{"id":369314,"date":"2026-04-08T09:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/369314\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:53:07","slug":"shrinking-season-3-finale-recap-and-thats-our-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/369314\/","title":{"rendered":"Shrinking season 3 finale recap: “And That’s Our Time”"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a known fact that Shrinking co-creators Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, and Brett Goldstein initially pitched a three-season dramedy that would tackle a specific theme each year: grief, forgiveness, and moving on. With that in mind, \u201cAnd That\u2019s Our Time\u201d hits all the expected final-chapter notes. There are laughs, tears, a surprise proposal, moments of reflection, confessions, and reunions. Episode scribes Lawrence, Goldstein, and Neil Goldman give every main character\u2019s arc a satisfying enough conclusion for us to envision how their lives might end up. But luckily for us all, we won\u2019t have to imagine too much because season three\u2019s finale doesn\u2019t double as the series\u2019 goodbye<\/a> anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So in a way, \u201cAnd That\u2019s Our Time\u201d concludes the show\u2019s original vision. It\u2019s an assured, funny, sentimental half-hour that wisely focuses on our protagonists\u2019 growth. I only checked in at the start<\/a> and halfway through<\/a> its run this year, but if you\u2019ve kept up weekly, you know season three put these Pasadena therapists through the wringer. Paul\u2019s (Harrison Ford) Parkinson\u2019s symptoms worsened enough for him to decide it\u2019s time to move closer to his daughter. Gaby\u2019s (Jessica Williams) patient died by suicide, leading her to spiral about quitting before Paul talked sense into her. Jimmy (Segel) hit a serious rough patch when his daddy issues resurfaced, making him lash out at his father, Randy (Jeff Daniels), and his honorary one, Paul. It\u2019s lovely, then, that \u201cAnd That\u2019s Our Time\u201d narrows in on how these experiences have shaped the trio and their dynamics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gaby\u2019s self-doubt crept in bit by bit after Maya\u2019s (Sherry Cola) death. But by the finale, she\u2019s moving on by turning the practice into a trauma center, managing it alone since Paul will be living in Connecticut and Jimmy is happy to meet with his clients elsewhere. Her emotional challenge in this episode comes when she finds a ring in Derrick\u2019s drawer. After panicking about the pros and cons of marriage with her inner circle, she turns the tables and proposes to Derrick in their favorite backyard bar with friends and family members around. In classic Shrinking style, it\u2019s all so lovely. Her speech is romantic. (\u201cYou just never make me feel self-conscious. You let me be. You see all my craziness and roll with it. You push me to move forward, past all my bullshit.\u201d) But it\u2019s also a display of Gaby\u2019s ability to leave a destructive past for a hopeful future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad that Shrinking didn\u2019t relegate Gaby to a supportive side character or Jimmy\u2019s hookup buddy. While the show didn\u2019t necessarily know what to do with her at first, she\u2019s really come into her own. And these past few episodes have given her more complexity. In turn, Williams shines as she deftly weaves between comedy and drama. Her scenes with Ford remain a true highlight<\/a>. For his part, the Indiana Jones star is on a tear in Shrinking. He\u2019s great at playing Grumpy Old Guy who is secretly a softie. It\u2019s always a treat whenever Ford gets to dig deeper into Paul\u2019s psyche and feelings, as seen in season two\u2019s finale. In this episode, too, he gets another tearjerker of a monologue when he steps outside his comfort zone to give Jimmy one final push.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two don\u2019t meet before Paul moves away because Jimmy\u2019s still in his rage spiral. But he calls to apologize later, admitting he was going through textbook transference by removing Randy\u2019s anger on his pseudo-dad. Paul does the best he can over the phone, but thanks to the women in his life (including a visiting Alice, who\u2019s making a pit stop before Wesleyan), he realizes that he needs to interfere a bit more. So the guy flies back to L.A. for a couple of hours to ensure Jimmy doesn\u2019t give up on himself. They have a genuinely wholesome conversation, mostly with Paul finally opening up and telling Jimmy everything he\u2019s wanted to hear, ranging from \u201cYou\u2019re like a son to me\u201d to the classic \u201cI love you.\u201d Again, more than being moving (which it definitely is), the scene emphasizes how far both of them have come as people, as menter-mentees, and as chosen family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a going-away present, Paul arranges a date between Jimmy and Sofi (Cobie Smulders) so the two of them can rekindle their relationship. They went out earlier in the season, but their respective baggage felt like too much. But now, Jimmy is truly all alone after a long time. Alice has gone off to Wesleyan, Sean (Luke Tennie) has moved out, Brian (Michael Urie) is headed off to Tennessee for three months with his family, and four of his closest pals are going on a vacation together. However, as Paul tells him, too, being alone doesn\u2019t mean lonely. \u201cAnd That\u2019s Our Time\u201d ends with Jimmy and Sofi grabbing coffee, indicating that he isn\u2019t done just yet\u2014and neither is Shrinking, which has become one of the better \u201cnice-core\u201d shows out there. And with season three done, I feel confident in saying it\u2019s also a far more cohesive, confident, and consistently heartfelt series than Ted Lasso. So I\u2019m excited to see what this team cooks up for their next round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stray observations<\/p>\n

\u2022 Paul: \u201cLetting go of the past just means you don\u2019t allow your scars to hold you back anymore.\u201d
Jimmy: \u201cI\u2019m covered in them.\u201d
Paul: \u201cGood. What a shame to be 42 years old and not be covered in scars. The evidence of a life fully lived.\u201d
\n\u2022 Spurred by Derek\u2019s health issues, he and Liz decide to take the next few months and go on a European tour before they become grandparents. And they invite the newly engaged Gaby and Derrick to tag along in Spain.
\n\u2022 Season four better take us to their joint holiday, even if it\u2019s via flashbacks.
\n\u2022 The casting department crushed it with season three\u2019s supporting cast, as seen with Jeff Daniels as Jimmy\u2019s nonchalant dad and Candice Bergen as Derek\u2019s overbearing mom. I liked seeing a little bit of Michael J. Fox. But I hope more people notice how good Sherry Cola was as Maya, too.\u00a0
\n\u2022 We know Gaby\u2019s influence will forever be with Paul because that man knows what \u201csafe dick\u201d means and proudly tells that to his grown-up daughter. But what are the chances Paul will stay in Connecticut instead of moving back to L.A. at some point? Because Shrinking needs Harrison Ford.\u00a0
\n\u2022 Paul, while referring to Sofi: \u201cHe\u2019s got that girl who\u2019s too cute for him, but when she speaks, you get it.\u201d I would love to see Cobie Smulders be a regular next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club\u2018s TV critic. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a known fact that Shrinking co-creators Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, and Brett Goldstein initially pitched a three-season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-369314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}