Welcome to the Parenting Roundabout podcast. I'm Terry Morrow and I'm Catherine hileco. As parents and parenting writers, we can't help but see everything through a parenting lens. But as our kids have become adults, we find ourselves more interested in getting caught up on movies and streaming than I'm going over the same parenting topics over and over.
So since we're pretty sure we can find parenting wisdom anywhere, we're going to talk about what we're watching, what we thought about it, and maybe what we can learn from it, if only what not to do. Watch and listen along, and let's all make like we're doing something important for our families. Each Wednesday we bring you our thoughts on a newer entertainment property, and for this week of January twentieth, we're discussing the final episode Tears, of the second season
of Shrinking. It was called the Last Thanksgiving, Yes a rather ominous title.
It was. Before we get into this, I want to talk about the ending. Okay, we talk about the beginning, but even before we talk about the ending, I want to flashback to last week when we were talking about screens and how you said you're just not going to take the screens away from the kids, just not going to do it. Taking away screens almost cost a man his life in this episode. This is what happens. You take the phones in a box, somebody makes a cry
for help. It doesn't get hurt, does but he potentially did not get hurt. So let everybody keep their phones. You never know. Yeah, most of the time they're just going to be checking their social media, but you never know, Yeah, somebody might be collnfidence. Do you want that on your conscience? Gosh, if things had gone the way it looked like they were going to go, yeah, so much on the conscience.
But last year, I think we were united in thinking that the way they ended the first season was awful, and they everybody was all happy. They were at Brian and Charlie's wedding. This horrible year was over. They had more or less got themselves together. Broken relationships had been healed.
Everybody was great, and then Grace pushed her husband off the cliff, leaving us with the fear between the two seasons that it was the next season was going to be all about the repercussions of that legal professional personal It was just going to throw everything back into disarray and cause a whole new world of hurt and I hated it. Yeah, so we come to the second season and really, that whole plot line got kind of a eh,
never mind. Yeah, there was just minimal. I mean, Grace was in jail for a short while, but then the charges were dropped. There were no professional reprecations, repercussions whatsoever, which there would have been. There were no legal repercussions, which there should have been. So it was sort of like a huh huh, And Okay, that's fine. I was happy, excellent, excellent. Let's just wipe that all away. Let's forget it ever happened.
Let's move. So we get to the last episode of this and there's an other Thanksgiving party and everybody's all happy, and then we see Louis's I guess boss at the coffeehouse disinvite him to Friendsgiving because somebody amongst his friends knows that he knows what happened, which maybe we'll put that away to discuss later, huh. But an he sends
a note to he goes to the train station. He sends a note to Alice, but her phone is in a basket because Gabby has collected everybody's phones, and you know, they keep intercutting between the happy people at the party, just like the happy people at the wedding and Louis sitting there at the train station and getting up and standing right at the very edge of the track, and
the whole time. I watched this on Christmas morning, Christmas Eve morning when it dropped, sitting in the time share we were out on vacation, looking at my phone screen and yelling Bill Lawrence, don't you because they just I could totally see them doing that. It would be so mean, but it really really, I mean his toes were right at the edge of the track there. I mean, it was just and then you hear hey man and turn around and Jimmy is there, and the scene that follows
just made me cry. It was lovely and may be worth all the anger, but still, thank you, thank you for doing that. Again. I appreciate it. I like to look forward to this show instead of dreading it because, oh my gosh, even it ended the way it looked like it was going to end, there goes Jimmy and Alice's relationship. Alice is gonna blame herself, Gabby's gonna blame herself. Everything is just gonna be trash again.
Yeah.
Plus which I like bred Goldstein quite a bit. I would like him to his character to continue on the show in whatever capacity he is able. Right, So whew? That felt like Yeah, I mean I guess the joy, you know, the happiness of that ending, of the two of them finally talking and Jimmy realizing that this is really what.
He needs to do. Yeah, I mean, it's just.
