Spoilers for Shrinking Season 2, Episode 8 are ahead! If you haven’t watched it yet, you can stream it with an Apple TV+ subscription.
After finding out that Paul knew about Alice talking to Louis, Jimmy burst into his boss’s office to confront him, and Sean happened to be there. What followed was a confrontational, pivotal and hilarious scene, that is one of the highlights of Shrinking Season 2 for me. So, when I interviewed Sean actor Luke Tennie about the series airing on the 2024 TV schedule, he told me what it was like watching Harrison Ford and Jason Segel verbally spar in this moment, and the story is wonderful.
For context, now that Sean has been seeing Paul for a while now, he asked him for help with his friend Jorge. Jimmy came in to assist too. However, Ford and Segel’s therapists had a bigger issue to deal with. That’s how we ended up with the two fighting over Alice and Louis, while Sean laughed at them. Addressing how Sean felt in that moment, Luke Tennie told me what it was like to witness this play out, saying:
By halfway through the season we had gotten real warm, and we're all very used to our characters and how our characters thought of each other. So for me, I like Paul, I want his approval, and I'm also learning that getting the approval of my therapist is not my goal. So, there's a bit more freedom in Sean. He's able to laugh at these people in front of them in a way where he respects them, but if it's funny, it's funny.
He went on to say that the scene was “specifically well crafted,” and I totally agree as it does what Shrinking does best: balance drama and comedy perfectly. Each character had their moment to shine. We had Sean egging Paul on. Paul was hilariously clapping back at Jimmy. And then Jimmy was genuinely upset about this situation as a whole, but handling it with humor. Then, it all ended with an epic imaginary mic drop from Paul, which is something I never thought I'd see Harrison Ford do.
Tennie told me that filming this was one of his “favorite days.” He cited Ford specifically as a highlight, saying that he was really firing on all cylinders as the cranky and truly funny therapist:
But that was one of my favorite days, because it was something to Harrison's water. Like he's always good, he's always good. But I'm telling you, something about that man that day – he kept looking for different moments to just add a little bit more seasoning and – whoo – it was a very pungent, flavored dish that day. Here and there, on our coverage on the reversals, Harrison was just looking to break us, and we all were there for the challenge.
Seeing as we know Harrison Ford for his more dramatic and action-packed roles, Shrinking is a totally new part for him. Watching him be intentionally hilarious and pull off jokes like the mic-drop moment is wonderful, and it’s even better to know that he was really going for it on set too.
I think Tennie summarized my feelings and his about all this perfectly when he recalled what Jason Segel told him as they watched the Star Wars actor do his thing:
And Jason, he turned to me and he said, ‘Isn't it a glorious day to watch Harrison Ford on freaking fire?’
From Jason Segel and Harrison Ford canoeing together to the How I Met Your Mother actor and Tennie beatboxing in another scene, this season of Shrinking has been full of comedic gems. However, this confrontation really got me and the cast going.
However, it's not only a hilarious scene, it’s also important because we see Jimmy react to the news about Louis and Paul confronts his colleague about this pent-up anger he has. It feels like this conversation could really propel Segel’s character forward as he continues to deal with his feelings about Louis and his wife's death. What makes it even better is that along with serving an important purpose in the greater story, the scene is also genuinely hilarious.
To see this scene after learning this story, you can stream Shrinking on Apple TV+. Then, make sure to check back in every Wednesday as new episodes continue to drop on the streamer.
