After a lengthy wait, Shrinking Season 2 has finally arrived amid the 2024 TV schedule and, as a fan, I couldn’t be happier! New episodes, of course, mean more laughs, more problems and plenty of “jimmy-ing.” If that playful verb confuses you, it refers to the instances in which Jason Segel’s Jimmy Laird (unethically) tells his therapy patients what he really thinks and/or becomes involved in their lives. Because the term is used a lot during the second season, CinemaBlend asked Segel what his name would mean if it were a verb.
The first season of one of Apple TV+’s best shows featured a lot of “Jimmy-ing.” However, this year, Laird himself is really starting to embrace the terms, as he continues to meddle in affairs he has no business being a part of. CinemaBlend’s own Riley Utley spoke with Jason Segel during the press day for Shrinking and asked the actor about the term and how a phrase like it could apply to his own name. The jovial Segel shared a sweet take in regard to what “Jason-ing” would mean if it were a legitimate word:
Oh, that's a sweet question. I think that probably, despite all my best efforts, it's like, a kind of ‘aw shucks’ Big Bird kind of reaction to people going through a hard time. That's a real Jason Segel kind of move, like, ‘Oh, it's gonna be okay. Hey, we'll make it through this together.’ That's like, unfortunately, what I'm like in real life, or, maybe, fortunately. Who knows?
If that isn’t a delightfully fitting description, then I don’t know what would be. The former How I Met Your Mother cast member does indeed give off that lovable schmoe kind of energy when he’s on screen. One could argue that it’s a big reason why it’s so easy to fall in love with many of the characters he plays. I don’t know the star personally, but I’d say that in general, that kind of desire to comfort others is an endearing quality. So we may all want to aspire to inject “Jason-ing” not just into our vocabularies but into our daily activities as well.
What fans – particularly those who are engaged in medical/mental health services – may not want to do is take cues when it comes to “Jimmy-ing.” By the end of the first season, Jimmy’s actions created quite a few messes. That was especially true when it came to his patient, Grace, who was inadvertently motivated to push her abusive boyfriend, Donny, off a cliff due to Jimmy’s brutal honest takes. Now, Laird must deal with the fallout much to the annoyance of his colleague Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford), who can’t stand the term “Jimmy-ing,” by the way.
As messy as Jimmy’s actions may be, they definitely contribute to what makes this dramedy show so unique. Series co-creator Bill Lawrence recently spoke to CinemaBlend and conveyed his disbelief over the fact that shows like Shrinking and Ted Lasso can be made in this entertainment landscape. As Lawrence explained, he and his collaborators are able to do so much now and, as a viewer, I’d say that results in complex stories with multidimensional characters.
Jason Segel’s Jimmy is certainly layered, and it’s one of the reasons I look forward to seeing more of him via this new season. I’m sure I’m going to cringe one or twice when he dives into his habit of “Jimmy-ing.” Though I suppose that whenever that happens, I’ll just try to think of Segel’s lovely definition of the word “Jason-ing.”
Now that Shrinking Season 2 is officially underway, be on the lookout for new episodes when they premiere on Wednesdays. And, of course, you can stream those installments with an Apple TV+ subscription.
