Shrinking season 2 episode 5 review and ending explained, "Honesty Era"

Shrinking season 2 episode 5, "Honesty Era," was all about telling the truth, and boy did a lot of characters have to come to terms with that. Sometimes it's not what you want to hear, but being honest will always set you on the right path. Especially when it comes to close family and friends. And many of the characters learned that in this episode, and some did not. Let's get into our review of the newest episode of the Apple TV+ series. SPOILERS BELOW.

Alright, let' start with Alice. While she herself did not come clean, Conner is the one who tells Summer that he and Alice slept together. Summer literally tackles Alice and starts to fight her. That girl definitely has some impressive strength. Oh my goodness. Conner had to be honest with his girlfriend, and this is definitely going to cost Alice her best friend. We'll see how things play out in future episodes.

Derek was so funny in this scenes. The nicest person in the show, and he really doesn't like Summer. He's pretty happy with this development which I find hilarious. This confrontation happened in front of everybody, so everyone is in the know about it now. Including Jimmy. However, even though the theme of this episode is honesty, Alice is still not able to tell her dad why she did what she did with Conner. Of course we know it's because she's still hiding the fact that she saw drunk driver.

And while she doesn't come clean, Jimmy has learned not to push her, even though he does try to guilt her. Alice also doesn't immediately get up to run away. She says it's because she's hurt from Summer tackling her, but I think part of it is also her character development as well. I think it's so sweet they got matching tattoos of Tia's initials. I hope to continue to see more father-daughter moments.

Then there's Gaby. She and Jimmy finally make up after also being honest with each other, and she and her sister also share some truths. Gaby's sister was an addict, and so all the responsibility of taking care of her and their mother fell on Gaby. And she's still punishing her sister for it. Though as Jimmy helps her realize, she shouldn't have to make up for it for the rest of her life. Friends tell each other truth, and Jimmy did just that which is what Gaby needed to hear.

Jimmy makes up with one friend while another gets mad at him. And this time that's Liz. Everything just kind of explodes and she blames all her frustrations and the things going wrong in her life right now on Jimmy. I mean, when he blurted out that she ran into her ex-boyfriend, Mac, Jimmy definitely should not have said that. Speaking of, did you recognize the actor? That would be Josh Hopkins, Christa Miller's (Liz) former co-star on Cougar Town!

Paul also comes to terms with the fact that he cheated on his ex-wife, and that's when everything went bad in terms of his marriage of course. As well as the breakdown of the relationship with his daughter as that's when the distance grew even more. But the two are able to reconcile, with Julie there too. However when it comes to Sean and his dad, unfortunately the same cannot be said here.

Sean tries to be honest with his dad about why he got into fights and acted the way he did when he returned from serving in Afghanistan. He explains he tried reaching out for help, but his dad didn't listen. And oh my goodness. I knew this guy was annoying and horribly selfish in a way, but I didn't know how much until he started yelling at Sean and not taking any blame. It's clear why he was reluctant to confront his dad, even though that's what Jimmy and Paul recommended he do.

Right when the episode was going to an end on a pretty positive note overall, I knew it would be too good to be true. Following his conversation with his father, Sean gets into a fight with the construction workers who have been leaving their bottles on their lawns after they got into that little tiff in episode 4. Oh, Sean. I just wanted to give him a big hug after his dad was being so rude and hard on him. And again after all the progress he's made, it's sad to see him in this place again.

I really liked Shrinking season 2 episode 5, I think it's been my favorite overall this season so far. I feel because of the theme of honesty, all of the characters actually made progress in their respective storylines. And some complications that were introduced at the beginning of the season are starting to be addressed. Of course there's still more to go. But the pacing of everything is really working for me as a viewer. Episode grade level: A.

Shrinking season 2 releases new episodes Wednesdays on Apple TV+. Follow along on Show Snob for weekly reviews and recaps of the series!