Made so much more by the fact that it's not what it could have been. Right, We're just like, oh, great, great, sure, why do you know that how he plays that game with the person across the track? Hi, Alice told you it's fine. I don't care.
I don't care. I don't care.
What sort of true crime people do Your bosses are your boss's friends that they know just by your first name that you're that guy. Never mind, we don't care, right, So yay? Love the ending?
Yeah, I mean I did find I thought it was a little it was a little contrived, right to get don't care, to get Jimmy to that point and to get Lewis to that point. Yes, But like you, I was you know, just going no no, no, no, no, no, no no, you could just see.
Where it was going the moment he sends Alice a text and it rings in the basket.
Oh no, Yeah.
Many people I read on social media were angry that he would put that kind of pressure on a child that did he really have nobody else? I mean, he could have texted Brian theoretically, who also wouldn't have got it. And actually Jimmy would never have seen it, because I guess Alice must have looked at her phone and shown him. But yeah, I guess. But I just really feel like he had nobody else and he was trying to reach out, which is a good thing, which is what we want
people to do on this show. I think Paul said, we can get through anything if we have people to lean on, which is the theme of the show and also the theme of this little bit that Lewis hasn't had anybody to lean on, and Jimmy really hasn't allowed himself to lean So I think it was kind of nice that they And now whether he's just going to be sucked right into the friend group next year, it is a little weird.
That seems like a lot.
But also Bill Laurence said that Brett Goldstein is a busy guy, so it's unclear how much he will be able to be in, but you know they'll they'll make it work whatever they do. Is Derek to back now or was he just doing you know, a Thanksgiving blessing by coming by Gabby's and bringing making everything lovely? Yes, that guy's got great timing, not everything else.
He's so handsome.
Terry also he is you know who else is hot? Julie Julie is. We've heard them too, Wendy Malick. I'm so happy for you. You must really enjoy this. That's great and totally true. Baby, Yeah, kidnapping him in and out?
So cute.
They're so cute.
Of course they all have to be together for Thanksgiving. This is a sitcom.
Come on now, be a little mad to be missing the in and out myself. I haven't had that for so long.
You can go to in and out any other day.
Yes, that's true. They can go on the way home.
Yes.
So what do we think from a parenting point of view about lisbeing the nanny part time nanny because her superpower is being a mom and it's her purpose as being a mom. Do we feel like that's condescending and kind of gross or do we feel like, well, she did tell them from the very beginning, you better get this baby for me, and she did, like, you know, adopt Alice very readily. And also when there was a baby in the break room, she grabbed that baby and
was was momming that baby up. So it seems like she's sort of allowed for that definition of herself as well.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean if it was like, well, Liz is a woman, so she can be the nanny, that would be different, right than.
From because Liz is Liz.
Yes, I'm sure the other nanny will not enjoy having Liz be in charge of her and that will not last very long.
Yeah, although the other nanny was smart enough to talk directly to her instead of to the guys. Yes, so maybe she gets it right. But I you know, I don't think we've had the most glowing portrayal of Liz's sons in this They all seem to be kind of dumb and jerky. So if yes said the smart one.
Yeah, I mean I think dumb is it is not as bad as jerky, right, And they're not true really jerky, They're just the.
Older brothers are being jerky to the younger brothers.
Well, that's true, but that's and it's like.
Yeah, you know, they're just not not necessarily stuff for Liz to put on her resume. Look, I parented these three young men.
And look how great they are.
Take off that gap.
But yeah, but I mean how long has I mean, Charlie definitely hasn't really known live very long and and know the boys very well. And I don't know about Brian. You know, they're basically going.
They knew, they do know that Liz is kind of a pain in the bleep, right and is going to control everything in their lives now. But oh well.
They're willing at this point. They don't know what they're getting into.
Yeah, or if they do, they don't care. They're so frightened that they don't care. Overwhelmed, right, because they would have taken any one of those other nannies, which looked it's a spectacularly unpromised parade of nanny's.
