Shrinking Season 3 Episode 4 Recap: “The Field” Is Near-Perfect Television

Can a TV series truly give you the perfect episode?! Maybe. Maybe not. But, for Apple TV’s hit, Shrinking, episode 4 comes damn near close. The comedy-drama, starring Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, and Jessica Williams, continues to knock it out of the park each week as it explores life and relationships through the lens of mental health. 

Often balancing its specific brand of clever comedy with genuine, emotional breakthroughs and a-ha moments, the series reminds us that the beauty of life comes in the living of it. And, not that worn down, going through the motions of day-to-day existing, but, instead, the more authentic feel-all-your-feelings living it. 

In that regard, this week’s episode leans into the show’s core truth: Perfection is a lie. Everyone’s a mess, but we are all a mess together. As the lines between therapist, patient, and neighbor continue to blur between Jimmy Laird (Segel) and his merry mess-makers known as his friends and family, we see the difference between helicopter parenting, emotional support buddies, ride-or-die relatives, and the people who truly make life worth living. 

Week-in and week-out, the narrative that floods across our screens reminds us all that NO ONE has any of this figured out, but if you invite others into your mess, you can survive the chaos, or, at the very least, laugh through it all to keep from crying. Even fictionally, the series gives each of us a soft place to land when times get hard. 

This go-round, we get to see how our fav core trio of therapists Jimmy, Paul (Ford), and Gaby (Williams), each get back to center on what brought them all together, helping patients work through their mental health issues and ongoing wellness. Jimmy has a breakthrough with one of his previous OCD patients and her “what if” fears, as Gaby is back in session with Maya, a newly recurring patient who’s been gate-keeping her feelings and denying her need for therapy. Paul is just happy that his own doctor has green-lighted his return to the office.

To keep the therapy work front-and-center on this episode, Gaby asks Jimmy to guest-lecture her psychology class. What started out as a classic discussion on cognitive reasoning in a clinical setting, quickly devolves into a live case study of Jimmy defending his unconventional methods of working with his patients, or what he affectionally calls “jimmying the mind.” However you want to classify it, Gaby has never been onboard with how Jimmy handles his patients following his wife’s death, and asks her students to weigh in on his technique. In true comedic form, the discussion goes off the rails when Gaby’s students find the black holes in Jimmy’s theory and practice. Googling his previous patient mishaps may have helped some of the students come to that conclusion. 

Across town, Charlie (Devin Kawaoka) and Brian (Michael Urie) are officially knee-deep in new parenthood. While they are desperate to be the perfect fathers to their adopted daughter, neighbor Liz, the couple’s self-appointed parental guidance and infant Sensei, played by Christa Miller, is ready to cut the cord and have the guys fly solo with their baby’s hands-on childcare, but, of course, not without a safety net.

Liz hides a covert camera inside a teddy bear in the nursery. Under the guise of "coaching," she uses the speaker to chime in like the literal voice of God whenever the guys stumble. While Charlie and Brian are initially rattled, the situation highlights their insecurity and push for perfection raising their child. Hey, every parent’s been there. 

While Liz is always well-intentioned and her over-the-top tactics may simply be her love language, there is a subtle realization here that she just might be distracting herself from the chaos in her own house. Liz’s struggle to get their own man-child of a son to embrace "adulting" serves as a sharp contrast to the stellar infant care she’s been able to impart to her friends. That fact comes to light when Liz and her husband, Derek, played by Ted McGinley, receive a desperate call from their oldest son, Will (Matt Mitchell), that his aforementioned brother, Matthew (Markus Silbiger) has overstayed his welcome sleeping on his couch. Liz knows it’s time to call in reinforcements. 

