[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Shrinking Season 2 Episode 1.]
Shrinking revealed the identity of Brett Goldstein‘s mystery character in the final moments of the Season 2 premiere, and it’s a shocker. The character is purely dramatic, one that will have a great impact on all of the characters this season, especially Jason Segel‘s Jimmy and Lukita Maxwell‘s Alice. Here, Segel tells TV Insider how this moment changes everything.
Grieving therapist Jimmy is in a good place in the Season 2 premiere, which came out Wednesday, October 16 on Apple TV+ (as did Episode 2, one episode comes out weekly from here on out). While his mental health is in a good place, Jimmy’s dealing with the repercussions of his radical form of therapy — namely Grace (Heidi Gardner) being in jail for pushing her husband off a cliff (he lived, but she’s still in big legal trouble). Sean (Luke Tennie) is still living in Jimmy’s pool house, which will be a point of contention moving forward.
All was well until the very final moments of the episode, when Goldstein’s character, Louis, makes his debut. Earlier in the episode, a flashback showed Jimmy arriving at the scene of Tia’s (Lilan Bowden) deadly crash. The drunk driver who caused the collision was seen being put into a police car, but his face wasn’t shown. The end of the episode revealed that Goldstein was the driver, and he came to Jimmy’s office to try and apologize. Jimmy exploded in anger and told him to leave.
Goldstein will be providing a lot of this season’s drama. How will Louis impact Jimmy moving forward? Segel says that this unexpected arrival is a painful reminder of what he’s lost and could set Jimmy’s mental health back significantly.
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“There is a specter from the past that shows up and Jimmy realizes that he hasn’t fully dealt with all of the stuff that is going to make him okay,” Segel reveals. “As a therapist, he should have known better. Paul [Harrison Ford] certainly knows better that until you look under the bed and really do a thorough cleaning, there are things hiding in wait. When Louis shows up, Jimmy is forced to confront what has not yet been dealt with.”
Segel co-created Shrinking with Goldstein and Bill Lawrence (the latter pair worked together on Ted Lasso). While Lawrence wasn’t originally convinced that Goldstein should play Louis (he could only see him as the comedically grizzly Roy Kent), he eventually came around to it. Segel was always on board to have Goldstein play this pivotal role.
“I can’t imagine somebody better than Brett,” Segel shares. “I think Brett’s an amazing actor. Brett has so many qualities as a human being that he has yet to have the opportunity to show off to the world. It was very important to me that Brett play the part because I could see it from a mile away. And my scenes with him are some of my favorite I’ve ever shot in my career.”
What Paul has always warned Jimmy about has now come to roost. “You can’t hide from anything,” Segel says. “It will come back and get you. It’s what Paul has been saying to Jimmy for a season and a half now: you cannot run from what you’re most afraid of. It’s going to come get you.”
Jimmy is unfortunately learning this the hard way.
Shrinking, Wednesdays, Apple TV+
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