Brett Goldstein (best known as the shoulderless and foul-mouthed Roy Kent on Ted Lasso) should not be allowed to write for TV. Not one believable word came out of the mouth of any of the characters in this episode. His writing is self-consciously "look-at-me-aren't-I-cute-and-clever", gross, and full of expletives but it's not identifiable as anything real humans would say. The character's do not do what real humans would do. The premise of the series had promise but one can't care about any of the characters when the writing is designed to call attention to itself. There are other problems with Shrinking, most notably the casting of Harrison Ford, 80, as an actively employed therapist and the costume designs for Alice, the endlessly swearing (bad writing again) and overly-sexualized teenage daughter. Good writing allows a viewer to lose oneself in the story. I've had trouble engaging with the stories from the very beginning of this series and this episode is the one which caused me to permanently shrink from Shrinking.
Review of Apology Tour
