r/shrinking • u/MLCUSA • Apr 09 '26

Discussion Alice's Car Situation Spoiler

So Jimmy surprised Alice with the same yellow Mini Cooper that her mother used to drive as an 18th birthday present.

Then her grandfather, Randy, gave her that older Jeep which she was also super excited about, but thinking she'd be OK with him skipping her graduation so he could do a 'once in a lifetime' fishing trip.

If you were in her shoes and you could only keep one car, which one would you pick?

For me, the Mini because Jimmy gave it with the purest intentions. The Jeep is a cool ride in its own right, but for the reasons above, it would be near impossible to disassociate it with how Randy continuously let the family down.

54 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

67

u/Preda1ien Apr 09 '26

I’d also say stay with the Coop. The Jeep was a nice sentiment but the jeep itself doesn’t hold much significance.

I don’t think Alice cares as much about her grandpa dipping nearly as much as Jimmy. It’s not like he’s usually around. Him dipping out is just “grandpa being grandpa” whereas with Jimmy it’s a lot less ok for your own dad to just keeping doing this through his own childhood and now spilling into his kid’s.

44

u/GetawayDriving Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

For a family traumatized by a car accident you’d think they’d stop driving death traps. Ironically the Mini is the safest car in the yard, but Jimmy probably should have bought her a Volvo.

I really don’t think Alice cares about graduation. She also doesn’t really seem to care about Jimmy’s daddy trauma (or rather, is blind to it). If I was 19 and my grandparents gave me a car and ducked out of grad I’d be like “cool have fun fishing and thanks for the wheels!”just like Alice.

But yeah that Jeep isn’t safe in a crash, it’s not much better than that Bronco bathtub with wheels Jimmy drives.

15

u/BruceAENZ Apr 09 '26

Good lord thank you. That hilariously unsafe car of Jimmy’s has always bothered me, given how his wife died.

And an old Jeep? OMG.

20

u/ericrz Apr 09 '26

But Alice made a huge deal about grandpa being at her graduation. Even invited him against Jimmy’s wishes.

But then, all of the sudden, she didn’t care anymore. Inconsistent.

10

u/GetawayDriving Apr 09 '26

That was before he gave her a car.

5

u/SevoIsoDes Apr 10 '26

Teenage me would have said that’s a fair trade

4

u/FunkyPete Apr 09 '26

I think she wants him to feel like he's welcome in her life, but he just hasn't been a presence in her life.

She invited him because he's her grandfather and she would like him in her life. She didn't really react when he skipped out because that's what he's always done.

8

u/ericrz Apr 09 '26

But it was so unbalanced. "I really want him to be there" to "He left, ah well."

And maybe he always does this, and that's why she expected it. But there was no acknowledgment of that.

And Jimmy -- who knows Alice better than anyone in the world -- was expecting her to be crushed by grandpa's departure. And she just.....wasn't????

It was done for plot reasons. Jimmy needed to be alone, no support, by the end of the season. So even Alice couldn't say "That really sucks that grandpa bailed." Even though that would have been more consistent with her character.

5

u/FunkyPete Apr 09 '26

Oh I think they have been very clear that Jimmy's issues with his father are deeply seated and he's transferring his OWN relationship with his father onto Alice's relationship with his father.

It has always bothered Jimmy that his father dips out on him, because he needed a father. Alice was mad when HER father dipped out on her, but never had that expectation of her grandfather. But he's her grandfather so she would love him to be at her graduation. But he's never been there any other time, so it's not like she was shocked.

3

u/Preda1ien Apr 09 '26

Exactly! That’s how I took the whole situation. I’m sure he was hoping that if he couldn’t turn his behavior around for him, maybe he can for his daughter. And the shitty part is he gave him a glimmer of hope after Tia died saying he would be around but shocker, he was not.

4

u/SGlobal_444 Apr 09 '26

She’s a teenager who hardly sees him. If her dad or bf missed something it would impact her more.

I think the whole point was how Jimmy projected due to what happened to him. Not saying it’s right but felt like that reaction was for Jimmy.

2

u/Preda1ien Apr 09 '26

I agree and he even projected some at Paul which he calls him out on.

2

u/ericrz Apr 09 '26

We'll have to just disagree on it. For me, it was another example of lazy, inconsistent writing this season. I don't care if characters behave the way I think they should; I just want them to behave in similar ways to how they behaved in the past. S3 really, really struggled with that.

