money Shrinking Season 1 Finale Recap: Alice Struggles, as Paul Goes to Bat for Gaby — Plus, Jimmy's Patient Did What?!
No one said parenting was ever going to be easy.
At the top of Shrinking‘s Season 1 finale, Alice is enraged. Jimmy has taken off his wedding ring and put Tia’s belongings away, and all of this change is hard for the teen to take. “You’re such a selfish a–hole!” she barks. She’s out of line, sure, but you can’t help but empathize with a young girl who’s lost her mother far too early.
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Back at Meg’s house, Paul is busy doing “grandpa s–t,” and explains his Parkinson’s disease to his grandson. While he’s still not moving in with his family, they seem to have arrived at a nice compromise. He’s going to make an effort to see them more, and when he’s at home, Dr. Baram will keep an eye on him. (They are having “sexual relations” after all, as he tells Mason.)
Meanwhile, Liz doesn’t want to just be Sean’s investor, she wants to be his partner. She also thinks that people don’t like her enough to want to do things like that with her, but Gaby reassures her she wouldn’t be hanging out with her for charity. Gaby cuts their phone call short because she’s in the middle of some sexual relations of her own… with Jimmy’s “safe d–k.”
When Liz tells Sean how much she wants to be involved in his company, she acknowledges that she’s overbearing and a lot, but he invites her along to go look at food trucks with him anyways. Awwww!
Jimmy talks to Brian’s father about being his son’s Best Man, but the guy is squeamish. He thinks he’ll be uncomfortable. But Jimmy tells him if he doesn’t do it, he’ll definitely regret it.
Back to mopey Alice, who’s still upset that she forgot her mom’s birthday. She recalls a happy memory of sneaking ice cream with Tia, but it doesn’t seem to bring her any solace. “I can’t remember mom’s laugh,” she tells her dad. “I feel myself losing little parts of her.” Jimmy tells her that her mom knew how much she loved her. He offers to talk, but then gives her space.
Liz learns from Derek (of all people!) that Gaby and Jimmy have been hooking up, and she’s flabbergasted! When she confronts Gaby about it, Gaby explains it as “Mariah Carey hitting a high note, good.” Watching these two grow closer has been a fun journey, right?
Liz then sets her sights on Paul, confronting him about not writing a recommendation letter for Gaby. After calling Jimmy a “p-ssy” multiple times (we love you, Liz), she huffs and puffs as she reminds Paul of everything Gaby does for him and demands that he fix the situation. Paul may be a curmudgeon, but he knows she’s right.
Jimmy brings boxes of Tia’s things to Alice’s bedroom. Her mom’s “hot as s–t shoes” sparks all sorts of happy memories for her, which is exactly what she needed to lift her spirit. Score one for ol’ dad.
At Gaby’s job interview, Paul does something even better than writing a letter of recommendation: He shows up to the interview in person to put in a good word. “Hire her. She’s a brilliant therapist,” he says. He then spills that he doesn’t tell her often enough how much he values her as a colleague. (She scores the job, obvi.)
The day of the wedding, we see that Brian’s dad did agree to be his Best Man (yay!). All eyes are on Jimmy as he begins officiating the ceremony, and after fumbling a dirty joke, he comes clean that marriage is a tough thing for him to talk about. He says how Tia’s death destroyed him, but that it was all worth it. Tia, in fact, was the one to introduce Brian and Charlie, and when all is said and done, Jimmy turns it around and does a bang up job as officiant.
Paul compliments Jimmy on a job well done, and says he’s surprised Jimmy didn’t burn the whole practice down with all the crazy things he’s been doing. As David Bowie’s “Modern Love” guides us through a wedding dance montage, we see Jimmy’s patient Grace on a hike with her abusive boyfriend. He calls her an idiot and tells her to “shut the f–k up,” and while he’s standing at the precipice of a large cliff, she pushes his ass right off it!
Thoughts on Shrinking‘s closing episode? Grade it (and the season) below, then tell us your thoughts in the comments.
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