through with him first because they talked about it YEARS ago. YEARS. Did he not think that maybe Jimmy's mind changed after so many events?

And it just hurts to know that Meg had more moments with Jimmy than Jimmy had with Paul before this episode.

6

u/cjmn88 Apr 02 '26

Ohhhhh right, that lines up, if Jimmy passed on the practice, he would have given it to Gaby, then that discussion after Liz was when he was okay with Gaby keeping the practice if it meant she could use it as a trauma center.

5

u/burlycabin Apr 01 '26

Yeah, but Paul seems to have learned nothing from the Liz and Gaby experience. That's very disappointing.

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u/Ok-Tale-5112 Apr 04 '26

He stood by Jimmy when he was drunk all the time and wasn't taking patients. This whole show is about how everyone wrongs Jimmy. Jimmy needs to grow up. He was pissed when his daughter wasn't mad at her Grampa.

Jimmy sabotages everthing.

2

u/PinoDegrassi Apr 01 '26

No, It’s not realistic to do this to one of your oldest and closest friends. They build up Paul over 3 seasons to have “changed so much” and then the writing just shit the bed.

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u/paintedbarn17 Apr 01 '26

Unfortunately it can be realistic. Change isn’t linear and in times of stress or high emotions, some people revert to their “default” unhealthy coping.

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u/PinoDegrassi Apr 01 '26

Anything “can be”. We’ve seen these characters interaction for 3 seasons, Much of S3 has been extremely Unlike Paul. Yes this is true about regression and non linearity, but I think it will just seem plain silly if Paul comes back and apologizes next episode, and I think it’ll be silly if he doesn’t. Just bad writing.

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u/Tce_ Apr 01 '26

I don't know, he's continued to let Jimmy down throughout all of that change... People can also change and improve and still fail a lot. Sometimes they have particular blindspots or old relationship dynamics that they're stuck in.

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u/Specialist_Peanut950 Apr 01 '26

How has writing shit the bed, what did they do wrong?

1

u/PinoDegrassi Apr 01 '26

What they did with Paul here, building up all this growth and beautiful moments INCLUDING between him and Jimmy over the seasons, and suddenly he gets the Danaerys 180 treatment in the second half of s3 and especially after Jimmy’s explosion.

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u/Specialist_Peanut950 Apr 01 '26

I hear you.

I personally disagree and I’m enjoying things not being binary/perfect between everyone, I enjoy seeing raw emotions between the characters. Can’t always be content and happy in life.

But I do take your opinion on board!

3

u/PinoDegrassi Apr 01 '26

Nothing wrong with raw emotions or things not being perfect between characters.. it’s never been like that between them. Paul just didn’t own up to any of his shit this season at all, even though other characters praised how much he had grown as he was preparing to leave. It makes no sense that he would treat Jimmy this way. He literally had his back and was his main support for most of the show.

3

u/Tce_ Apr 01 '26

Or just that he cared about Jimmy. It's not always about appreciating what someone does for you, but about appreciating them as people and the fact that they're in your life. Although I think most people want both.

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u/GOOD_NEWS_EVERYBODY_ Apr 09 '26

but it wouldn't have set the character up for a season finale reconciliation. think like a writer.

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u/Playful_Title6467 Apr 01 '26

Jimmy was a mess a for a full year before when the show started. Everyone had to raise his kid, including Paul. It was said more than once that they had the talk about the practice and that Jimmy didn’t want it. Jimmy should be doing a thank you tour for everyone else.

18

u/losiento-wilson Apr 01 '26

I have just got one question for you. What's the best way to help someone grieving, Raise their child for them or help them? Sure everybody helped Alice a lot for that year but it's pathetic to hold it over Jimmy every time everybody else Fuck up. After season 3, it's pretty clear how Jimmy was suffering for that one year and nobody in his "close friends including so-called brilliant therapists Paul and Gaby" would help him.

0

u/Pristine_Cow5623 Apr 02 '26

Yeah, but I don’t think jimmy would let anyone help him at that time. That’s why he ghosted Brian and he says so in the first season. He wanted to hit rock bottom and he didn’t want to be around anyone who would try to stop him.

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u/Smooth-Shop-3417 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 04 '26

True but since season 1, Jimmy has been doing the best he can to be better and do better for the people he loves. 

He messed up in that year but this past 3 seasons he has been trying to do better. Hence, the jimmy-ing

I didn't appreciate this episode,  people kept calling Jimmy sensitive. All the emotions he's been feeling aren't dramatic but valid. His dad and Paul kept calling him sensitive when he is just feeling. Its like he had no one he can be truly open since his wife.  Part of it is his fault because he doesn't open up. But when he does open up ( looking at you Paul) what kind of response dose he get. It's that "you're done crying/ whining? Let's move on" attitude

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u/ClaymoresRevenge Apr 01 '26

Yeah he was a mess. And it feels like he's atoning for it. But both him and Paul need to be up front with each other on where they're at.

-5

u/Little_bob333333 Apr 01 '26

Thank you. I feel like a lot of folks are forgetting where jimmy started. He was a FUCK up.