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Stacey E's avatar

Great recap! And totally with you about Somebody Somewhere ❤️

In Shrinking, Derek is my favorite character. He’s so grounded and doesn’t pretend or try to be more than who he is. Ex: in season 1, pre-retirement, Liz tells him he’s going to need to figure out how to be out of the house and he calmly corrects her, saying it’s her turn to be in the world.

Season 2 - annoying that they were repeatedly giving therapy to each other and that friends were walking in on therapist’s sessions. This season was entertaining enough but wasn’t focused, like they were running down every thread because the writers didn’t know what they actually wanted to say.

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Saul Austerlitz's avatar

I think shows sometimes like to add to the stakes by introducing new characters, and it ends up muddying the waters rather than giving the audience more joy.

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Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's avatar

Exactly! More Derek, less of ... all the other randos. :)

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Matt Angelides's avatar

Just finished watching this show. Absolutely loved it

My only real issue this season is the realism. I feel like the characters resolve most of their interpersonal conflicts too quickly. Derek with Liz's infidelity, Gaby with Jimmy's fuckboi behavior, Alice with Louis. There may be others. This is especially jarring given how realistically long it takes the characters to get over their own shit.

I'm also aware that they have a lot of character arcs to go through in about 8ish hours of television.

Or maybe it's the California sun, who knows.

I would love Season 3 to explore justice and systems: How much punishment does Louis deserve? How much is drinking culture to blame? How much blame do we put on car & road design, and therefore how can we prevent future car accidents? Louis could form an advocacy group that focuses on this as part of his redemption.

Buuuuuuut that's beyond the themes of this show.

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Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's avatar

Absolutely! Sounds like you have some good ideas for a Louis spinoff. :)

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