A ‘moment we knew was coming’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Shrinking” Season 2, Episode 4.

“Shrunk” star Luke Tennie says that the explosively physical scene in episode 4 between Jimmy (Jason Segel) and Sean (Tennie) was spur-of-the-moment and ultimately viewers knew would happen sooner rather than later, adding that he conjured momentum in that scene from a casting note he received when he first auditioned for the role.

“It’s a moment we knew was coming because we hadn’t really seen it,” Tennie told TheWrap in an interview. “We saw Sean snap in episode 1, season 1, to protect somebody. We’ve never really seen Sean just lose it without a real understanding of what the catalyst was. So that was exciting, but most of the preparation came from really just to dig into Sean’s birth for me.”

For those who need a reminder, Sean — a military veteran who now lives with his Jimmy (who is also Jimmy’s therapy patient) — has been working to control his anger, PTSD, and family drama since Season 1. In Season 2, Episode 4, Sean is still trying to forgive Liz (Christ Miller) for selling her stake in their food truck business to Sean’s father Tim (Kenajuan Bentley). At first, he works well with his father, but when his father makes his decision to remove Sean from their family home, fails to acknowledge the role he has played in Sean’s anger issues, and takes credit for Sean’s newfound growth, Sean deals with it with grace in the moment, but ultimately suppresses his feelings.

Things boil over later in the episode when Jimmy confronts Sean about how he mishandled some rude road workers (whom he almost punched), prompting Sean to reveal what has aggravated him: his father.

When Jimmy tells Sean that he can’t blame his father, that he didn’t know what he was up to, and that his father failed him in that incident, Sean catches Jimmy.

“Hey, this is f—ing complicated, isn’t it? He’s a good man, okay?!” Sean says to a stunned Jimmy to his face, absolving his father of any blame.

“He loves me. He wore himself out for me and I put him through too much, so I don’t want to hear you talk about my father!” Sean says as he pushes Jimmy.

Jimmy de-escalates the situation by asking Sean to talk about it. Sean, visibly shaken by his own actions, apologizes. Tennie told TheWrap that the energy that filled that scene was partly from a note he received earlier before signing on to the show, as well as from the dialogue that was written into the script.

“What’s so unique about that moment for me was that it forced me to go all the way back to my audition, which for me was the birth of Sean. And I remember getting notes from casting, from the direction , that “we should feel tension between Sean and Jimmy. It should almost seem like Jimmy is at risk of being in this room with such a volatile character.” And what we’re seeing now is the review from the first note, the adjustment that I got.”

He continued: “It’s always been under every moment of joy that Sean’s had, there’s always been a little bit of that hair-trigger. And of course it has to be there, because we know this is true of this character.”

This week’s episode, titled “Made You Look,” had a lot going on. Between Alice dating her boyfriend’s boyfriend and Brian’s (Michael Urie) husband expressing his desire to adopt a child, there was a lot to juggle. But showrunner and executive producer Bill Lawrence knew the perfect person for the job: “Bad Monkey” and “Scrubs” star Zach Braff, who directed the eventful installment.

Lawrence says it’s always been important to him to keep gold star talent like Braff — who also directed Episode 3 — in his universe.

“If I love someone and they’re super talented, I’d be an idiot not to keep them in my world,” Lawrence told TheWrap. “And Zach Braff is in ‘Bad Monkey,’ one of the leads in ‘Cougar Town’ Bob Clendenin is in ‘Bad Monkey.’ There’s an easter egg that you might have noticed in this episode when they showed a picture of Brett Goldstein’s fiancee in one of those scenes (played by Meredith Hagner). She might look like the female lead in ‘Bad Monkey’ coming over in this.”

He continued, “So for me it’s a gift to get to collaborate with my friends. And Zach is a tremendously gifted director; got an Emmy nomination for directing ‘Ted lasso.’ He’s a great performer. I’m looking forward to keep — whatever I keep doing — pulling all the actors and actresses and writers from this show into the next one. That’s part of the fun for me.”

Braff opened up about directing the episode in an Instagram post on Wednesday, saying, “I’ll be honest with you … tonight’s episode of ‘Shrinking’ is a dud. Episode 4 of Season 2 is the second episode I directed this season. Wait until you see these performances.”

“Shrinking” releases new episodes Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

The post ‘Shrinking’ Star Luke Tennie Unwraps Explosive Scene Between Jimmy and Sean in Episode 4: A ‘Moment We Knew Was Coming’ appeared first TheWrap.