Losing a patient leads Gaby to a crisis of confidence in Wednesday’s episode of “Shrinking.”
During the final moments of last week’s episode, we learned that Maya (Sherry Cola) had lost her battle with depression. When Episode 8 picks up, Gaby stands in the way, way back of Maya’s funeral. Toxicology reports for her late patient tested positive for alcohol, Xanax, and OxyContin, and the worst part is: They may never know whether her death was an accident or not.
“In the beginning of the season, we mentioned that Gaby is trying to move forward and she’s thinking about this idea of getting into trauma work,” Jessica Williams tells TVLine. “This is sort of her experimenting with ‘Jimmying’ and getting involved a little bit in this patient’s life and not really breaking through and then starting to break through.”
Despite exploring some new therapy techniques, losing her patient throws Gaby into a tailspin, forcing her to again question whether she’s pursuing the right career path — a running theme for the therapist who appears to be stuck and treading water in Season 3.
“I think that that’s a real learning curve for her and a steep one,” adds Williams. “It makes Gaby want to quit and she’s in a really dark place. But what is nice is that she then has to lean on her tribe to help pull her out of it, and that comes through in the way of Paul.”
On working with Harrison Ford
Echoing what many of her co-stars have told TVLine about working with the legendary Harrison Ford, Williams says Gaby and Paul’s scenes this season are some of her favorites she’s ever done as an actor.
“I get misty thinking about how lucky I am that I get to act with him,” she says. “It was a joy to play.”
Not only do Jimmy and Paul offer their support to Gaby at the office, but Paul joins her trauma support group at the MMA gym. It’s there where Gaby, Sean, Paul, Jorge, and the rest of the group are able to lean on each other and speak openly about the loss of Maya. They discuss the effects of cumulative grief and how current losses can trigger past ones. But at the end of the episode, Gaby decides to cancel all her appointments and take a much-needed break after all, ignoring Paul’s suggestion that she keep showing up to work.
“I’ve spent so much time moving into trauma work, I never even stopped to think if I should,” Gaby tells Paul through tears. “And that was a big f—king mistake because I suck at it.”
Despite her character’s deep loss and grief, Williams feels buoyed by the show’s strong team, which allows her to step up and deliver another home run of a performance.
“My job as an actor is to just show up and do the lines to the best of my ability,” she says, “and there’s a relief to that because I get to look at our amazing writing and our amazing directors and trust them, and be like, ‘Alright. Third season. Let’s freaking do it.’ I just feel very lucky.”
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