I don’t know about you, but I’m still thinking about Harrison Ford’s emotional speech from the Season 2 finale of Shrinking. It’s one of the show’s most vulnerable moments (which is saying a lot, because the series is full of them), and it’s an epic display of the legendary actor’s talents. So, it’s not hard for me to understand why two of the show's stars, Jason Segel and Jessica Williams, said this moment left the entire cast “weeping.”
While I’m so excited for Season 3 of Shrinking and desperate to know what happens next, some moments from Season 2 hit me so hard they’re still with me. One of those instances (which you can stream with an Apple TV+ subscription) was Paul’s Thanksgiving speech. During it, he addresses his morality, how his Parkinson’s will continue to impact him, and the love he has for everyone in that room.
Hearing him say “I’m leaning on you” and so vulnerably opening up about the challenges ahead was deeply impactful and tear-jerking. And during an interview with EW, Jimmy actor, Jason Segel, explained why, saying:
Here was my experience of doing it. To me, the highest definition of art is going through something personal on screen and letting an audience witness it. And this storyline is, without being one-to-one, so meta around Harrison and Paul. And Harrison standing in front of you, looking you in the eye as he did, he was so present looking each one of us in the eye and saying, ‘I don't know…’ — I might cry talking about it — ‘I don't know how much longer I get to do this job, but doing it with all of you has been an honor.’ These are things that we, Jessica and I, are going to get to have in our minds for the rest of our lives.
Jessica Williams went on to say that witnessing Ford perform this scene was “the best acting” she’d “ever seen in person.”
Both these points go along with what Michael Urie, who plays Brian, told me back when the finale aired. He explained that while Ford shows “no signs of slowing down,” “there’s an inevitability” that one day, everyone has to slow down and eventually stop.
That’s not an easy idea to comprehend, and it’s even scarier to think about when you are faced with it head-on. In the show, Paul is doing just that, because of his Parkinson’s. Season 2 showed him struggling to find the best way to take his medicine as he dealt with the physical challenges of the disease. In Season 3, it will likely impact him more, and that’s really emotional.
However, his strength is also inspiring. To that point, showrunner Bill Lawrence once said that Michael J. Fox (who will be in Season 3) informed how Parkinson’s was represented on the show, because they wanted to create "hopefully an inspiring" story for Paul, rather than a “sad or tragic” one.
Now, back to that scene, the Gaby actress reiterated that it was “a weeping sitch,” and after filming it, she was outside taking a moment when the Indiana Jones star came up to support her. Williams said:
Yeah, it was kind of a weeping sitch. And I remember after filming that, I needed a moment separate from everything where I could just sit with the weight of the moment and the work that he did. And I remember, it was funny, I was sitting somewhere on the lot and after that and found me, and he just sat next to me. And we just sat together in silence. Sometimes you can tell when someone's been a girl dad before. I don't know if that makes sense, but you can tell sometimes in older men, especially. I don't know, they just understand. And so he and I, we just sat next to each other.
In the scene, Paul makes a point that “we can get through anything if we have people to lean on.” The way Ford reacted to Williams right after that proves that point, and further exemplifies why this moment was so emotional.
Along with all of that, Segel noted that this scene probably gave the 1923 actor the chance to show off a part of his talent that he “never got to show” before. Shrinking does mark a big shift in Ford's filmography, as it was the first series he’d ever been a regular on. It’s also tonally so different than the action films we know and love him for.
So, seeing him perform in this way is also a reason to get emotional, because we really are watching a master at work.
All around, this moment proved why Shrinking is one of Apple TV+’s best shows and why Harrison Ford is so brilliant. There wasn’t a dry eye on set as he performed, and I have to assume viewers had a very similar response because I know I did.
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