Shrinking season three: Move over, Ted Lasso, this is the ultimate show about kindness

When the world had plunged back into lockdowns in the back half of 2021, everyone was feeling a bit more fragile.

Making another sourdough starter or starting a knitting project wasn’t compensation for the increased social division, conspiracies and disinformation, or even just the déjà vu.

We wanted something soothing. Along came the second season of Ted Lasso, which caught on in a way that eluded the first instalment. Here was a show filled with characters who were kind and thoughtful, who went out of their way to be in service to others, and who embodied the best of humanity.

Maybe it was a fantasy, but it was the right fantasy for that moment when it seemed the outside world was incapable of it, or had at least forgotten how much they claimed to appreciate frontline workers the previous year.

A couple of months before the third season of Ted Lasso premiered, two of its producers and writers, Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, teamed up with Jason Segel for another project, Shrinking.

Given it shares similar DNA in terms of its creative personnel, it wasn’t surprising that Shrinking had that familiar tone in terms of being a relatively gentle, character-forward series. It also had a fantastic Harrison Ford performance, his best in years.

But the greatest pleasure Shrinking, returning for its third season today, has gifted the audience is how it’s evolved and expanded, and has become an even more potent piece of art about kindness and compassion than Ted Lasso.

The original premise was centred on Jimmy (Segel), a middle-aged therapist who was in the depths of grief over the sudden death of his wife. Jimmy was making radical shifts at work, encouraging his patients, such as Sean (Luke Tennie) in ways he normally wouldn’t, while being emotionally closed off everywhere else.

One of the people he distanced himself from was his teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), who had to rely on their neighbours, Liz (Christa Miller) and Derek (Ted McGinley).

Jimmy’s colleagues, Gaby (Jessica Williams) and Paul (Ford), were equally worried about him, as was his best friend Brian (Michael Urie).

Jimmy’s grief has not been fully resolved, because life doesn’t work that way, and in the second season, it was even further challenged when the drunk driver responsible for his wife’s death, Louis (Goldstein), re-emerged in their lives.

As the series settled into its rhythms, it realised its greatest strength lies in its ensemble, rather than a singular focus. All these characters were connected to Jimmy in some way, but they now all exist as their own person, each with unique relationships and storylines.

The series, which was just renewed for a fourth series, has also brought on more characters, such as Julie (Wendie Malick), a neurologist and love-interest to Paul, Charlie (Devin Kawaoka), who’s Brian’s fiancé, and Derrick #2 (Damon Wayans Jr), a friend to the OG Derek who becomes involved with Gaby.

Despite how many people there are, it never feels crowded.

There’s a scene in the first episode of the third season in which Alice is playing in an important football match, and on the sidelines in the bleachers is the whole gang, all there to vociferously cheer her on.

In a later sequence, an outsider character remarks on her support network, and you realise just how much Shrinking has become this show about how these characters interact with each other.

They snipe and rib, and they make mistakes, sometimes say hurtful things, but they’re also a tribe.

Other than Sean, they all belong to a solidly upper-middle-class demographic (the show is set in Los Angeles’ Pasadena/Altadena neighbourhood, which was beset by the fires last year), but they come from different age groups, cultural backgrounds and sexualities, and at first glance, shouldn’t be besties.

Gaby is not like Liz is not like Brian. But they’re all united in each other’s wellbeing, and as snarky as they can be to one another, you’re confident that when it matters – and even when it doesn’t – they show up.

Ted Lasso, which is coming back for a fourth season, had this organising narrative around an underdog football club, filled with characters who had things to prove, but it’s actually harder to do a show like Shrinking, which is just about people.

You make it good by creating compelling, multi-dimensional characters and you make it great by casting excellent performers.

Shrinking is optimistically generous towards community and connection, which is something we need now and always.

Shrinking season three is streaming on Apple TV, with new episodes weekly