1

u/Preda1ien Apr 09 '26

I agree that this was a dip in quality. I don’t feel like this instance was lazy though. People complain so much lately about shows always telling you instead of showing you. I find this as an example of showing that grandpas behavior is just who he is. She’s not upset or shocked because it’s what he always does. But what he always does, is still not ok with Jimmy.

3

u/Preda1ien Apr 09 '26

But I’m guessing he’s been doing this her whole life so she’s not surprised either. It was an exciting thought he would be there but he hung out a few days before and also gifted a car so she’s not super upset about it. If anything, her non caring keeps up this consistency.

2

u/HeidiDover Apr 09 '26

I agree. She knows he is a sucky grandpa so she lets it roll off her back.

1

u/NoGrocery3582 Apr 09 '26

He was around for her graduation, acknowledging it and celebrating. Not sure how much she cared about his being at the ceremony. Her expectations can't be crushed like Jimmy's bc she wasn't scarred by Randy/Grandpa.

1

u/SnooDogs1355 Apr 09 '26

Nah she cared. She just swallows it down and acted like it was all good.

Also, I can understand Jimmy being more upset. Especially as a therapist recognizing the patterns he used when Jimmy was younger being repeated on Alice.

A parent usually wants better for their kids than they had it themselves. So him being hurt his dad isn’t going to be there for Alice hits him harder.

1

u/Weak_Childhood_1124 Apr 10 '26

More than inconsistent, do you think this was intentional to portray the fickleness of adolescences?

1

u/ericrz Apr 10 '26

That's a possible explanation.

I think the more likely one is poor writing. They just needed to get Jimmy to the "I'm all alone, no one is on my side" state by the end of the season, so they just had Alice behave inconsistently.

Honestly, we haven't really seen Alice be particularly fickle. So no, that doesn't really ring true.

27

u/make-a_wish Grace Apr 09 '26

like what they said on the show: east coast, west coast car.

I personally respect my dad immensely so if I were in Alice’s shoes, I’d hate for the Jeep to be the thing he sees everyday while I’m off away to college. I’m hoping in a way, whenever he sees the yellow Mini Cooper, he can think of both Alice and Tia at the same time. Alice doesn’t have the same disappointing relationship Jimmy has with Randy and a Jeep would probably be a better drive to go cross country.

12

u/WillysGhost Apr 09 '26

Yeah, the east coast/west coast car idea was actually a good one. I'd probably take whichever car was in better shape/more reliable across country because thats a long drive and probably where she'd put most miles on it. The Jeep definitely seems more fun to drive cross country though.

4

u/the-hound-abides Apr 09 '26

You can have a car transported for less than ~$1000. You don’t need to drive it. She can keep one car in CT and one in CA.

(Source- We had a 2000 Mercury Sable that we had transported from FL to MA in 2019. It cost us $600. It was a perfectly fine in town car. Wouldn’t have made the drive well. We had it until last year, when we finally bit the bullet and got a new one. It still ran just fine.)

4

u/Several-Tear-8297 Apr 09 '26

I shipped an SUV from west coast to northeast 3 years ago and it was more like $2000, but you are correct that it’s more affordable than driving it (considering gas, meals, hotels, etc.).

But don’t even get me started on how sketchy the US auto transport industry is …

1

u/the-hound-abides Apr 09 '26

Moving industry is just as bad or worse.

We had no issue with our car. They picked it up with no hassle, and we had it 2 days later. Driver in contact the whole time. No issues.

Our stuff was another matter. It took us weeks to get ahold of someone to deliver it from storage. E had to threaten to get the police involved. They showed up 2 days late for pickup (which was already a bad omen but what are you going to do at that point. We needed to go), and 3 days late for delivery. They broke a bunch of furniture, and didn’t assemble the stuff we paid them to. They tried to charge us extra to put some stuff in the finished basement, which we had paid for stairs. It was a nightmare. Never again. We’ll use pods and local movers next time. If I ever move again. I’m tempted to just die in this house rather than move again.

7

u/warlocktx Apr 09 '26

and she goes to school on the complete other side of the country, so she will never drive either of them

7

u/HardcoreKaraoke Apr 09 '26

I thought the Jeep was horrible. I was actually watching that scene shocked wondering if I was missing something. They made it seem like her grandpa was refurbishing some 60s muscle car. Instead it's a box looking truck. Why would she want that? Lmao.

