Jason Segel as Jimmy expressing great excitement in Season 3 of Shrinking.Image via Apple TV
By
Christine Persaud
Published Jan 29, 2026, 7:45 PM EST
Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV.
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Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:
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Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for Shrinking Season 3, Episode 1.Watching Shrinking is like sitting down for about a half hour therapy session each episode. With two seasons under its belt, a third having commenced, you have plenty of feel-good episodes to last a week or two if you decide to binge.
Of course, the show is entertainment, not actual therapy. But there are great life lessons you can take away from the storylines centered around the key characters. These involve everything from how to cope with grief to moving on, living your life to the fullest, understanding how to let go, and managing your emotions.
1 A Diagnosis Doesn't Define You
Harrison Ford as Paul sitting by a window smiling in Shrinking.Image via Apple TV
One of the key aspects of Paul (Harrison Ford) in Shrinking, which has officially been renewed for Season 4, is that he has Parkinson's disease. His journey with the disease starts with him trying to hide it from his co-workers and patients, until he slowly starts to let go. As they rally around to help him get through it, he realizes that Parkinson's doesn't have to define him.
Paul finds ways to manage the disease. He opens up more about it, and he even eventually discloses it to his patients, especially when he's not able to write notes the way he used to because of the hand tremors. He learns over time that he might have Parkinson's, but it doesn't have him. He's still the same man inside and always will be.
2 It's Never Too Late To Find Love
Harrison Ford as Paul sitting on the couch next to Wendie Malick on Thanksgiving in Season 2 of Shrinking.Image via Apple TV
In Season 2 of the series, one of the unforgettable Apple TV shows everyone needs to watch at least once, Paul meets and begins a romantic relationship with his neurologist, Dr. Julie Baram (Wendie Malick). She is drawn to and eventually loves him for who he is, even though she knows exactly what the road ahead looks like. He had a failed first marriage, admitting that he was consumed by his work and neglected his wife and daughter. Now in his 70s, he has an epiphany and reconnects with his daughter, finally apologizing for his misdeeds. He even apologizes to his ex.
Soon, Paul and Julie become serious, and they decide to get married. Their wedding at the beginning of Season 3 is a hopeful moment for anyone who has felt lost and alone. It's never too late to find love, and the perfect person for you.
3 Finding Support Is Important in Healing
Paul (Harrison Ford) and Alice (Lukita Maxwell) sitting on a bench in 'Shrinking' Season 3.Image via Apple TV
In every situation shown on the series, the theme highlights the importance of having friends and family around you to offer support in healing, no matter what you're going through. At the heart of the show is the story of Jimmy (Jason Segel) dealing with the tragic loss of his wife in a car accident. He finally gets out of his funk thanks to help from his friends and co-workers.
With Jimmy's daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), Paul makes a point to have casual weekly meetings with her on a park bench to discuss life and her feelings, a low-stress version of therapy where she pays him with candy and treats. For the others, everything they need to get through, from Sean (Luke Tennie) and his PTSD to Paul and his Parkinson's and even Liz (Christa Miller) and her feelings of loneliness, they all prove that having people around you who care can help you through anything.
4 Everyone Grieves and Deals With Trauma in Different Ways
Jessica Williams as Gaby standing in the break room with Jason Segel as Jimmy in Season 2 of Shrinking.Image via Apple TV
Shrinking is a 10/10 Apple TV comedy show and, at its heart, it's all about grief. One of the lessons it teaches viewers is that everyone grieves in different ways. While Jimmy at first grieves by drowning his sorrows in drugs, women, and excess, which isn't a healthy way to grieve, he eventually turns things around and finds a way to use unconventional therapy methods with his patients. Alice decides to face Louis (Brett Goldstein), the man responsible for the accident that killed her mother, and eventually befriends him as a way to cope and heal.
