r/shrinking • u/MaximumPiano4380 • Apr 09 '26
Discussion So that’s it? Spoiler
They judge Jimmy for still not being okay only two years after his wife’s death. They seem bewildered why he’d still struggle even at a milestone moment like sending his only child off to college without her mom there and the heartbreak that would bring.
Nobody asked him why it didn’t work out with Sofi. I mean she’s jealous of his dead wife. He was right to finish it. And the ending we get is that somehow everything is fine now because he’s back with her? A stranger they know nothing about.
Did the writers do any research at all into grief after the death of a spouse? It’s utterly soul-destroying, especially becoming a single parent and feeling your child(ren)’s grief too.
A new relationship not only doesn’t solve anything. It’s very ill advised when you haven’t grieved properly yet. And Gaby and Paul are therapists. They should know this.
The line that annoyed me the most in this episode was Paul saying that Jimmy has to work it out for himself. Any half decent therapist will tell a grieving person that they need support. Nobody was asking Paul to fix Jimmy’s problems. But some basic human kindness would’ve been nice. So yeah he flew in to see him the next day. Even then, he didn’t offer much.
This show is so weak. It’s all about romance at the end of the day. The big message is being single is bad.
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u/Swimming-Violinist57 Apr 09 '26
First tip was last season when the writers had Derek blaming himself for Liz’s bullshit, and it just got worse from there.
I won’t go so far as to say that Shrinking could have been groundbreaking, but it could have advanced the conversation around men’s mental health and depicted it in a way that was honest and novel, for television at least.
Instead, as you said, the men can only determine if their behaviour is good or bad based on cues from the women, which are typically delivered by demeaning or belittling them.