‘Shrinking’ Season 3 Can’t Follow Its Own Advice

“Shrinking” makes two smart moves to start Season 3.

When Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford) goes to see the neurologist, hoping to diminish a flare-up in his Parkinson’s symptoms, he sits next to a patient with the same disease, just further along. Jerry commiserates with Paul over their joint stiffness, lack of balance, and uncontrollable tremors, but they don’t dwell on their afflictions for long. Rather, Jerry — played by Emmy-winner Michael J. Fox, who starred in “Shrinking” co-creator Bill Lawrence’s first TV show, “Spin City,” and who suffers from Parkinson’s in real-life — provides Paul with his new mantra: “Fuck Parkinson’s.”

As Paul later tells Jimmy (Jason Segel), the new refrain keeps him from getting too depressed over everything he can’t control. He even asks Jimmy to help him stick to it: “Keep me in check,” Paul says. “If you see me sinking, pull me up.”

Without knowing what “Shrinking” Season 3 has in store, Paul’s motto sounds like a good idea for the show’s health as much as Paul’s. Not only would it be bad for Paul, personally, to sink too far into self-pity, it would also be bad for “Shrinking,” which is ostensibly a comedy, to spend too much time wallowing in despair. As important as it is for the Apple series to acknowledge the hardships facing its aging Emmy nominee, it’s arguably more important to avoid losing its joyful comic roots.

As for Fox, he functions as a kind of meta authority figure who can give the plan his blessing, but his utility doesn’t end there. When discussing their symptoms, Jerry asks Paul if he’s had any hallucinations yet. “They’re the worst,” Jerry says. “Bad enough your body goes, but then you start seeing shit. I didn’t know that was a thing with Parkinson’s.”

Neither did I, and that’s the point. Jerry’s remark is essential foreshadowing, so when Paul goes through it later on, 1) we’ll know why, and 2) it won’t feel like a gimmick. After all, seeing people who aren’t there is a common crutch for TV shows that want to trick their audience, bring back a fan-favorite character, or both. So if a hallucination scene is going work in 2026, it needs to be convincing and significant. In this case, the progression makes it significant (it means Paul’s disease is getting worse), and no one is going to question if Paul would really see what he sees after Michael J. Fox says he will.

So there you go, two smart decisions — taking the “stunt” out of Fox’s stunt casting and avoiding a season-long trip to Bummersville — …if only “Shinking” could keep them up, or at least follow-through on its initial promise not to “sink.” Soon enough, Season 3 is drowning in half-baked sentimentality and under-developed adversity. The persistent gloom makes for an odd, unwelcome pivot for a series on the cusp of becoming the hangout comedy it always should’ve been, and its refusal to follow its own advice becomes emblematic of a season plagued by deficient follow-through.

As annoying as it will be to watch “Shrinking” campaign for comedy Emmys (as if anyone can tolerate another debate cycle of “Is this show really funny?”), it’s even more annoying to watch it betray its own ethos and droop as a drama.

Perhaps such a turn should’ve been as foreseeable as Paul’s eventual hallucination given where Season 2 ended. (The foreshadowing is important but it isn’t subtle!) While Paul’s big Thanksgiving speech is the most memorable part of a weighty finale (look at that ol’ grump getting sappy in front of everyone, or, you know, look at Ford delivering one of his best performances ever), Jimmy’s apology to Alice (Lukita Maxwell) is even more momentous. The year he spent mourning the loss of his wife was also the year he neglected his duties as a father, and asking for his daughter’s forgiveness is a huge step in his recovery.

It’s also a necessary acknowledgement to the audience that some of his choices, especially early in the series, have been misguided, if not downright dangerous. His “Jimmying” therapeutic technique may have been the premise that launched “Shrinking,” but it doesn’t have to be the story engine anymore. There’s enough to work with in the unusually large cast to fill out season after season of misty-eyed comedy.

The finale primed Season 3 to prove it, but “Shrinking” squanders its shot, mainly because — much like Jimmy himself — it can’t commit. In small doses, that means setting up great opportunities for situational comedy without delivering enough laughs.

‘Shrinking’Courtesy of Robert Voets / Apple TV

Ted McGinley’s Derek, who’s earned his own well-deserved fandom within the “Shrinking” community, gets to OD on edibles… mostly offscreen. “Dumb and Dumber” star Jeff Daniels joins the ensemble as Jimmy’s dad… and can’t be bothered to crack a joke. (He’s mainly there to get under Jimmy’s skin, just not in a fun way.) And after all of Season 2’s painstaking work to bring co-creator Brett Goldstein into the cast, his character — Louis, the drunk driver who killed Jimmy’s wife — is barely around long enough to smile, before being cast aside like a forgotten toy.

Longer arcs are similarly inconsistent. Recent Emmy nominee and beloved Broadway star Michael Urie gets to embrace Brian’s egomania by preaching its benefits in an improvised TED talk… only to then repeatedly abandon his personal belief system in favor of the show’s supportive communal vibes. Luke Tennie’s Sean is given the vague guidance to listen to his inner voice in order to become who he needs to be… but most of his opportunities feel contrived to create conflict elsewhere, rather than to honestly advance Sean’s development. Jessica Williams, a two-time Emmy nominee herself, is handled similarly, only worse: Gaby’s heavy midseason narrative is curtly bypassed and deprioritized in favor of other, less substantial stories.

Meanwhile, Jimmy’s big arc can’t compare to last season’s, which was always going to be a problem (since mending his relationship with Alice was the most important thing Jimmy could possibly do) — that is, unless “Shrinking” leaned into its comic potential. Season 3 has enough casual comedy to show off how well Jimmy could work as a kinda lost, kinda goofy dad — like a slightly matured version of past Segel characters (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” prime among them). The friends poke fun at each other, go on cute little riffs, and generally try to keep things positive, which makes room for Jimmy’s carefree, borderline cartoonish side to surface, especially in the premiere.

(Minor spoiler alert for Episode 1: When asked to officiate Paul’s wedding, Jimmy’s reaction is phenomenal, and the joke he teases to kick off the ceremony actually lives up to the hype. End of spoilers.)

Now that he’s largely free from the insanity that was Jimmying — which, unfortunately, does come back midseason in a small but nagging way — it’s so much easier to laugh along with Jimmy’s shenanigans. He’s still got baggage from a trauma no one could ever truly get past, but he’s also got an immense and immensely supportive friend group ready to rally at a moment’s notice, as well as a pliable personality that sees him weeping over the piano one minute and singing Jean Valjean’s part in an impromptu Carpool Karoake session the next. (Yes, Urie gets to sing as Javert.)

Jimmy can finally lead a comedy series! So why doesn’t “Shrinking” let him? Too many plot turns bring the vibe down, focus on forced hardships, or otherwise undercut the show’s comedy. It’s as if they’re writing toward the darkness instead of the light, which can feel (cynically speaking) like they’re writing to win awards. (For the record, I blame “Ted Lasso.”)

“It’s weird. Everyone around me seems to be so full of joy lately,” Jimmy says in the premiere. “I still get knocked on my ass by the smallest things. It’s funny, my friend Paul, he got me thinking: We all have agency, and maybe happiness is not this impossible thing. You just have to choose it.”

In the end, it’s a shame “Shrinking” doesn’t follow its own advice.

Grade: C

“Shrinking” Season 3 premieres Wednesday, January 28 on Apple TV. New episodes will be released weekly through the finale (Episode 11) on April 8. Apple has already renewed the series for a fourth season.