Atypical: Season 3, Episode 7 “Shrinkage” – Recap, Review (with Spoilers)

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For Elsa, Sam, and Casey, one of the most important relationships in their life meet a crossroad, and while their choice isn’t surprising, it makes the pending fallout worrisome.

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Network
Netflix
Director(s)	Annabel Oakes
Writer(s)	Bob Smiley, Nicole Betz
Air Date	11/1/2019

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Recap

Just When I Thought We Could Be Good: Doug, Elsa

Elsa discovers Fleetwood Mac tickets, and with this discovery, she thinks Doug is trying to be romantic and relive their first date. However, with the realization he is going with Megan and the support group, Elsa realizes she has been waiting for nothing and decides it is time to separate. To which Doug doesn’t really protest.

Comment Down Below

1. Do you think Doug left those tickets out to intentionally hurt Elsa?

De-Homied: Bob, Zahid, Gretchen, Sam

While Bob is away in Jamaica, with his wife possibly cheating on him right under his eye, Zahid is interim manager. Making it so, when Sam does inventory and finds out Gretchen stole a Fitbit, he feels obligated to say she stole it to Zahid. To which he doesn’t believe Sam and then when Sam shows evidence, he asks of Sam to let it go.

As you can imagine, that’s not possible. So Zahid switches tactics and tries to guilt Sam, and then Sam decides to show Zahid how much Gretchen is changing him. Be it Zahid no longer living by the ways he told Sam he would, making his clothing less colorful, or changes his morals to allow for Gretchen to fit within them, Sam picks him apart. Hence why Zahid decides to deconstruct Sam’s idea of a relationship and paint Sam and Paige as something shallow.

Which, between that statement and being told to do the right thing, it leads Sam to say what Gretchen did to Bob, and that leads to not only her being banned, but Zahid on thin ice. Thus the friendship potentially being over.

Comment Down Below

1. How much of what Zahid said was how he really felt or was just out of anger?

Equally Yoked: Izzie, Casey, Evan

Casey has long been conflicted about the Evan or Izzie situation, and Izzie living with her, sleeping in her bed, and them being inches from one another’s face, it becomes a bit much. In fact, it leads her to distance herself from Izzie and try to double down with Evan, but his unavailability complicates that. Add in her having trouble running to the aptitude she usually does, and it creates a bit of chaos in her life.

But, as she is dealing with having options, Izzie is trying to get a grasp on what happened? She opened up and then got shut out, and coming from where she does, that is really hard to process. So she confronts Casey, who she seems to think is rejecting her, and Casey’s reaction is kissing Izzie.

Now, whether that was to keep her close, because she felt guilty, or what? That’s hard to say. The only thing that is fact is Casey has done as her mother did, and that is cheat on her significant other. Which, as she reconciles that, both the cheating and how she did what Elsa did, should lead to some interesting growth opportunities.

Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs

Review

Highlights

Elsa Finally Separating From Doug

Elsa’s separation has been a long time coming, and it’s great she finally admitted it to herself. Granted, breaking off from someone you’ve known half your life, have kids with, and has been there during many chapters of your life is hard. Especially when the reason you know it is over is something you can pinpoint and say you caused.

Yet, at the same time, it has been clear Doug not only won’t forgive Elsa but wants to be petty. For this whole Megan thing, it seems way too much in Elsa’s face and with him knowing her as he does, it seems he found the perfect ways to get on her nerves and make her go crazy. The Fleetwood Mac tickets are especially a surefire sign he wanted to be an ass for leaving that near where Elsa waters Paige’s plants, where Megan left her jacket, you know that was on purpose. So him being surprised by Elsa’s decision to separate is either him playing dumb or him being honestly stupid.

Though, with him doing that, maybe we might see more of Elsa’s mom and get to know her?

On The Fence

Casey Cheating On Evan

Here is the thing, when it comes to Casey’s love triangle, there has never been a drive towards her being with Izzie or Evan in a way that pushed you to have a favorite. Yes, Evan isn’t always the best boyfriend but he has reached a point with Casey that Izzie hasn’t where he is bound to slip up. Yet, there is chemistry with Izzie that you can see Casey doesn’t understand and as much as her mom cheating ruined her life, to a certain degree, Izzie isn’t like Elsa’s bartender.

When it comes to Izzie, she isn’t an escape or a distraction. She is someone who gets Casey and has similar interests. Also, unlike Evan, Izzie seems able to adapt to Casey’s life and not expect them to live in a bubble of just them or what makes Evan comfortable. And while Evan is working on bettering himself, so comes the question of whether you should stick with someone who has potential or a person who is progressing towards being the best they can be. Without you having to push them.

Sam De-Homied

The issue with Sam being de-homied is that it does feel sudden. Gretchen, like a whirlwind, came in and while it was noticeable she was changing Zahid, mostly by dampening his style, there was the need to recognize maybe his childlike state was due to him suffering from arrested development. However, now there is this push to show that maybe it isn’t that Gretchen is a negative influence as much as she is showing Sam that he has seen Zahid with rose-colored glasses. If not, because Zahid was perhaps amused by Sam, that is why he was so friendly?

It’s hard to say, but I think it is clear that with Zahid having a girlfriend, it has given him the kind of ego that is toxic. Which, let’s be real, was always there, but harmless. So with putting down Sam’s relationship and perhaps showing his true form, it should be interesting if this is the end or whether Zahid will wake up and maybe figure a way to recover things with Sam.

 

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