SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils Episode 6 of Shrinking Season 3 titled “Dereks Don’t Die.”
As if 650 milligrams of THC weren’t enough in Episode 4, Derek Bishop (Ted McGinley) faces an even greater challenge in Episode 6 of Shrinking Season 3.
In the words of McGinley’s costar Christa Miller, the accidental high could be called a “blessing in disguise” because it exposed an abnormality about Derek’s heart to the doctor when he went to the ER. Midway through Episode 306, titled “Dereks Don’t Die,” an EKG makes it clear that he needs bypass surgery for a blocked artery to prevent a “widowmaker” heart attack, but the surgery doesn’t come without risk.
“I’ve known a lot of guys in that situation, and you really don’t know, especially if it’s a widowmaker, anything can happen. If you’re going under, a lot can happen. So I understood that really clearly,” McGinley told Deadline. “They wrote it beautifully, and they allowed it to be played in a really honest way. And it was touching. When I read it, I wept like a baby, and when playing it, I was trying not to. You spend half your life on this show trying not to cry. There’s so much to grab onto.”
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Not only is Derek overwhelmed with what could happen, as he expresses what could be his final words and thoughts to his close friends and his wife Liz, but the stress on her can also be felt towards the end of the episode. Jimmy (Jason Segel) consoles her and gets Matthew (Markys Silbiger) to go support her through the process.
“It’s my favorite part because what you really see in that moment is you see their relationship because she’s so tough, and she’s such a hard read, but in that moment, there is no disguising how she really feels about Derek,” McGinley said. “And I think it’s so beautiful. She plays so many difficult things in the show, and she’s always walking this razor’s edge. I love that you see this little scared girl who’s afraid to lose what she loves and get hurt. And I love that Derek always sees her. He sees the person underneath that exterior, and that’s who they are. That is the relationship. It’s very real.”
Miller saw it as a wake up call of sorts for Liz.
“My prep on that, it gave me a great tool. I thought, ‘This is a turning point for Liz. She’s been looking for a purpose. She’s been unhappy that the kids aren’t there, and what was she going to do?” the actress and show’s music supervisor told Deadline. “I felt this was a blessing in disguise for her, because the person that she could have fun with, who she laughs with, who she has great sex with, will do all these [things with] is right in front of her. I think it hits her, facing his mortality, that this is the person. So it’s doubly shocking.”
McGinley did initially worry that he wouldn’t have a future on Shrinking when he saw what was in store for Derek this season.
“I had the discussion [of whether he would die]. I was scared to death. He gets high, and then he has to go to EKG. I was like, ‘Hey, hang on, hang on. Where are we going?’ And they like to leave me out there, and it was scary,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, my God, they’re writing me out.’ It was scary. And they had some fun with that. Of course they let me ride for a while. I was scared to death.”
He also reflected on his time on the show and Derek’s expanding role as the seasons have come and gone.
“I literally was a day player in the first season. I didn’t know I was going to do the second one, and then they kept him around. I thought, ‘Oh my god, please, please.’ And I would hear the cast talking about these kind of moments, where they were all together, and I thought, ‘I would give anything,’” he said. “And then Derek caught on in Season 1, only because the writing was brilliant. They created a Frankenstein, in a way. And Season 2, we got to see a lot more of Derek, and I was honored that the writers trusted him and gave him more to do. Season 3, I could not believe what they were entrusting me with, and the biggest moment for me was when I saw how the other characters reacted to when [they] didn’t know what was gonna happen to [Derek]. It broke my heart, and I felt so great for Derek. It’s such a weird line as the actor playing Derek, but it just was so real. It touched me in an amazing way.”