Shrinking
Final Drink
Season 2
Episode 8
Editor’s Score
4 stars
****
Photograph: Apple TV+
Who isn’t a sucker for a flashback episode? “Final Drink” solely devotes 12 minutes to its look again on the lead-up to Tia’s dying and its aftermath — I truly would’ve welcomed a real flashback episode at this level within the season — however it’s a useful dive into the previous, establishing the parallel journeys of Louis and the person whose spouse he killed.
It’s additionally simply enjoyable to see earlier variations of the ensemble when lots of their bonds had been much less tight. Liz was simply the quirky “such a mother” subsequent door, Brian had solely been on one date with Charlie and didn’t like his vibe, Gaby was upset with Paul for not telling her about his Parkinson’s analysis, and Jimmy truly cared about sustaining boundaries along with his sufferers. That final one is especially humorous and weird to see.
Each Jimmy and Louis had fairly excellent lives, nearly too excellent. Jimmy, Tia, and Alice had been a wholesome, lovely little household unit. Louis and his girlfriend-then-fiancée Sarah (Meredith Hagner, who lately appeared in Invoice Lawrence’s Unhealthy Monkey) moved in collectively and spent many comfortable mornings chatting affectionately whereas ready for the practice, speculating in regards to the interior lives of strangers similar to the leads in any tacky rom-com. Then all the pieces goes incorrect: Louis insists he’ll drive dwelling after dinner, and out of the blue, we see Jimmy present up on the website of the accident.
Seeing these variations of Jimmy and Alice is fairly gut-wrenching and helps us perceive even higher why present-day Jimmy can’t let go of his guilt about how he handled his daughter after her mother died. He’s simply completely distant and reliant on medicine and booze, leaving Alice to fend for herself each bodily and emotionally. (Essentially the most heartbreaking second: “I want you.” “I can’t.”) That is the delivery of her bond with Liz, who gently welcomes her in and provides her a meal, no questions requested. Shortly, Jimmy begins relying on Alice’s new surrogate mother, leaving her to drive Alice to soccer video games whereas he sits alone in a grief spiral.
The episode establishes a hyperlink right here: Simply as Jimmy pushed his personal daughter and buddies away, Louis pushed away Sarah. She was open to visiting him each weekend of his ten months in jail, however he wished her to have her personal life. He even says that each time he seems to be at her now, he remembers the worst mistake of his life. It’s a brutal breakup, an impulsive response to Louis’s personal self-loathing. However I wouldn’t be stunned if we ultimately see extra of Sarah within the current day as Louis learns to make peace with what he did.
When the flashback ends, Alice and Brian are doing their greatest to elucidate themselves to Jimmy. Brian sums up the scenario by repeating his identical barely unbearable, barely humorous monologue about how he acquired concerned, however the simplest rationalization comes from Alice, who genuinely forgave Louis. After Jimmy brought about a lot of the havoc within the first season, Alice has been the messy one in season two — however now she’s talking from a spot of maturity, recognizing that holding onto anger isn’t good for both her or her dad. Jimmy is a therapist, so he can acknowledge the knowledge in her recommendation, even when he’s unable to comply with it in a method she would need.
Paul refuses to apologize to Jimmy for neglecting to inform him about Alice assembly with Louis. As an alternative, he will get proper again in his face and calls out his projection. And when Jimmy later seems to be for rocks with Liz, his encouraging phrases about Derek apply to his personal scenario: Forgiving somebody would possibly really feel unattainable, however then you definately understand the villain is simply somebody who made a mistake.
However does Jimmy actually forgive Louis when he visits his dwelling and tells him to “disappear from his fucking life”? Jason Segel’s expressions convey a lot on this scene: He is aware of Alice is true, however he’s additionally nonetheless extraordinarily uncomfortable letting go of his emotions. Perhaps he can settle for that Louis made a mistake and shouldn’t be punished endlessly for it, however he can also’t bear to be round this individual with out ending up in a nasty place — a spot the place his thoughts replays all of the occasions he let his daughter down, again and again, on a loop. The concept of Alice truly having a relationship with Louis is insufferable to Jimmy; possibly he may forgive him sooner or later, however he may by no means forgive himself. And since Louis is endlessly, inexpressibly indebted to Jimmy, he agrees to chop off ties.
When Jimmy shares a drink with Paul that night time, each males have been by emotionally exhausting days. For Paul, that is his final drink, a choice that got here out of necessity; he’s sleeping much less and changing into extra forgetful, and alcohol exacerbates that. But it surely’s nonetheless a giant change to just accept, particularly for a cussed man who hates compromising his routine.
The largest real breakthrough of the episode would possibly go to Derek, who’s crashing at Gaby’s. On Brian’s recommendation, he confronts Mac at his microbrewery, the place he sees the canine images he by no means actually bothered to have a look at. Listening to Mac’s over-the-top reward of Liz, he realizes the methods he’s taken his spouse with no consideration. A session with Gaby additionally helps make clear the areas the place he has fallen brief, primarily when he didn’t take her cries for assist critically. Again dwelling, he owns as much as not being current, and the entire household will get again collectively.
It’s a heartwarming second, however I’m curious the place the story goes from right here. It’s good to see the acknowledgment that dishonest usually has its roots in preexisting relationship issues — it’d be boring to look at Derek simply maintain this over Liz’s head for ages whereas by no means taking duty for his personal function — however it nearly feels a little bit too closely weighted in favor of Liz. Past simply kissing another person, Liz has proven some actual selfishness in her marriage, even within the scene when she got here clear. Derek was proper to level out that he ignores her fixed digs as a result of he thought they had been on strong floor. Perhaps he did take Liz with no consideration in some methods, however hasn’t Liz taken Derek with no consideration?
Will Liz ever actually be taken to job? The place does her arc go from right here — may she return to work with Sean once more, or has that ship sailed? When a narrative feels wrapped up with a number of episodes nonetheless to go, it seems like a smokescreen, like a short lived comfortable ending. Within the messy world of Shrinking and within the messy actual world, that’s the one form there may be.
• “Was anybody eavesdropping on our dialog? As a result of I’m gonna want somebody to return with us and swear that we simply mentioned we’d inform him all the pieces.”
• Sean mentions Jorge once more, however they nonetheless haven’t met up but.
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