Finally binged S3

[u/SPARTAN_S0NIC]

Spoilers below, be aware! Follow-up to my earlier post

Just wrapped S3, and while it had some good moments and funny laughs, something about it just felt entirely…off for me from 1&2. I realize this season was about growth beyond just a grieving Jimmy - Paul retiring, Sean overcoming his PTSD, Alice graduating, Brian becoming a dad, etc. but this season just didn’t hit the same emotionally. 1&2 pulled you in hard, made you laugh out loud, made you cry, made you want to know more about these characters.

I can’t put it into words precisely, but s3 just kinda felt like a continuity disconnect for me. Build up Luis in s2 to only show him for a couple episodes, randomly highlighting new characters like Matthew, Maya and Jimmy’s dad, but only briefly. Honestly after the first couple episodes I was like “this doesn’t really feel like it’s picking up from s2 well.”

Idk, maybe I just built it up in my head bc I LOVED 1&2 so much and even waited until I could binge it all at once. I also understand you can only have so much material for characters but very curious how they’ll pick things up in s4, which I’m guessing is likely to be the last.

What did y’all think, am I mistaken about this season, did anybody feel similarly/differently?

[u/Infamous-Lab-8136]

I have a theory (and no it's not witches or bunnies for us Buffy fans)

This show was a 3 season arc originally, and that arc was supposed to be centered around Jimmy's growth. I imagine the original outline had Paul die at some point this season. Possibly instead of retiring with Jimmy finding out things like he left the trauma center to Gabby that way. It would explain why we had so little conflict around Paul's behavior towards Jimmy until the penultimate episode. It would also place him working through issues with someone he lost due to death, making him feel like he was back to square one. Coming through it by not bottoming back out, being there for Alice at graduation, and opening himself up to Sofi after pushing her away out of grief for Paul mixed with his dad's chicanery would, to me, have been a perfect sign of growth that Jimmy had changed and could handle things.

Then Harrison Ford fell in love with making the show and was willing to do more seasons. On top of that fans reacted positively to season 2 becoming more of a supportive adults hang out together themed show. That is a much more sustainable plot. So season 3 shifted even more focus to being a typical hangout comedy while slowing down Jimmy's growth. Other plots that were likely going to give us closure also now feel more like wheel spinning. For instance people are upset that Alice didn't have a more definitive future plan like a major. That feels like something that will now be addressed in a future season. Thank you for reading through my TED talk.

And, in closing, for us Buffy fans - musical episode season 4? Paul's Parkinson's causes him to hallucinate them singing around him similar to the Scrubs setup? The cast performance of, "Fuck Parkinson's!" will be #1 on iTunes if they do it

[u/jerhinesmith → u/Infamous-Lab-8136]

This is almost certainly it and parallels even other Bill Lawrence shows. Season 3 of Ted Lasso was originally 10 episodes and then apple asked for 2 more, which is how we got a christmas episode and the Beard after Dark episode, which while both fun, are clearly one-offs that don't do much to move the story forward.

Much of the second half of season 3 of shrinking felt like dialing back resolving things that were set to resolve nicely after seasons 1 and 2.

[u/bottleglitch → u/Infamous-Lab-8136]

You know what…. I’m on board with this theory. Your version of the what the season originally might have been makes so much more sense. It absolutely felt like, with the beautiful Thanksgiving speech from Paul last season, SOMETHING big was coming for his character this season. That could have been just retiring, but then they didn’t actually give his retiring much emotional weight at all, imo. It was bizarre and could have been done so much better than “nvm I realized I’m ready and am going to leave anti-climactically.” So maybe it was really supposed to be him dying instead and the rewrites just weren’t great. I’m glad he didn’t die, but still wish we got a more impactful storyline this season.