As always on a TV show. That's right. I mean I never had a nanny because I did not want to manage a nanny.
Yes, I think that's a completely reasonable.
I did not want to be the boss. I didn't want to hire and fire people, I no daycare center, please, like, I will take your germs in exchange for the fact that there is someone in charge who isn't me.
Yeah yeah, oh my.
I mean I was. We had what I grew up having, basically nanny's. I mean they were never called nanny's because I don't think we heard of that term, but until I was in high school because I had younger siblings and we needed someone to drive us all around. But I knew when my kid was little, I was like, I can't, I can't.
We had for a while I was working like three days a week in the city and my husband had days off during the week, and we wound up needing somebody to meet the school bus because it was special eds, so they dropped off at the house. We need somebody home to meet the school bus and be there for like an hour or two maybe one day a week. Right, So we did have like a lady from church who did that for us and was very nice, and I
wish that I remembered her name or anything. But then at some point I stopped working and I started working at home, and then we never needed anybody, right, but I stopped working in that office, so but it was just the way our schedules worked. Somebody was home almost all the time. Except it's like one. There's always like one.
A little over make it work right.
So but it wasn't. It didn't feel like a nanny. It felt like a lady who came to our house one day a week and sat with the kids for two hours scaling. Soho, I guess we must have given her a key, so we trusted her that much.
But you just sit on the stoop with the children.
If it's winter, you can hear's a blanket.
You can maybe go around back. There's a there's a table out there.
We have a pool, you can go ice skating.
I didn't even like to have, you know, an evening babysitters, just for the same reason, like even you know, neighborhood teens. I would just be like, I don't need this is too too hard and I'm too lazy.
Yeah. I don't think we ever like did the teenage babysitter thing either. I think my husband's parents were in town. Yeah, and we also had friends who were from out of town but would come and sit with them if there was a reason, right, So between that, I think we just did because they would have been a little bit of a bit of a hand my son in particular, we'd been a little bit of a handful for a
teenage nanny. So it was very fortunate that we had people nearby, you know, and at one point my mother in law was living downstairs, so then we never even had to have somebody come over wed just you know.
So C's in charge.
You know, Liz would would do a great job, but she would tell you She's not just going to tell bat nanny what to do.
The guys, although I feel like they might they might welcome that because they feel pretty, they might out of their depth, so they.
This whole thing seems possibly poorly thought out. I feel like this all happened very quickly for them and that maybe is not for the best.
Yeah, that's television for you've been.
Married one season.
Yeah, well we need we need some big moments for season three.
So yeah, yeah, yeah, Well we could have been been celebrating another new child situation had summer not I guess procured her item at the drug store with Jimmy's assistant, right, how awkward was that? Very sweet that she is the one he was the one she would call to help right, and that it kind of got him off the hook with Alice. But wow, was that awkward? Yea, the old drug store guy going, I just want this to be right, you want this, Let's just let's just never mind.
I see what's happening here, and I'm just gonna walk away slowly.
Sweet. I get that you like calling people pimp in this situation.
Now is not the time.
Now, it's not the time. Oh something so much? Did you just catch a moment where there was in that little montage at the en where everybody was happy before Lewis almost jumped in front of the train, there was Liz and Alice were dancing, and Connor was looking at them and laughing, and Summer was looking at him like do I need to do another versa cheeter bitch for you? I wondered if that was if that was just something I was reading into it, or if it was a bookmark for next season.
Yeah. Interesting, I didn't catch that, But that doesn't mean it's it's not I.
Mean, she wasn't looking angry. She was just kind of looking at him like.
Like smiling this away exactly.
I mean, but it's his mother and his friend. He can smile at them dancing. I guess maybe he should be smiling it his girlfriend would be a good idea. And did you ever get apologies for his brothers who thought he made summer up?
I doubt it. I don't have that much faith in those two.
