In season three of Shrinking, Gaby (Jessica Williams) gets a new patient in Maya (Sherry Cola), who is initially quite resistant to therapy. The two soon see their relationship evolving into a friendship, though Maya is still struggling to find her footing and get back to a good place as Gaby also navigates her own developing romance with Derrick (Damon Wayans Jr).
Awards Buzz spoke with Williams about how her storyline with Maya feels sadder than usual with no silver lining:
“Death is like that sometimes though, and grief too. I find death, when someone dies, you don’t usually get the luxury of the person being like, and I feel like A and I feel like B and now I’m going to die. It’s usually like, and I feel like, and then the person dies, and so you’re having this conversation and you just don’t get to finish. A lot of death is just living in that, I wonder what if. What could I have done differently? That’s such a big part of death and grief and in this case, Gaby is not an exception. I really loved the way that that played out because my experience with grief has been very similar.”
She doesn’t believe this show changed her perspective on therapy, but it has shown her other things:
“I was already a therapy person. I think you can tell when people go to therapy because they’re talking about being in therapy, and I was someone who’s been like that for the last ten years. A lot of times, people have me play teachers and therapists, and every part that I’ve had has been that basically, and so to play a therapist, I think the key is, one, trusting the writers because they’re doing the research and I get to lean on them and I just get to play the moment. But also just looking like you know what you’re talking about is usually the key to playing a doctor or a therapist. So, no, it didn’t change how I felt about it at all. It changed my paradigm about what I thought a job could be. The show shoots in LA, which I didn’t think I’d ever be in a show that shoots in Los Angeles. I really enjoy my castmates and we all want to see each other succeed and it’s a real yes-and environment. There’s no real failing. We all really support each other and I go to work really excited to spend time with the crew and to be with other actors that I really enjoy and am fans of. So, if anything, it showed me that you know this is possible, to have a job that you really like that is really fun to do that you get healthcare from.”
Watch the video above to hear her thoughts on her 84-year-old costar Harrison Ford and reflections on being part of the “Black season” of Love Life.
The first three seasons of Shrinking are streaming on Apple TV.
