Spoilers for Shrinking Season 2, Episode 9 are ahead! If you aren’t caught up, you can stream the comedy with an Apple TV+ subscription and catch new episodes on Wednesdays.
While it’s said with a sort of funny tone, I couldn’t help but get emotional when Brian asked Jimmy: “I need you to help me not be me,” in the ninth episode of Shrinking’s second season. After a meeting about finding a baby to adopt, Michael Urie’s character was feeling very self-conscious about himself, and he decided to ask his best friend (who is also a therapist) for assistance. However, it ended up being a wonderful and reflective scene that showed Brian’s immense growth.
So, when I interviewed the Shrinking cast about their season on the 2024 TV schedule, I asked Michael Urie about this pivotal moment Brian had with Jimmy. In response, he explained its significance and why his character acts the way he does, which makes it even more special to me.
To begin, the Goodrich actor told me that when he gets a two-person scene for Shrinking he thinks about who is acting as therapist and patient in said moment. In this case, Brian asked Jimmy for help, which is a huge deal, as he explained:
Every time I get a scene between two people, I always think, ‘Okay, which of us is the patient and which is the therapist in this scene?’ And it switches a lot. You know, even Brian is sometimes the therapist and sometimes he's the patient. So I'm always looking to that. And obviously the Jimmy [and] Brian scene you’re talking about, he's full-on saying, ‘I'm your patient. I need your help.’ I think that's something that he wouldn't have done a year earlier, six months earlier.
He’s right, this moment does show how much Brian has grown as a character. Before going through this process and really opening up to Jimmy about their relationship, this probably wouldn’t have happened. That alone makes the scene extra special and emotional.
However, Michael Urie’s background on the lead-up to this moment and the importance of how Jimmy and Brian’s relationship has evolved this season adds even more to the significance of this therapy scene. Continuing to reflect on why his character asked for help from Jason Segel’s therapist specifically, the actor said:
I think they had a huge moment of growth in the beginning of Season 2 when Brian says, ‘Would we have been friends if we met today?’ I think that's a very true sentiment among long-time, long-term friendships, especially when one [friend] was in the closet at the beginning. And it's something that I've experienced firsthand, because when we are in the closet, we are not our true selves. So it's a very natural thing once we're out to have to re-examine everything.
This point he made is also something Jimmy told Brian during their conversation. He got real with his friend about his past and how it’s impacted his “everything goes my way” facade that gets put up over his insecurities.
To that point, the Ugly Betty actor connected that idea to the storyline of Brian and his husband finding a baby. It’s an emotional time for his character, and it has caused him to do a lot of inward reflection, as the Broadway star explained:
And I think that restart in Brian's life, when he sort of started over again, is at the core of all of his neuroses about being a husband, about being a father, about being a friend. It's like this moment where he had to sort of become a child again and grow up, and do it with such false bravado. I mean, that was sort of his whole personality was based on confidence and cockiness, but that was a mask for a guy who wasn't sure who he was.
Along with addressing all of that, Jimmy also complimented Brian’s growth as a human and the strength of him and his partner, Charlie. They’re a great couple, and they balance each other wonderfully. While this has been an overwhelmingly positive development for Urie’s character, it has also caused a bit of panic, as he told me:
And he's fallen in love with somebody who knows exactly who he is and knows exactly what he wants, which is actually very good for Brian and hard every time. It's hard for him to face every time.
This season, we’ve seen a lot of emotional growth from Brian, specifically. Between helping Brett Goldstein’s tragic character Louis, supporting his friends and going on this journey with Charlie toward parenthood, Urie’s character does not need to change one bit. In fact – as Jimmy said – he’s growing in a perfectly positive direction.
Overall, it's emotional evolution and candid conversations like this that make Shrinking one of the best shows on Apple TV+. However, getting to learn about the greater meaning behind them makes them even more significant and powerful.
