Shrinking (2023) - Season 1

Score: 8 / 10
Category: Series
Platform: Apple TV+

One-line verdict

A funny and emotionally honest grief series that works because the characters feel painfully human.

Why I watched this

I was looking for a new series and saw Jason Segel and Harrison Ford. That alone already felt like a safe bet, and thankfully I was right.

As the title suggests, Shrinking is about therapists and how they affect the lives of their patients. Jason Segel plays the main character, Jimmy, who is dealing with the death of his wife and trying to rebuild his relationship with his daughter.

That part hit me harder than expected. Because of my own past experience with depression and going through therapy, the emotional side of this series connected quite deeply with me.

Story & Structure

The main theme of this season is grief. Not just grief in the dramatic crying sense, but grief in the awkward, messy, everyday sense.

Jimmy is clearly broken, and the show follows how he slowly starts picking himself up while also trying to be a better father. At the same time, because he’s a therapist, the show naturally branches into the lives of the people around him and his patients.

Normally I don’t really like drama-heavy series because they can get boring fast. But this one avoids that because it leans strongly into comedy. That balance is what carries it.

I’m also giving the show a pass on the realism of Jimmy getting so directly involved in patients’ lives. In reality, that would be a massive ethical problem, but here it’s clearly the engine of the story, so I’m not going to be pedantic about it.

What worked

• Jason Segel is still funny in that awkward, believable, good-guy way that reminded me why I liked him so much in How I Met Your Mother.
• Jessica Williams stood out the most for me. Easygoing, funny, attractive, and just really watchable.
• Harrison Ford brings that same natural presence he always has. Even when he says little, he feels important.
• The characters generally feel real. Even side characters and patients, like the one played by Heidi Gardner, felt relatable rather than artificial.
• Apple TV+ continues to do what it does best: everything looks polished and premium.

What didn’t

Honestly, not much when I think back.

The one thing that did stand out is the amount of profanity. I swear too, but this felt excessive sometimes. Especially when father and daughter are casually cursing at each other, it just felt a bit rude and weird to me.

Other than that, I didn’t find much that truly bothered me.

What others think

Season 1 was received very well. Critics especially praised the performances, humor, and how it handled grief, with Rotten Tomatoes at 91% and Metacritic at 68/100 for the first season. 

That feels about right to me. This is one of those series where the emotional core and the cast do a lot of the heavy lifting, and they do it well.

Final thoughts

This is a series I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to.

It’s funny, emotional, relatable, and easy to keep watching. Most importantly, it handles grief in a way that feels human instead of manipulative.

So this lands at a solid 8 / 10 for me.

And yes, I’m jumping straight into Season 2.