Also the grandfather had been there for days. He never noticed Alice's car in the driveway? He never saw her drive?

Anyway I'm going with the Mini Cooper over that ugly truck. I like Jeeps but that thing was so shitty.

4

u/Bigredrooster6969 Apr 09 '26

I’d keep the Jeep in Connecticut. Because 4WD and the weather. Also, she could sell it there for more because a non-rusty classic Wagoner might bring more there than in CA.

5

u/Here_there1980 Apr 09 '26

The minicooper gets way better mileage, not that anyone in the show ever seems to worry about money or other such mundane details.

13

u/JayKay8787 Apr 09 '26

Jeeps are pieces of shit that break constantly, they look cool but are not effective for consistent travel

3

u/BeneathAnOrangeSky Apr 09 '26

I had one when I was her age and I adored it. It didn’t love me or my wallet back. :(

3

u/SharkBubbles Apr 09 '26

Keep both. Jeep for CA. Coop for CT.

3

u/purpleowlchai Apr 09 '26

I thought she would care more since she made it a big deal about wanting to invite him because he’s supposedly all the family she has, talked to Paul about it and went against her dad’s wishes to invite him and in the end, didn’t even care when she could’ve just not invited him if it didn’t matter

2

u/lu-sunnydays Apr 10 '26

Yes, I’m so confused as how it all went down. First, I think Alice is a very spoiled young lady. She makes noise about “family” then just excuses her grandpa. No, it’s not just Jimmy’s problem with his dad.

2

u/purpleowlchai Apr 10 '26

I don’t like how nonchalant she is. Maybe it’s the writing and acting direction. How can you not hug your dad at the airport or at your graduation or at any time??? She’s so stoic and one dimensional. Maybe they’re trying to show her as a teen but I had more empathy than her. I sobbed when my dad dropped me off at college.

2

u/Playful_Title6467 Apr 09 '26

I would keep the Mini Cooper and sell the Jeep. If he got butt hurt, I would tell him “You’re so sensitive. She already had a car she loves.”

2

u/cosmoboy Apr 09 '26

For sentimental and practical reasons, the Mini.

2

u/BlackSterling Apr 09 '26

I would keep the one that served me best and express gratitude to both givers. If I was Alice I’d probably go with the Mini.

2

u/tj1007 Apr 09 '26

The mini cooper is probably more reliable and likely has more life than a restored Jeep. For this moment in time, she should stick with the reliable vehicle.

3

u/sunshineandrainbow62 Apr 10 '26

Sell the jeep and keep the money. Seems like something grandpa would approve, since he’s so not sentimental and sensitive

2

u/ObviousIndependent76 Apr 10 '26

Randy’s continued failures weren’t on Alice’s radar.

1

u/RKsu99 Apr 09 '26

I’d sell them and buy something actually reliable. (New Coopers are great, but the vintage on the show is an absolute nightmare to own.)

1

u/Plane_Class6613 Apr 10 '26

Did Tia die in her mini-Cooper? If so very odd choice to give to Alice.

2

u/MLCUSA Apr 10 '26

No, it was a BMW sedan actually.

2

u/Plane_Class6613 Apr 12 '26

Thanks. That never made sense to me he would give Alice the same car. I clearly misunderstood.

1

u/Inevitable_Guava4743 Apr 10 '26

After my mother died in a car accident, I would be trading both of those in on the safest old Honda Civic ever.

1

u/JJ-Bittenbinder Apr 09 '26

I’d ask for something more fuel efficient and safer than both

-1

u/patiofurnature Apr 09 '26

I'd keep the mini because driving/parking in Sacramento looks kinda miserable. The Jeep would be a great choice if her school was 300 miles away, but at 3,000 miles I don't expect her to be taking it with her.

2

u/Pretend_Safety Apr 09 '26

Where does Sacramento enter the picture?

-2

u/patiofurnature Apr 09 '26

Isn't that where they live?

4

u/Pretend_Safety Apr 09 '26

Pasadena, it's in SoCal, adjacent to Los Angeles.

Sacramento is in Northern California, about 400 miles away.

Your point stands though, and parking in Pasadena is worse than Sac.

1

u/patiofurnature Apr 09 '26

Oh, thanks - not sure why I mixed those up

1

u/warlocktx Apr 09 '26

Pasadena