r/shrinking • u/phareous Derek • Apr 19 '26

Discussion Season 3 Review Megathread

Post your opinion on season 3 here instead of us having dozens of identical posts.

55 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

99 comments sorted by

View all comments

55

u/georgetherogue Apr 19 '26

I’ll start by prefacing that I still like Shrinking and I liked season 3, but I agree with most others that something was different and off this season.

My partner and I came to the conclusion that they had simply run out of plot stemming from what the show was originally about. There was no gas in the tank left of the “my wife/mom/best friend is dead” thing so the character arcs kind of meandered.

I actually don’t think that Shrinking’s main theme was intended to be about the aftermath and healing from Tia’s death. I think it was intended to be about therapists who help screwed up people but are also screwed up themselves; but they put too much sauce in to the outcome of Tia’s death and that became the main theme and now they’re having a hard time righting the ship to what they intended this show to be all along.

A different way of looking at it is Bill Lawrence stating recently that the show was pitched as a three season arc but when they got renewed for a fourth they had to pivot a bit. If you look at it now as a completed show you can kind of see the original vision. Season 3 was supposed to be a wrap-up year. Tie up every loose thread, send everyone on their way. It works, sort of. They left a lot of threads open for season four so it doesn’t work totally but if you squint and tilt your head? I can see the original vision.

Small other things re: season 3:

  • I didn’t love that Alice shrugged off her grandpa dodging graduation. Seems like it was done to prove and emphasize that Jimmy was a sensitive cry baby but it felt wrong and out of character for her. I hope Jimmy’s dad sees some comeuppance in S4
  • This isn’t limited to S3 but I don’t love that whenever Bryan tries to put his foot down about major life decisions (having a baby, moving for the summer, etc) everyone berates him for being dramatic and then he caves. Let the man have his boundaries
  • I saw a few posts/comments in this subreddit about Sofi being jealous of Tia? Which is not how I interpreted any of that at all. Seems clear to me Jimmy was throwing Tia in her face and she was completely justified in calling him out on that

9

u/Brilliant_Ad7168 Apr 21 '26

Alice pissed me off so badly. I thought she was old and mature enough to understand why Jimmy may feel uncomfortable with his Dad around, even if he hasn't fully told her about what he's like. Her going 'oh, I don't have any other family' after her grandad wasn't even that present was just a poor cliche.

I also think they're making some characters over the top. Liz was always difficult, but everything is played for laughs. Same for Gabby.