The Apple TV series "Shrinking" is brilliant with unusual, funny, and sometimes crazy dialogue. People in real life never talk this way, but the good thing about dialogue like this is that it will hold your attention throughout each hour of this series.
The cast of Shrinking starts with Harrison Ford, in his first-ever television series, playing a character that seems a lot like the person he is on talk shows. Somewhat quiet, moody, funny, and sarcastic. Harrison plays Dr. Paul Rhoades who works as a published Therapist in the Pasadena California area where he shares the same office complex with two other Therapists - Jimmy Laird, played by Jason Segel, and Gaby played by Jessica Williams. This idea of several doctors sharing the same office complex and dealing with so many patients and personal problems is the backdrop of this extremely entertaining two seasons with the last episode #12 of season 2, recently released on Apple TV.
Unfortunately, Jimmy lost his wife at the start of this series in a car accident and Paul has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Jimmy frequently has conflicts with his daughter Alice that also include problems as a direct result of his wife dying in a car accident. There are also several conflicts with Jimmy's two neighbors Liz played by Christa Miller and Derek played by Ted McGinley that are very often funny despite the real life issues that they all face.
The best part of this series is the character Sean played by Luke Tennie. Sean has several psychological problems after his experiences in the war in Afghanistan including getting into fights and lashing out in anger. At first Sean is patient of Jimmy and their friendship grows during Sean's many sessions leading to Sean living in Jimmy's pool house. Paul does not approve of Jimmy and Sean's friendship, because it violates a fundamental rule of doctors and patients, and because of this, Paul takes over Sean's therapy sessions.
Several other characters are also standouts in this series, including Brian, played by Michael Urie, who is gay and sometimes works as Jimmy's lawyer. His presence generates many scenes of humor throughout this series and Louis played by Brett Goldstein, who was the the drunk driver who killed Jimmy's wife. After a great deal of conflict between Jimmy and his daughter Alice, Louis slowly becomes a friend of the family despite the extremely tragic circumstances.
From what I have seen that is currently on Apple TV, this series is the best and most entertaining.
The Rotten Tomatoes reviews are an extremely high 97% for this series and I agree with this rating and highly recommend Shrinking.
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