Spoilers

“The Bodyguard of Sadness”

Woof. This one packed a punch.

It was graduation day for Alice and the emotions are all over the place for poor Jimmy, with his father departing for a deep sea fishing trip instead of attending graduation, Paul getting ready to move to Connecticut and the fact that Alice is graduating is really crushing Jimmy’s spirit.

Jason Segal gave one of his best performances of the series in this episode as he confronted Paul about a myriad of issues, some of which were directed toward Paul and others that were directed toward his own father. It was devastating to see Jimmy rip into Paul like he did, especially since a lot of the anger was actually directed to his father and his childhood trauma, the fact that everyone was leaving him, and that he was feeling alone.

Harrison Ford has been brilliant in this series, and this episode was no exception. He was so subtle throughout, but you could tell how much Jimmy’s attack affected him. He sat in his home, waiting for the car to take him to Connecticut, and you can see how much he was suffering from the rejection of Jimmy, who Paul had invited for a goodbye breakfast.

The line: “I get it now. I’m not as important to you as you are to me. I just feel stupid it took me that long to realize it. I’m just not that sensitive, Paul. I’ll survive” dropped by Jimmy was like a dagger and put in words they way that Jimmy was feeling.

This was the penultimate episode of season three, but man did it feel like a finale. Everyone was finding their path over the next several months, and Jimmy was there all on his own.

It makes me worried for Jimmy as his mental health seems to have taken a huge back step from the positive areas that it had reached since the loss of Tia.

One more episode of the season next week. The finale should be fire.

Spoilers

“Daddy Issues”

There was a feeling of finality in this episode of Shrinking.

Paul convinces Gabby to come back to work and then offers her the practice once again. However, he did not call her out on ditching her dream of setting up a trauma center. Something that Liz came to yell at him about.

Paul kept talking about having one more week before his retirement and spoke about moving. That was not something I remember as a chance and I don’t know how I would feel about Shrinking without Harrison Ford. I am assuming that it is just storyline, but I am not sure.

Jeff Daniels returned as Jimmy’s father, bringing up plenty of conflict from Jimmy’s childhood. When Jimmy found out that his dad was not going to go to the actual graduation ceremony in order to go on a fishing trip, Jimmy was even more down than he was before.

Worse yet, when his father told Jimmy that he really liked Sofi, way more than Tia (who apparently always saw him in the same light as Jimmy did), Jimmy broke up with Sofi, and he did it in a very cold manner. I would not blame Sofi if, when he invariably comes begging back, she dismisses it and kicks him to the curb. Jimmy letting his daddy issues interfere with something that was potentially great is more immature than I thought Jimmy could be. You could see that his father’s presence was not bringing out the best side of him.

Sean got the job as a a sous chef. He hesitated to accept it because of his friendship with Jorge, who worked with him in the food truck, and would cost him that job. Jorge did not take the news well, but Sean did not react with animosity or anger as he would have before, showing his own growth with his mental health.

It was nice to see the softer side of Paul in this episode. I hope he is not leaving at the end of this season, which has only two more to go.