Review: Shrinking, “Depression Diet” | Season 3, Episode 8
When you're here, you're family
Considering that it’s a show playing out in the shadow of a devastating loss, it makes sense that Shrinking would take nearly three full seasons before dealing with the death of a patient. There’s so much grief at the core of this story that, say, pulling a “My Old Lady” earlier in the run would be too much, too soon. All that said, and with however inevitable Maya’s death felt to me, I share in the surprise Paul expresses when he’s talking with Jimmy and Derrick #2 in “Depression Diet”: Jimmying seems like it would’ve claimed a life well before Gaby lost a patient while attempting to Jimmy her.
But any damage caused by Paul’s colleagues getting more involved in their patient’s lives was heretofore collateral: Donny in a canyon, Jimmy’s guilt over Donny in a canyon, things of that nature. They hadn’t caused any harm to themselves or the people in their care that wasn’t reversible. Sad, frustrated, confused, and angry, Gaby sarcastically thanks Jimmy this week for encouraging her to get closer to her patients—before upbraiding him for not telling her “how much more it would hurt if things went south.” You’d think she’d remember how Jimmy felt during the fallout from the season-one cliffhanger, since they were still sleeping together at the time. But hey: the woman’s in pain, so cut her some slack.
“Depression Diet” opens with Gaby trying to restore distance between her and Maya—like “watching Maya’s funeral from a football field away” distance. The episode that follows shows her struggling with the fact that distance isn’t really an option unless she temporarily removes herself from the picture. This is another acting showcase for Jessica Williams, who is heartbreaking in Gaby’s dejection and relatable in the tearful sense of “woulda, coulda, shoulda” that she brings to Gaby’s remorse over her patient’s overdose. Her character got too close to Maya, but not close enough to learn her most painful secret: that she was abandoned by her mother, who was also an addict, when she was a child. Williams lets us see how that’s eating her up inside.