A poignant moment in the episode comes when Liz seeks advice from, of all people, Paul. Though he is not her therapist, the offer of one of her prized rocks precedes an unexpected plea from Liz to help her navigate the road with her son. Paul offers up tough love counsel that coddling masked as love is the very thing keeping the one you love small. Okay, those weren’t Paul’s exact words, but he basically said something similar. Nevertheless, it was one of the great one-on-one scenes between Ford and Miller that demonstrates how even the most stoic among us can let down their cloaks of vulnerability with those they love. Paul says as much to Liz in the moment. The portrayal of these two characters is endearing in that the nuance of the emotion from Ford and Miller is real, not too sweet, not to stern, but just right amount of genuine feelings to make it genuinely relatable. 

In short order, Liz heeds Paul’s words, and together with Derek, works out a plan for Matthew to earn his new living arrangements, ahem, by fixing up Derek’s previous man-cave, aka downtown condo. Coming off a mold abatement project, the space needs some much-needed love and rehab. and Matthew, out of living options, could use a place to stay. With that win-win, Derek excuses himself to run an errand, but not before he grabs a bag of his son’s “snacks” for the road. 

Back at the office, Jimmy accuses Gaby of setting him up with the lecture debacle with her students while Gaby uses the moment to unpack some overdue emotional baggage regarding Jimmy’s relationship with the man who killed her best friend…and his wife. When Paul steps in to wrangle his work-children, he is interrupted by a new patient who shows up at the door, played by returning guest star Michael J. Fox, continuing his multi-episode arc as fellow Parkinson’s patient, Gerry. 

The heart of the episode belongs to Paul. As his Parkinson’s progresses, the venerable patriarch of the practice is forced to face his greatest fear, losing his identity as a therapist. However, as he spends the episode listening to patients, helping others work through issues, it is in the benign interaction with Gerry, a referred patient from his doctor, that Paul is hit with a moment of clarity. While his work has kept him tethered to having an active and purposeful life, it is the voices of those he admittedly loves and has counseled that chisel through his gruff exterior to reveal something that’s been staring him in the face all along. While he has spent his life teaching others how to live, what may be most important, as a result, is actually spending time and sharing himself with those people who give him life. 

Having worked through her issues with Jimmy, and heeding the advice of both he and Paul to take a different approach in trying to connect Maya, Gaby is also hit with her own dose of reality as she goes in search of her patient at a bar. With a bit of her own brand of  “jimmying,” Gaby uses an activity Maya enjoys to get her to open up. When the latter woman does, her revelations in regards to her current mental health silently confirms that Jimmy may just be onto something with his unique methods. Score one for the good guys. 

Back across town, the gang finds themselves back at the hospital, only this time to check on Derek. Liz’s lovable husband and our other fav good guy is feeling the effects of downing an entire bag of his son’s recreational snacks made to look like sweet gummy treats. Word to the wise, NEVER steal other people’s food. The humor of the episode comes in the scenes leading up to this family regroup when we see Derek’s day go psychedelically off-the-rails as he calls everyone in his emergency contact list with wacky rantings that he maybe dying, but, of course, not before he shares a special moment with a street mannequin. Just watch the episode. 

To close out the episode, we find ourselves at a moment that both tugs at the heart and brings about hope as Paul acknowledges that it may be time to formally let go of his work. In a rare moment of openness, cloaked in the silhouette of his dark office, the self-controlled therapist admits to his partner, Jimmy, who’s comes looking for him, what has been nagging at him throughout the episode. Without pomp and circumstance, Paul has made the decision to trade his clinical notes for his “time left” prioritizing the messy, non-professional love of his friends and family. Though, in true Paul Rhoades form, he leaves it to Jimmy to say the actual words out loud. 

Each week, Shrinking shows itself to be a masterclass in community. This episode not only highlights the brilliance of the writing, but perfectly encapsulates why the performances of this incredible ensemble works. Authentic. Honest. Relatable.

The chemistry between the cast turns what could be an unrealistic group dynamics trope into a deep dive into unconditional love. Every episode, the message is clear: We cannot do this life alone, but we also have to “let go” of knowing what comes next to keep moving forward.

Also starring Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, and Wendy Malik, Shrinking streams each Wednesday on Apple TV through April 8. 

What did you think?

Change Image

• Loved it
• Hated it
• So/So