Shrinking ‘Get in the Sea’ Review: Ted McGinley, Christa Miller shine in another incredible episode

Get in the Sea is mostly a positive Shrinking episode until the brutal, emotional, gut-punching ending.

Get in the Sea Overview and Star Rating

Throughout the season, Shrinking has dealt with the importance of honesty. From Paul’s (Harrison Ford) perspective, there’s never a time when delaying the truth will help. However, Liz (Christa Miller) learns that some truths hurt no matter what you utter. Miller and Ted McGinley are terrific in a heartbreaking, climactic scene.

Get in the Sea follows up Liz and Derek’s (McGinley) conversation with another lesson that shows how painful dishonesty can be. Over the last several episodes, Jimmy has never been better. Episode Seven continues the trend. He’s an excellent friend to Gaby and Brian while doling out good fatherly advice to Alice. However, the ending of the episode could send Jimmy spiraling. He sees Alice talking to Brian and Louis, the drunk driver who killed his wife. A crestfallen Jimmy is left speechless and walks away. Leaving Alice to utter a one-word summation that begins with the letter “F.”

Up to the heartbreaking ending, Get in the Sea is a pretty heartwarming episode. Jimmy factors into Gaby, Brian, and Alice’s stories, but most of his focus is on Dan (Mike C. Nelson). To help Dan overcome his social anxiety, Jimmy takes his patient around town as he goes about his day.

There’s a beautiful father-daughter therapy session where Jimmy advises Alice about repairing her friendship with Summer. Alice (Lakita Maxwell) listens to her dad, and she fixes her friendship.

Gaby (Jessica Williams) and Brian (Michael Urie) worry about separate relationship milestones. Brian is excited about adopting now. However, Brian and his husband Charlie become nervous once they hear they may be having a child soon, which makes the reality a bit scary. Gaby likes Derrick but is worried about sleeping with him. When she tries to set up a date at nearly every turn, she’s interrupted, putting a damper on the romance. However, Derrick’s a trooper, and his suggestion to get in the sea helps everyone calm down.

Dan tagging along with Jimmy is a ton of fun, but my only issue is hugging Jimmy at the end of the episode is just too easy. It seems unbelievable that Dan had that breakthrough in one day.

Overall, Get in the Sea is on par with last week’s excellent episode. At this point, Shrinking is one of the three best shows of 2024. It’s too soon to know where it will rank against Arcane and The Penguin, which are admittedly wildly different shows, but it’s definitely in the mix.

Shrinking is steaming on Apple TV Plus.

Here’s a breakdown of Liz and Alice’s story, which makes up the honesty theme of the episode.

Honesty

After seeing Mac at the end of the last episode, Liz runs into him at a coffee shop. He invites her to check out his microbrewery. Paul considers the situation but doesn’t linger. He’s there to meet his patient-turned-friend Raymond (Neil Flynn). Inside the coffee shop, Liz believes she and Mac can be friends. Paul and Raymond disagree.

Later, at the microbrewery, Liz kisses Mac. She leaves and gets a parking bench therapy session from Paul, during which he recommends being honest with Derek.

Unfortunately, Derek doesn’t take the news well. Throughout their marriage, Liz has always thrown barbs at Derek, and he’s constantly rolled with it because he thought they were solid. Liz pleads that they are, but Derek walks away, truly devastated.

Grief isn’t an Excuse

The situation between Alice and Summer continues to spiral out of control. Summer creates a TikTok video that shames Alice. While sympathetic towards Aliace, Jimmy and Sean can’t deny it’s catchy. Then, the two get into a fight out of school.

Alice wants the whole situation to end. After all, she was grieving when she slept with Connor. Using himself as an example, Jimmy points out that grief isn’t an excuse for neglecting others’ feelings. He quickly gets Alice to dig deeper into why Summer isn’t moving on from the situation.

Summer’s home life isn’t great. Connor was a bright spot in her life. Alice sleeping with him ruined it.

Alice visits Summer. They agree to be friends again.

Unfortunately, while she does fix her friendship, she may have broken her Dad again. After getting hugged by Dan, Jimmy sees Alice having dinner with Louis and Brian. Segal is excellent at radiating the betrayal through his reaction. I’m curious to see if Jimmy’s positive trajectory will go back down.

Get in the Sea Final Thoughts

This episode shines, offering heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. Segal, Miller, and McGinley’s performances are terrific. Add great comedy with a touch of emotion from Wayans Jr., Williams, and Urie; you have an excellent recipe for success. The only issue that is starting to become more prevalent is the lack of therapy work on the show. Taking Dan out on the town to work through his anxiety is great, but Jimmy’s plan shouldn’t have been a resounding success that ends in a hug.

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