Review: Shrinking, “D-Day” | Season 3, Episode 3
I suppose that “d” could also stand for “daddy issues.”
Watching this week’s Shrinking, I was reminded of the words of Paul F. Tompkins—and not just because of an appearance by the Kyle Chutney to his Fred Guiness, Lisa Gilroy. [Cue stares from the non-Comedy Bang! Bang! listeners that resemble Alice and Summer attempting to decode Grandpa Laird’s allusion to Bullitt.] In the 2015 stand-up special Crying and Driving, Tompkins delves into his personal mental-health journey, and delivers a great epigram for talk therapy. “It’s not all about blaming your parents for stuff,” he says, before taking a very important pause. “There’s enough of that, though, that you think that you’re getting your money’s worth.”
Likewise, Shrinking’s depiction of psychotherapy and psychotherapists isn’t all about characters blaming their parents for stuff. But there’s enough of that to make it feel accurate to what Tompkins is describing. The show is rife with people carrying around childhood baggage, as well as characters loading up the bags for their kids. The whole series begins with Jimmy deep in the bad-dad zone, and we’ve since gotten to know the not-supportive-where-it-counts father who messed with Brian’s head and the unforgiving one who kicked Sean out. The devotion to work that’s driving Paul’s season-three storyline also drove a wedge between him and Meg, and just last week, Derek tried to decode the number he and Liz have done on their sons.
The time is right, it would seem, for an episode that looks at parenthood from all angles. And in true Shrinking fashion, “D-Day” gets a little messy, draws some genuine laughs, and jerks some tears while doing so.