With Sean, he would often turn to violence while Paul grieves the loss of his motor functions by shutting down. To deal with her own familial trauma, Gaby (Jessica Williams) tends to push good romantic partners away and seek out ones who need fixing. In fact, she and Jimmy even sleep together for a short period of time, a weird way of them both coping with loss. While not every way of grieving is healthy, and each person learns to find better ways to cope, the life lesson is that everyone grieves in different ways. When it's an unhealthy way, they just need help in steering their feelings into healthier directions.
5 Letting Go of Hate Can Help You Heal
Jason Segel as Jimmy and Brett Goldstein as Louis at a train station in Shrinking.Image via Apple TV
The aforementioned situation with Alice when she decides to get to know Louis is powerful. She learns that he's a human who made a mistake and is hurting, too, living with guilt and shame. It's an interesting lesson. While it might not be the same for everyone, in changing her mindset about the situation and letting go of the hate, Alice found a way to heal. It's moments like these that solidify Shrinking as one of the essential shows about grief.
The same goes for Sean, who was filled with rage and hate, letting his emotions get the best of him and getting into violent altercations, often over small things or even purposely bringing it on himself. But with Paul's coping tools, he learned to stop, breathe, and change his reactions to take back control of his own life. Eliminating hate can bring in so much positivity.
6 It's Not Weak To Accept Help From Others
Sean (Luke Tennie) looking angry in the dark in Season 2 of 'Shrinking'.Image via Apple TV
Characters like Sean, Jimmy, Paul, and even Liz, proved that asking for help from others isn't a bad thing. Often, people are ready, willing, and able to help, and most importantly, want to do so. What's more, helping others is sometimes healing for the other person as well. Liz is a perfect example, a wife and mom whose kids have all moved out and isn't sure what to do to fill her days. While she might insert herself too much into the lives of others, she has helped them all and, most importantly, in letting her, they are helping her, too.
Sean is another great example, who always wanted to do everything on his own, believing that asking for help was a sign of weakness. But from living in Jimmy's pool house to partnering with Liz and Derek (Ted McGinley) on the food truck business, and letting others into his life, he learned just how good life could be when you let others in.
7 Managing Emotions Is Key
Jessica Williams as Gaby toasting with Jason Segel, Christa Miller & Ted McGinley in Season 2 of Shrinking.Image via Apple TV
Managing emotions is arguably one of the toughest things to do in life. Whether it's anger, sadness, resentment, or any other negative emotion, keeping it at bay is tough. Each of the characters goes through their own journey of trying to do so. In Season 2, one of the key storylines is Jimmy trying to handle his understandable hatred towards Louis. Later, learning that his best friend Brian (Michael Urie) and daughter have been hanging out with him pushes Jimmy over the edge.
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8 Perseverance Is Important
Paul and Jerry sitting in a doctor's waiting room in Shrinking.Image via Apple TV
One of the best lessons from Shrinking comes in the first episode of Season 3, which features iconic actor Michael J. Fox as a guest star. It's such an important one because it's one that the actor clearly lives by in his own real life. He plays Jerry, a man that Paul meets in the doctor's office waiting room. They strike up a conversation about Parkinson's, with Jerry delivering witty jokes to make light of the disease. He arms Paul with an important statement: "f–k Parkinson's." It sounds silly, but it's something Paul can say to himself and out loud as a way to deal with the worsening symptoms. It has arguably become one of Shrinking's best quotes.
Jerry also educates Paul about how hallucinations are a part of the disease, which he wasn't familiar with until recently. He jokes that one time, he hallucinated himself in a hot tub with Halle Berry, and another time, it was his mother. At the end of the episode, Paul hallucinates for the first time and sees Jerry in his kitchen eating his wedding cake. It's a poignant moment that demonstrates that Paul is in for a longer, tougher road ahead, but now he has a bit more courage to get through it thanks to this man. Knowing that this disease is something Fox deals with in real life makes the life lesson hit even harder.
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Shrinking
TV-MA
Comedy
Drama
8
10
Release Date
January 27, 2023
Network
Apple TV
Showrunner
Bill Lawrence
Directors
Bill Lawrence
Cast
See All-
Jason Segel
Jimmy
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Harrison Ford
Gaby
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Shrinking
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Jason Segel
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