Shrinking (Season 1)

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⭐6/10

Had a tough time with this one. It should be the perfect show for me because it's about therapists and broken people and healing from loss and all, and initially I was completely sold! That opening scene killed me and I was fully on board, and that feeling lasted a few episodes. 

By the end, I was just waiting for this show to be done. The one trend in modern TV that I despise is constant therapy talk, characters sitting across from each other and pouring out their hearts, revealing their past traumas by just talking about it. The therapist in me thinks that communication is awesome and they key to healing, but the TV watcher in me thinks that this makes for very uninteresting viewing. My rule of thumb is that in stories, characters should not apologize by simply issuing an apology. I mean it comes down to the basics of writing: I want to be shown that someone is sorry, not be told. There are like thirty apologies per episode and it drives me nuts. I get that therapy talk is tough to avoid in a show that's about, ya know, therapists, so maybe it's an unsolvable problem in a show like this. 

The other problem with this comedy show is that it is kinda not funny? The jokes are good but the timing is completely off if that makes sense. I think the primary issue is they never cut after the funny thing is said, but always give the other character a chance to respond which kills it. Obviously I'm no master comedic writer, but constantly my thought was that every scene would be funnier if they ended it three sentences earlier. 

The show wasn't all bad. Harrison Ford is supposed to be the highlight here, and he's probably my favorite as a wise curmudgeon with a heart of gold, very similar to Ron Swanson. I also thought the themes of healing could be powerful, but again, they are over discussed and under-explored. I loved the moment Jason Segel wordlessly takes off his wedding ring - what a powerful moment! But then he says THREE cheesy sentences after that (I would have accepted a maximum of one) and then the whole next episode is about it. 

I initially thought the cast of characters were great, but by the end I found most of them annyoing. Nobody in this show knows how to shut the hell up and everyone has too much to say. By episode 3 they are done building characters and are instead going for the "oh that's classic Gaby - she would say that" moments. 

And now I'm talking too much. It's not a bad show, and I wished I liked it more. Great theme song anyways. 

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