What a strange gotcha that is meant to be. No, fortunately I haven’t experienced that specific tragedy, but have had many other elders in my life slowly decay into other harrowing diseases. My issue with the show is with the writing, the cheese of it all, and the falsity of every relationship portrayed, it almost weakens the representation it’s trying to give. Harrison Ford is the saving grace of this show. He might be the only one giving an authentic performance.
I’ve had a friend stop watching the show because reliving her grandfather’s Parkinson’s through it was too much. That was partly the basis of my asking, curious whether or not those not connecting either had too little of that experience or too much of that experience and shut it down accordingly. For me, it feels far more lifelike to balance the heavy and the light than to just create a show of relentless heaviness or relentless cheese. Every single family funeral I’ve gone to has involved tears and laughter. Art that reflects that human dichotomy feels way more real and genuine than art that doesn’t. Sitcoms just throw it in an artificial framework because that’s the format and a way to convey story. None of our lives would make great sitcom formats.
I've stopped many shows for this reason. However, Shrinking just got where the "corny" wasn't funny to me and the emotionality wasn't as enjoyable. I still liked the characters, it just didn't feel fresh. So the emotionality isn't specifically why I stopped Shrinking. I might try to pick it up somewheres and join in, dk. Not trying to hijack the thread here ha. For me, a show like Scrubs does the perfect push and pull, it was just that I loved Shrinking so much but then quickly felt like I stopped getting anything out of it as it circled the same themes and characters that seemed caricatured of their originals.
Caricatures is a good word. The characters stopped feeling authentic. The way the show is filmed doesn’t help in that it constantly looks like iPhone portrait mode. My wife and I still keep up with the show every week. It gives us a few laughs—and a nice, light way to decompress, but neither of us are moved by it anymore. I will say I was a big fan of s1.
Yeah not Parkinson's, but my grandmother died after a very long bout of dementia, my grandfather from a rare lung condition, my other grandfather from prostate cancer, and my other grandmother from dementia and cancer But Paul's story isn't the only story in this show. That's why I asked how do we continue this show after him
My guess is they do similar to the succession final season and he makes it until midway/quarter way through next season. I think he retires to end this season and we get a few episodes of him being retired grumpy
Would watch a season of Jimmy and Brian doing musicals with Harrison Ford in the background reacting/eventually joining in.
End of this episode kind of reminded me of the end of that Scrubs episode when JD tells Dr. Cox, “You said it yourself, the moment when you blame yourself for other people's deaths there is no coming back” and Cox responds with “You know what? You’re right.”
I'm confused what Matthew's business venture is. Scalping shoes? Haha. Are we supposed to like scalpers now?
Oh I know that was my buddy's favorite hobby all through high school with Air Jordans haha but it's still just scalping