Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for 'Shrinking's Season 2 finale, "The Last Thanksgiving."Shrinking Season 2 just ended in a compelling fashion with its finale titled, “The Last Thanksgiving.” This season introduced Louis (Brett Goldstein), the man responsible for Tia’s (Lilan Bowden) death, a moment that changed Jimmy's (Jason Segel) and Alice’s (Lukita Maxwell) lives forever. Surprisingly, Alice and Jimmy’s best friend, Brian (Michael Urie), strike a connection with Louis despite the circumstances. Although Louis may have accidentally taken a life, he took his own in the process, at least the life he once knew.
Louis May Be the Most Important Character in 'Shrinking' Season 2
Through his grief, Jimmy finds solace in being there for others at the drop of a dime, but this season shows his struggle with having Louis come into his life in a positive way. The addition of Louis to the series has added another layer of complexity to this dramatic comedy that explores the intricate parts of life, making someone who made a horrible mistake a character the audience and the characters within the show empathize with. Alice finds a commonality of loss in Louis, and his desire to learn about the woman he accidentally killed has helped Alice move on and grow in an unexpected way. It’s helped so much that Alice stops her therapy sessions with Paul (Harrison Ford), now feeling she can live her life as a young adult without the weight of her mother’s death crushing her at all times. That grief will never completely disappear, but forgiving Louis was the key to carrying on without that anger stewing inside her.
This is something Alice desperately wants for Jimmy. Again, he is always willing to lend a hand, but not with Louis. Jimmy wanted Louis out of their lives entirely and instructed him to leave Alice alone, robbing Louis of one of his glimmers of hope in his post-accident life. This decision has caused a massive divide between Alice and Jimmy, with Alice not understanding why he can’t help Louis as he does with everyone else. Louis coming back into their lives sent Jimmy down a spiral, looking at his failure to be there for Alice after Tia’s death right in the face. Jimmy has had a hard time overcoming how he let Alice down as a father and refuses to burden his daughter with his problems. Quite frankly, he is ashamed, and having the man who was the direct cause of said actions get close to his loved ones had only made the situation worse, but Jimmy realizes that's not Louis' fault entirely. Jimmy still chose to make bad decisions after he lost his wife. This was just bringing his guilt for failing his daughter and his late wife back to the surface.
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Jimmy Takes a Leap of Faith in 'Shrinking's Season 2 Finale, "The Last Thanksgiving"
With most problems in life, a simple conversation can make all the difference. Alice reminds Jimmy of how the good times heavily outweigh the bad and the growth he’s had recently. Our mistakes don't define us — that goes for Jimmy and Louis. Now that Jimmy has had his second chance acknowledged, he’s finally ready to give Louis his.
The train station was a place Louis used to go to with his fiancé to guess what jobs the random passengers had, a tradition he now also shared with Alice. Louis mentioned earlier in the season that after the accident and his breakup, it took all of his strength not to take his own life as he watched the trains come in. As Brian mentioned earlier in the season, "his life is bleak, like Requiem for a Dream bleak." The second season of Shrinking excels in diving into highly emotional topics across the board, with its core takeaway being second chances. All the major players in the series experience it in some shape or form, but the biggest mountain to climb has been the reconciliation between Jimmy and Louis.
The closing scene with Louis alone at the station is stressful after his Thanksgiving plans are tarnished by his past coming to haunt him, cutting back and forth between the station and our main characters enjoying Thanksgiving dinner. The most important line of the season comes from Paul in the finale, "we can get through anything if we have people to lean on." Knowing that Louis doesn't exactly have Alice to lean on right now, Jimmy saves the day and heads to the train station to let Louis lean on him. Helping Louis is now an integral part of Jimmy's journey of healing; not only is he honoring Alice and Tia, but he's honoring his own mental health by choosing to forgive instead of hate. Together they guess the occupations of people at the train station, closing the season with a beautiful and heartfelt note — second chances are important, sometimes more than we can ever imagine.
Shrinking is available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
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Shrinking
Release Date January 26, 2023
Seasons 2
English (US) ·