Shrinking Season 2, Episode 10, “Changing Patterns,” is this show at its best – and this season at one of its highest points. That peak speaks volumes of the show’s overall quality. It refuses to falter even before something as narratively ambitious as the season’s penultimate and final outings.
Written by Ashley Nicole Black (who wrote the fantastic Ted Lasso Season 2, Episode 3, “Do the Right-est Thing”) and directed by James Ponsoldt, this episode is charming and heartbreaking and romantic and uplifting. Every moving part comes together to create a better harmony than whatever Jimmy attempted in his birthday speech for Alice. “Changing Patterns” is a culmination of what makes Shrinking one of the best shows on TV.
MORE: Have you read our review of Shrinking Season 2, Episode 9, “Full Grown Dude Face?” Here it is!
Paul Moves Forward with Julie
This episode finds an organic path to showcasing the characters as friends who have become family. “Full Grown Dude Face” defines that community, but it does so most pointedly through Brian’s arc. The village that Brian posits feels a little shaky coming from him, considering most of his story – his life, job, and marriage – exist off-screen this season. “Changing Patterns” builds a better foundation to bolster that argument with stronger (for now) on-screen ties. For instance, Shrinking features a confrontation between Gaby and Paul that would not work without the show consistently featuring their dynamic.
Gaby and Paul can say those big (and accurate) statements to one another because Shrinking invests time into them. “Changing Patterns” is a perfect example of how the show values their professional and personal relationship. The script bakes Gaby and Paul’s mutual care and respect for one another into both spheres. It gives their conversation real interpersonal stakes because they have a concrete history. Coincidentally, it’s like Jimmy and Brian’s unforgettable confrontation in Shrinking Season 2, Episode 3, “Psychological Something-ism.”
“Changing Patterns” positions Brian – holding Gaby’s patient’s baby – in the background of Gaby and Paul’s conversation. That scene does more to convincingly project that Brian wants a child than most previous scenes. It’s the best kind of irony that Shrinking (hopefully) breaks its pattern with Brian in “Changing Patterns.” Nevertheless, it proves that the show can do more with Brian on-screen, if even in the background. After all, the show’s considerate and steady character development makes turns like Paul asking Julie to move in with him land with noteworthy pay off. The same is true for Alice’s milestone of wanting to stop therapy to use the tools Paul has given her.
MORE: Don’t miss our review of Shrinking Season 2, Episode 8, “Last Drink.” Here it is!
Gaby Finds Courage to Prioritize Herself
“Changing Patterns” earns those tear-jerky moments (Harrison Ford finds the best beats to let Paul’s vulnerabilities crack through his tough exterior) through the work it does on-screen. Shrinking doubles down on that truth when Gaby finally asserts boundaries with her mother. Even though Gaby’s mom appears infrequently throughout the season, Gaby repeatedly shoulders other people’s problems throughout this season and the last. This step with her mother is that long (and then some) in the making, and Nicole Black’s script and Jessica Williams’ performance expertly show how complex that choice is for Gaby.
“Changing Patterns” makes it all but explicit that this is not the final scene between Gaby and her mother but the beginning of a larger conversation in a new chapter. Because of the work Shrinking does with their dynamic, Gaby’s choice also lands as a believable response to Paul’s gratitude for giving him the courage to fully let someone else into his life. While being honest with her mother is one momentous thing, Gaby’s taking on her patient’s baby signifies that she struggles with putting herself first in multiple facets of her life. It’s not a coincidence that as Paul lets someone in, Gaby struggles to do so with Derrick.
MORE: Revisit Shrinking Season 2, Episode 7, “Get in the Sea,” with our review. Here it is!
Jimmy Has an Unexpected Meet-Cute
Thankfully, Shrinking is interested in showing the ebbs and flows of their relationship on-screen. It’s not jarring for Gaby and Derrick to go from the yearning of “Get in the Sea” to a more distant place in “Changing Patterns” because Shrinking feels in those gaps. More importantly, the show explains them by outlining the personal work Gaby needs to do and emphasizing that Derrick is aware and considerate of Gaby’s walls.
That scene where Jimmy, Derek, and Derrick discuss life and their (possible, in Jimmy’s case) relationships is excellent – the only thing that could make it better is if it included Brian and Sean. It’d be the perfect time and place for Brian to discuss his life and marriage, even beyond the potential baby of it all. Sean’s personal life has taken a bit of a backseat in Shrinking Season 2 since “In a Lonely Place.” Presumably, Sean’s relationship with his father is still improving, so this scene could be a nice way to see more of his friendship with Jorge.
Nevertheless, that scene comes on the heels of a massive cameo for Shrinking. Jason Segel’s How I Met Your Mother costar Cobie Smulders appears as Sofi, the woman selling Jimmy the yellow Mini Cooper (the same make and model Tia had in college) that he gifts to Alice. Their chemistry is instantaneous, like Jessica Williams, opposite of Damon Wayans Jr. in Shrinking Season 2, Episode 4, “Made You Look.” Smulders and Segel’s shared history makes their characters’ conversation anything but uncomfortable, even with its darker topics. Jimmy and Sofi, like Gaby and Derrick, feel like a real match in a way Jimmy and Gaby don’t. Their scene is so magnetic that it’s a real shame when it ends.
MORE: Do you want a refresher on Shrinking Season 2, Episode 6, “In a Lonely Place?” You can read our review here!
Alice Learns the Truth on Her Birthday
Unfortunately, it seems as though Jimmy and Sofi’s potential relationship will be the least of Jimmy’s concerns for at least the near future. Since “Last Drink,” Shrinking builds to the moment Alice eventually visits Louis; it’s inevitable. “Changing Patterns” throws in the unexpected setting – not Louis’s house or place of work but the bench where he would sit with Sarah. It’s a testament to how Jimmy and Tia raise Alice, the tools Paul teaches her, the village surrounding her, and the young woman she chooses to become that Alice doesn’t turn away when Louis mentions his darkest thoughts. Instead, she wants to change the uncommunicative pattern they’re in to be there for him.
Shrinking digs (back) into a meaty, messy story with Alice and Jimmy after a predominately sturdy season. “Changing Patterns” tests their father/daughter dynamic when Alice confronts Jimmy about Louis. It’s a character-driven beat to end on that ties the title back around the episode like a bow. Realistically, it’s an anything-but-perfect bow because sometimes, even unintentionally, some patterns are more complicated to change than others.
MORE: Did you know Shrinking has already been renewed for a third season? Read all about it here!
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What did you think of Shrinking Season 2, Episode 10, “Changing Patterns?” Let us know in the comments below!
New episodes of Shrinking stream on Wednesdays on Apple TV+.
