“Shrinking” star Lukita Maxwell breaks down Alice's 'moment of true forgiveness'

"Grief and pain is easier to share," the actress notes of Alice's big decision.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for episode 6 of Shrinking, "In a Lonely Place."

Sorry may seem to be the hardest word, but forgiveness is even more difficult.

On season 2 of Shrinking, every character is contending with that challenge — and in episode 6, Alice (Lukita Maxwell) was confronted with the prospect of meeting Louis (Brett Goldstein), the drunk driver responsible for her mother's death.

After Alice asks Brian (Michael Urie) to take her to meet Louis, the two visit Louis at his home. At first, Alice unloads on him, cussing him out and detailing all the things in her life that he has ruined. But as they speak further, she recounts a story of a special day at Disneyland with her mom, and then, she makes a surprising choice — she forgives Louis. "It's what my mom would've done," she says.

Related: Shrinking season 2 review: Jason Segel's therapy-com makes good progress

But is this just lip service as Alice tries to force herself to have a feeling she's not ready for? Or is it genuine? Maxwell believes it's the latter. "Entering Louis' apartment, she starts to piece together bits and pieces of who he is as a person," she tells Entertainment Weekly. "She's never been able to personify him before. It's the first time that she's confronted with his humanity."

"It is a moment of true forgiveness," she continues. "She's taking in his environment, the way that he speaks. He invokes a memory that she thought she had forgotten. He gives her this gift of another memory of her mother that she gets to keep in her precious mind box of memories. Ultimately, I do think it is true forgiveness because she sees the humanity in another person that has made mistakes."

We caught up with Maxwell to talk Alice's pivot to teenage behavior this season, why she slept with Connor (Gavin Lewis), and whether she's really ready to move on.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: From the moment that Alice finds out about Louis' existence and his visit to her dad, she has this morbid curiosity about him. What do you think is driving that for her? 

LUKITA MAXWELL:  She's in the part of her grief journey where she is drawn to him. She doesn't know why she's drawn to him, but she is searching for some closure for herself that ultimately becomes bigger than just her.

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She slept with Connor, and just, why girl why?

In season 2, Alice is stepping out of the parental role in her dynamic with Jimmy and is getting to be a teenager. We see her get to make mistakes and learn how to ask for forgiveness. Jason [Segel] and Brett [Goldstein] and Bill [Lawrence] talk about how it takes a village to raise Alice. We see her make these mistakes, but we also see her learn how to maturely be there for other people and ask them if they're okay and give support and become an equal to these characters that were caretakers for her in season 1.

Once she learns that Brian has been talking to Louis, she pretty immediately says, "I want to talk to him." Is that an impulse choice? Is it something she might not have done if she had thought about it a bit longer? 

Was it an impulse choice? I think so, but it was an instinctive choice and she has a very good instinct. Alice is very empathetic and very intuitive, and while Brian is giving this massive monologue about meeting Louis, she takes that time to digest and figure out what she wants to do. That monologue is enough buffer time for her to come to a conclusion about, "I need to see this person and I don't know why."

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When she gets there, she really unloads on Louis, just letting out everything that's been on her mind about him ruining her life and losing her friendships and her relationship with her dad. How cathartic is that for her to be able to say all that? 

Everybody experiences a different journey and path with grief. Alice being surrounded by all of these mental health guiders, Paul and Jimmy, she's expecting catharsis, and that's what she's searching for. But I don't think it's as satisfying to her in the moment as she expects it to be. And the catharsis comes when she forgives him. You can see that in the scene. You can see Alice unleash on Lewis, and we feel the collective pain, but we don't feel a catharsis as an audience or a lightness until that forgiveness is given.

Related: Harrison Ford says 'there will be singing' in forgiveness-focused Shrinking season 2

We get glimpses of Louis' life, like with a photograph of his former fiancée Erin. Are we going to learn more about his past this season? Is that something Alice wants to know more about?

I don't know if she necessarily wants to get to know his past so much as just being there for him. There is this devastating bond that they share that nobody else can understand other than him, her, and Jimmy. Grief and pain is easier to share. She can find a comfort in him. She just wants to be there for him and know that he's there for her.

This is something she did without telling her dad. How might impact that relationship, which it has gained a little positive ground the first half of this season? 

This is one of Alice's integral story arcs — this relationship that develops with Louis and how that affects her relationship with Jimmy. It brings out the maturity that she embodies, and we see her learn how to deal with that and ask for forgiveness, but also give forgiveness. It's a part of her grief journey.

Related: Shrinking star Luke Tennie on Sean's brutal approach to facing his demons: 'He was always hoping to get beat up'

Beyond Jimmy and Louis, is she going to look to date or expand her friend group further?

At the end of season 2, we'll start to see Alice move in the direction of moving on. To her that means reentering a greater society outside of her family and chosen family. In that greater world, we may see some romantic interests, yes. In the same vein, she is starting to open herself up to a bigger world, so potentially more friends. But the relationships that she has with these core people in her life are so invaluable to her. She really cherishes these relationships and isn't necessarily running to make new friends. She's moving cautiously into this bigger world, knowing external perceptions of her. She wants to go into this world and not be viewed as this young woman of great grief. She wants to move on from it all, and hopefully she makes friends along the way, but I don't think that she's necessarily chasing that. The core relationships are in her life fulfill her quite a lot. 

New episodes of Shrinking stream Wednesdays on Apple TV+.