Last week I was asking whether you ever have that many women over as Julie had in Paul's Fortress of Solitary. This week, some things that occurred to me is, have you ever bounced boobs with your friend?
Done? Like?
This show just enjoys making up human behavior that does not exist in the wild. And that's fine, it's funny, it's amusing, but really really, yeah, that's the secret small ones. So I don't do too much along those lines.
Yeah, same heres.
People are weird. But I was happy to see the lady from the art gallery back. I can see her. Oh yeah, that's around the edges of this thing.
Gabby's ex'es X right.
X yes, yeap. Bonding through mutual xs. That's the thing that happens. It's weirdly. The guy I dated in high school wound up dating somebody who became a friend of mine after they dated, and we're like just talking and all of a sudden it develops who we both dated weird, so we didn't exactly bond over it, but it strengthened door balls.
It came up later. Yeah, well someone in my book club is in there because she briefly dated the ex husband of someone else in the book club and she was like, I need friends. Like I don't know exactly how, like what the timing of it was, but but yeah, that's how she got connected to our book club. And it's just like shrinking and she's she's married to someone else, the ex husband's married to someone else that you know, it's every it's all far in the past at this point.
But yeah, it was. I was like, you know, that's kind of that's brave, like like I need to meet people. I want to meet some women. And she actually somehow reached out to our friend who's in the book club and good for her.
Wow. Wow, it sounds like a sitcom.
Yeah, yeah, that's great, the club sitcom. There you go.
Well, few other parenting things I wrote down in this. This was in addition to having the beg ending to talk about how a lot of parenting.
Yes, it did.
The scene where he goes to Gabby's house and Alice knows he's there, but doesn't want him to know. She doesn't want to come down and talk to her, but she does yell out to him, so he knows she's there and ignoring him. That's some that's some passive aggressive stuff going on there and sounds familiar a teen, yes, but also very sweet that Summer says to him, you really give a bleep, don't you? So she can she
can see that he cares about her friend. So maybe she just made up that whole thing at the drug store. Just give him something to do that will get Alice say what a good friend? She is a front to everybody. And Sean had that little talk with Alice. Yeah, was saying that Paul said to him, if you only love someone hoping they'll change one day, that's not love, and that his dad has earned that from him, even if he says I love you by thinker right.
Yeah, Sean was like the only person who wasn't at the big Thanksgiving, Yeah, and it was fitting that he was. It was at home with his own family, so it's very nice.
A little odd that everybody was doing the thank you thing, but.
Well, I just feel like that's just something that happens, had a lot of Thanksgivings.
It is, it is and nicely done that it started with him and then went back to the party. The scene where Paul and his friend are in the coffee shop and Jimmy comes in and everybody wants a piece of his I do that to my kids if they get a dessert, I have to have I actually I.
Just a little taste.
Yeah. Yeah, my son walks around the box of crackers. Mom tas it's very generous. He gives me more crackers than I would have taken. It's not very well for me, but relate to them. And a little weird that that guy wound up at the Thanksgiving dinner. But I guess Julie told Gabby to invite him, but only if they were going well.
I guess Julie knew she was. She was gonna go, you know, drag Paul there that.
The conversation between Jimmy and Alice, when Jimmy finally talked to her, and then she comes out with this very sweet thing that she says to him that could let him off the hook, but you have to do it anyway. And then he says, you are who you are. This amazing woman in spite of me.
Sniff sniff, and then.
She remembers all the good things. That was very nice, very I mean, of course that's the way it went and a little a little neat, but still, you know, brought it here to my mothering aunt. Yes, I try to take, you know, responsibility for all the bad things that have happened like that. And my kids don't want to hear him, so Deli glice, Yeah, yeah, they're just they're at Alice post tantrum and talk with Sean like, yeah, we've been over this. Never mind, You're fine, You're good,
You're good. It's all good. Right.
So do you have season wide thoughts as well?
