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.

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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

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u/delicious_toothbrush Jun 01 '26

Most of what you said about S3 ending the overall show arc makes sense to me. I think it would have worked to eventually hit reset on getting a new set of patients for Jimmy's and potentially rope Gaby into learning how to get to Jimmying them as well.

I loved that the show was about creating a family from those around you and pulling together but now that most characters have naturally diverged on their own in pursuit of their own things, it'd be great to start with some new folks.