A review of this week's Shrinking, "Happiness Mission," coming up just as soon as I lure Optimus Prime into my van using candy...
Alan Sepinwall
In my review of the season premiere, I wondered how many more episodes, if any, would feature Emmy Winner Brett Goldstein as Louis. It's not just that EWBG is justifiably one of the busiest men in Hollwyood. It's that, even for a show this sweet and hopeful and convinced of the fundamental kindness of other people if given the chance, it's a complicated sell to make, Jimmy, Alice, and all of their friends become friends with the guy who killed Tia while driving drunk. The series has framed Jimmy as a guy who has rebuilt his entire wrecked life on the idea of second chances and empathy. So it works that he and Alice have forgiven Louis, and even that they've shown him some kindness. But as an ongoing thing, where Louis is just another member of the group? That's a bridge too far, which even Shrinking understands, as we see late in the episode with Paul's response to learning who he was just hiking with.