Five minutes into the season 2 premiere of Shrinking, grumpy octogenarian therapist Paul (Harrison Ford) tries to avoid a difficult conversation with his colleague Gaby (Jessica Williams) by turning on the car radio and singing along to The Outfield’s 1985 banger “Your Love.” It’s a direct callback to the most talked-about moment in season 1 — Harrison Ford sings Sugar Ray! — but Shrinking wants us to know that it’s evolving.

“Hell no! We not doing that today,” Gaby scolds, switching off the radio and returning to the topic Paul so wanted to avoid.

In season 2 of the feel-good comedy — starring Jason Segel as a therapist who tries radical honesty with his patients — everyone is forced to confront some hard truths in hopes of learning to move past them. Based on the seven episodes (out of 12) made available for review, Shrinking is ready to let its characters roam beyond the boundaries of its initial, high-concept premise, which results in some satisfying (and funny) self-actualization.

The new episodes pick up shortly after we left off 18 months ago. Widowed therapist and father Jimmy Laird (Segel) is finally in a good place with his teenage daughter, Alice (Lukita Maxwell), but his new style of therapy has not been without its consequences. After pushing her abusive husband, Donny (Tilky Jones), off a cliff last season, Jimmy’s patient Grace (Heidi Gardner) is languishing in prison. And Jimmy realizes that he's blurred the lines between friendship and therapy with his patient Sean (Luke Tennie) — a young veteran with PTSD and anger issues — and it's keeping him from making real progress.

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Jimmy’s officemates have their own issues. Paul frets about being a burden to his neurologist-turned-girlfriend, Julie (Wendie Malick), as his Parkinson’s progresses, while Gaby is forced to admit that she wants more from her no-strings-attached relationship with Jimmy.

Created by Segel, Bill Lawrence, and Brett Goldstein, Shrinking spent most of its first season letting Jimmy’s adventures (and misadventures) in no-filter therapy drive the story. It’s a fun hook, but not a particularly sustainable one, and in the new episodes, Lawrence and Co. have the confidence to delve deeper into all the core characters’ issues. Jimmy’s best friend, Brian (Michael Urie), panics over his fear of parenthood after his husband, Charlie (Devin Kawaoka), raises the idea of adopting a baby. Gaby clashes with her sister (Courtney Taylor) over how best to handle their elderly mom (Vernee Watson) and her failing eyesight. Alice has a lapse in judgment that upsets her best friend, Summer (Rachel Stubington, in a standout turn). And Sean has no idea how to cope with long-simmering resentment toward his father (Kenajuan Bentley) after the two of them unexpectedly reconnect.

The writers struggle a bit more to settle on an arc for Liz (Christa Miller), Jimmy’s bossy, buttinsky neighbor. Her story begins to jell around an idea, one I’d tentatively describe as “ill-advised,” by the midpoint of the season. So far, the biggest problem with Shrinking season 2 is how much time it devotes to the Jimmy-Gabby situationship, which felt more like a throw-it-at-the-wall plot device in season 1 than anything worth exploring further. This time around, the fallout from their friends-with-benefits hookups seems designed to generate conflict rather than character growth. “I am so bored with this shit,” groans Paul, after another tense interaction between Jimmy and Gaby at the office. “Everyone is.” Correct.

Otherwise, the new episodes deliver plenty of the dynamics that worked so well in season 1: Gaby and Liz’s deepening friendship, based on truth-telling and making fun of Jimmy; Paul and Jimmy’s reason-versus-emotion antics; and Ted McGinley — as Liz’s affably Zen husband, Derek — with anybody. The scene-stealing actor has a bigger presence in season 2 (including an all-too-brief moment with Ford), but frankly, it’s not enough.

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Shrinking does occasionally aim straight for the tear ducts, but the series excels at leavening heavy moments with ridiculous humor. (See: Jimmy arguing with Paul after losing two of his front teeth. “I did not make a mithtake with Thean. He ith my biggetht succeth story!”) Segel can make the pronunciation of a single word funny (his twist on “undergarment” is a hoot), and his outstanding costars flourish with their expanded screen time. No one throws a tantrum like Urie, and Williams has perfect comedic and romantic chemistry with Damon Wayans Jr., who joins the cast as Derek’s friend, also named Derek. And yes, co-creator/writer Brett Goldstein also makes several appearances this season, but Apple TV+ would very much prefer that I not tell you who he plays. (The role is about as far from Roy Kent as he could get.)

“Listen, man, triggers are everywhere,” Jimmy tells Sean in the season premiere. “You can’t hide from your past forever.” It's foreshadowing, of course — for Jimmy and pretty much everyone in his orbit. This season, though, Shrinking reminds us that hard truths are usually no match for hope. Grade: B+

Shrinking season 2 premieres Wednesday, Oct. 16 with two episodes on Apple TV+.