Note: This article contains spoilers from “Shrinking” Season 3, Episode 4.
“Shrinking” star and co-music supervisor Christa Miller said her character Liz was more than horrified that her son Matthew overheard her raw and hurtful thoughts about him in Episode 4.
“I think that was mean, and I think Liz would never say things like that to her children,” Miller told TheWrap. “I think she felt like she was going to die that he heard that. I think it was really painful for her.”
Toward the end of the episode, Liz had grown exhausted of the shenanigans her son Matthew brought home — which, by the way, is another issue. He’s moved right back in with his parents after losing yet another job. By this point, tensions from Liz’s end with her son rose as high as Derek got when he accidentally ate a whole back of Matthew’s marijuana gummies. But it’s not until Matthew fails to show up at the hospital with the rest of the family that Liz could no longer hold back her frustrations.
After passing along some parenting advice to Brian (Michael Urie) while commiserating on her own children, Brian shared with her that he thinks all of Liz’s kids are great. But for Liz, Matthew is the problem child.
“Not Matthew,” Liz asserts. “His father was in the hospital because of his drugs, and he knew that and didn’t bother to show up. I somehow raised an asshole. I’m embarrassed by him.”
Just as she finished her sentence, Matthew entered the room, having heard all of his mother’s dark revelations. Visibly hurt, Matthew placed down a bag of his dad’s favorite fries he bought for him and walked out. Liz tried her best to apologize, saying it was not what she meant but the damage was done.
“Liz thinks she knows everything about parenting, and that she’s done all these things,” Miller explained. “We as parents, we all have made mistakes. No one’s a perfect parent. You make [mistakes] and then hopefully you learn from it.”
Many story plots in “Shrinking” are variations of the real-life events the show’s writers have actually experienced, including Miller’s husband and “Shrinking” co-creator Bill Lawrence.
Lawrence shared that he and Miller have raised three children that they are absolutely proud of, but he admitted that even he’s had some slip-ups of his own while parenting.
“The truth of it is my wife and I have raised three kids, and we think they’re all awesome,” Lawrence shared. “The other harsh truth is we have said things behind closed doors that we would be mortified by if they ever got out.”
He acknowledged sometimes parenting does require tough love, which is what is depicted in the show through Derek’s (Ted McGinely) decision to kick Matthew out of the family home.
“I do believe in sometimes saying some harsh s—t and challenging your kids,” Lawrence said. “And I think Ted McGinley does that to that kid when he says, ‘[I’m] kicking you out, I don’t think you’re trying that hard and it’s a f—king bummer.’ “
Lawrence added that the purpose behind the scene was to transparently show that while parents can be their children’s biggest critics, they’d never truly want to hurt them.
“In that particular moment, we wanted to show how mortifying it is to be overheard by your kid, who you would kill and die for, saying something critical,” Lawrence explained. “It’s happened to me, and it’s one of those, we call them ‘shiver stories.’ You ever have those things that you remember happened to you and you think about them years later and [are] just like, ‘Oh God.’ So, it’s just, it’s one of those.”
“Shrinking” releases new episodes Wednesdays on Apple TV.