Well? I've heard Bill Lawrence say that the first season was about grief and the second season was about forgiveness, and I think they did that really well, and that the third season is going to be about moving on.
So that's why they'll need Kobe Smolders.
That's right. I'm assuming Kobe Smoulders is going to be part of that, and that I hope Derek too will be part of that. Yeah, but it really did end with everybody kind of getting their bleep together and resolving things, right, and getting into a good place, you know, Gabby has maybe not. I'm not sure if Derek two is back forever or just back to be hot and magnanimous for one more time, but he should be. She's like come to terms with why she does what she does. She
must be very difficult when you're a therapist. I mean, gosh, how could she not have done, you know, well, heal thyself well?
And I mean I thought that all.
Therapists, I should not be able to heal it.
So I thought that all therapists were in therapy themselves.
I would have thought so, But none of these people say, I know, and they really need it.
Just shows just Paul barge In yelling at them from time to time.
One thing I was left wondering by this is how tall was Gabby's dad, Because she's like a head and shoulders taller than her mother and her sister. I mean when she went to hug her mother when she came for Thanksgiving, which is very sweet. I loved that the way they did that. But she called she's just like it is like in completely enveloping her in this hug
from like a ball. It's it's it's odd. Yes, very short, Oh, well, I'm just gonna believe that her dad was a famous basket most Yes, like one of those guys who's not Dancing with the Stars dancing with Danielle. Oh, well, I could talk about this for a long time.
Yeah, well this was really good.
I do like the idea of grief and then forgiveness, and the way they incorporated forgiveness all the way through in this, including uh, you know, Liz and Derek and their thing. Yes, and Summer and Connor and everybody just sort of from from relatively small scale offenses.
To yes, too much larger ones.
Yes, they all managed to get to a point where they could be where they can move on. So I very much look forward to seeing what that looks like next season. Yeah, except then, if everybody has their leap together and they move on, is there a fourth season? Right at the end, it makes me worry for the end of next season because they're gonna oh crud, we got to mess stuff up.
No.
I like watching people who are happy, watching people are happy and make jokes and have fun with making series for ten years. We do not need grief and drama, not a perio acquisite. No exactly, Let's have fun.
Yes, well, we are going to try to continue to have fun because next week we're going to start a new series. We're just gonna speaking of moving on, We're gonna move on. It's called A Man on the Inside, a comedy that is connected to some of our past faves like Parks and rec and The Good Place because it is part of the Mike Sure everse. And it starts Ted Danson also The Good Place as a retiree who goes undercover at in Home and hijinks and sue.
I guess Sally Struthers, isn't it.
Well, that's why she's in the news right now.
Also Susan Rutten, who was on La Law. Oh yeah, many many, many years ago, are amongst the residents of said said nursing home retirement home. I think it is more than a nursing home. Okay, they do they say nursing home.
I believe, I am dB said nursing home.
But the old folks go, yeah, you know, take guard classes and exactly maybe steel jewelry.
Yeah. So we're gonna start with the first episode.
And also I should say that the head of the nursing home or the person in charge is Stephanie Beatrice, who was right from Brooklyn almost unre recognizable. She does not look like Rosadias at all. And yeah, and she was also in One Day at a Time, which we watched a little bit.
Thank you.
Okay, so I wanted to mention that, Yeah, it is an extra draw for anybody, but come watch it with us. It's fun. I watched one episode of it so far.
Yeah, it's on Netflix. Yes, and we'll just watch the first one. Yeah, next week, Okay, and we'll see you back here tomorrow for our weekly Roundabout round up.
Thank you for listening. You can find all our episodes on spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can find recaps, links and an opportunity to comment on our website at parentingroundabout dot com.
You can also talk to us on our Facebook page, on Instagram or on Twitter, where you'll find us at roundabout Chat. And please visit our Amazon shop at Amazon dot com, slash Shop slash mamitude. But you can find links to a lot of the things we've talked about over the years.