Sigh. Where to start Shrink?

That’s how I started my recaps of season one of this funny and often heartwarming but awkward AppleTV+ series. I almost wrote ‘sitcom’. That feels like an apt description of this Jason Segel/Harrison Ford show about a psychiatrist (get it?) who goes into therapy with his patients. And yet the show’s themes, as dark and ethically murky as they are, make such a label feel like a misnomer.

I bring all that up because although I had hoped final moments of the comedy’s freshman season would herald a decidedly more caustic tone, the first two episodes of Shrink season two establishes that very little has changed, at least tonically or narratively.

Sure, Jimmy (Segel) is still reeling from the fact that his client Grace (Heidi Gardner) pushed her abusive husband off a cliff and landed her in jail as she awaits trial. (Thankfully, Michael Urie’s Brian will be there to help.) It’s a clear sign that Jimmy’s therapy techniques (aka “Jimmying,” aka crossing every ethical guardrail you can think of) may not be as effective as he . I’d like to think they are. Will that force him to reckon with the damage he’s causing and the way he’s clearly using his patients as a springboard to his own recovery, making him a rather callous and selfish therapist? The answer, judging by this two-episode premiere, is a tentative yes, but only insofar as it makes TV watching pleasantly comfortable.

The first episode draws heavily on the trauma Jimmy himself has worked through: we see scenes from the night his wife was killed by a drunk driver, a scene that still haunts him and that changed his and his daughter’s world forever . The fact that he divulges enough of those details to one of his patients is yet another reminder of that Shrink absolutely should not be construed as anything remotely similar to what healthy sessions look and feel like in the real world.

While Jimmy struggles to admit that he may need to get back to basics (and perhaps set some boundaries, both with patients and friends), we actually see the tension underlying Shrink. This is a show that wants to advocate for the importance of therapy and one’s own mental health, but does so within the confines of a 21st century single-cam comedy. The former requires neatly drawn boundaries and a clear separation between a therapist’s work and his life, while the latter insists on blurring them to create the messiness among the many characters that makes good television. And so, as Jimmy continues to try to ‘Jimmy’ people like Sean (Luke Tennie) and get his teeth knocked out of him in the process (because boxing felt like a good way for Sean to encourage him not to run from his past, apparently ), the show’s voice of reason (that would be Ford’s Paul) keeps nagging at him.

Maybe it’s time he stopped seeing Sean. “It’s Not That Kid’s Job to Fix You” is perhaps the most clear-eyed and self-aware show. But if he doesn’t see Sean anymore, that would mean Paul would have to take him away. Which would mean graduating one of his patients – maybe even his favorite (played by Scrubs‘s own Neil Flynn). Of course, true Shrink fashion, Paul does the right thing and is ultimately influenced by Jimmy’s unethical tendencies and ends up befriending his client of many years, which feels like a fantasy for any of us who think we could be best friends with our therapists if only they weren’t, you You know, our therapists. That’s the proof, I guess Shrink wants to have his cake and eat it too.

Perhaps this is why the show is most intriguing when it focuses solely on Jimmy’s own life. Watching him and Gabby (Jessica Williams) navigate their messed up fuck buddy situation is both hilarious and endearing. It may all be tropey, sitcomy stuff, especially since Liz (Christa Miller) spends so much time trying to keep her new BFF away from Jimmy for her own good, even showing up at her new campus office (remember, Gabby is a teacher) . now!) and confront her in front of her new, enthusiastic students. But that’s where the real comedy lies – and where some of the most poignant meditations on coping with trauma lie.

Which brings us to the big reveal of the season: we knew Brett Goldstein was joining the Shrink crew (he is a co-creator, after all) and he plays a leading man. It’s Goldstein who shows up unannounced at Jimmy’s office in the hopes of talking to him – essentially apologizing for drunkenly crashing into his wife’s car. It’s a bombshell of a moment that will clearly last throughout the season.

Jimmy yells at him to leave and later takes his time before sharing the visit with his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell). It irritates him, that’s clear. And there are concerns that he will return to the self-destructive behavior that followed his wife’s tragic death. On the other hand, that could very well describe his sex exploits with Gabby, which become increasingly testy: the two end up in a fight when, after he came to comfort Gabby about family matters, it was clear that he hoped to have sex with her again. .even after setting some ground rules (namely that they wouldn’t). Can they be friends and fuck? Can they fuck and remain colleagues? Can they really untangle how they feel about each other while still remaining civil?

As always, the show shows us how important boundaries are – between therapists but also between friends and colleagues. We’ll see how that turns out, especially since each of these characters likes to play fast and loose with them.

That’s certainly the case with Paul, who ends up imposing much stricter rules with Sean than Jimmy had. How new! A therapist who doesn’t text you back all the time, only answers your most urgent calls and doesn’t see you where you live every day!

This is the moment Shrink offers us what therapy can look like: Paul gives Sean some tools of his own to deal with how concerned he is these days about the upcoming publicity for the food truck he and Liz run. For someone who still hasn’t spoken to his father and has no social circle outside of his (former) therapist, that’s a valid concern. Liz is clearly excited about Sean and the truck; He doesn’t want to jeopardize that. But he values ​​his privacy.

Enter: “Desire Reversal” tool. No, it’s not an erotic thriller by Nic Cage. It’s a way of running towards what is causing you fear and anxiety, rather than away from it. Imagining what Liz would say (at worst), Sean is able to face her (in real life) honestly and is rewarded by the kind person she doesn’t yet think she will become.

There is growth all around in these two episodes. Paul and Julie get along well, while realizing how difficult it can be to build a life around someone that age; Jimmy reluctantly realizes the error of some of his ways; Gabby may finally be setting the boundaries she needs with Jimmy; and Liz clearly enjoys being a little nicer. Even Alice, who can now legally drive, is taking steps toward what may be a much-needed closure.

As these various characters take stock of where they are and where they’re going, we finally see Alice take the car and go to the one place she probably shouldn’t have driven to: the drunk driver’s house. That won’t end well.

Stray observations

• • You would think that almost twenty years ago Grey’s anatomy arguably perfecting the maudlin needle drop for every conceivable kind of episode-ending montage, other shows would work from different angles to get our tears flowing. Yet here we have a show where AKA Lisa’s ‘cope’ is cut.
• • What do we think of “roomies with bennies”? What about “Double D”? Can they both be obtained?
• • “Fuck walking! Fuck that headband! I actually really like that headband.” This is proof that Michael Urie remains the show’s secret MVP, even though we barely saw him in these two episodes. He does show up to complain that Jimmy didn’t tell him he was sleeping with Gabby (ergo, his headband hissing) and later to help Gabby unpack and decorate her new house (a ploy by Liz to help her friend in time of emergency).
• • Speaking of her new home, have you clocked Gabby’s Obama coffee table books?
• • Who had ‘Jason Segel showing off his pec talents’ on their screen Shrink bingo card?
• • It’s cute how skillful Shrink enters Wendie Malick, who shows a softer side of Ford’s Paul and at the same time emphasizes what a mature (not just older, but actually healthy, boundary-setting, communication-oriented) relationship can look like.