by Adam Ritchie, Contributing Writer
Created by Georgia Pritchett, a writer of Veep and Succession to name just two, from the podcast of the same name, The Shrink Next Door is the type of show I could sum up in 50 words, or 1,000. I’ll aim for somewhere in between, good reader, so you can continue with your holiday season.
Starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, with main support roles for Kathryn Hahn and Casey Wilson, the show begins with a flash forward of what is to come. Marty (Ferrell) is destroying a yard in the dark in the aftermath of what seems to have been a grand party. We immediately flash back to see the lead-up to this event.
It is clear from the outset that Marty is an exceedingly insecure and anxiety-riddled person burdened with running the fabric company his parents left to him. He is scared of confrontation to the point it brings him panic attacks, and he is also avoiding his ex-girlfriend who is demanding he pay for her vacation that they were supposed to take together. His sister Phyllis (Hahn) convinces Marty to begin seeing the popular psychiatrist Dr. Ike Herschkopf (Rudd).
Trying to find the source of Marty’s anxiety and social issues, Dr. Ike convinces Marty to recreate his bar mitzvah. Phyllis sees this is an odd therapeutic approach, but she goes along with it for Marty’s sake and because of Dr. Ike’s reputation. Over the course of the next few episodes, we begin to see Dr. Ike have more and more control over Marty, to the extent he forces him to eliminate Phyllis from his life, claiming she is toxic and controlling of him. Marty makes a late-night emergency call to Dr. Ike as Phyllis has stolen from him, and asks for him to accompany him to the family house in the Hamptons. Dr. Ike lights up when he realizes just how wealthy Marty is and doubles down on his manipulation of him.
As he is easily taken advantage of, Marty manages to be relegated to his own guest house while Dr. Ike’s family sleep in the main house. All the while, Dr. Ike manages to make it seem that these ideas are Marty’s and begins hosts parties every weekend at the Hamptons house to promote his own reputation, leaving Marty to be the cook and groundskeeper.
I manage to be angry at Dr. Ike for his devious cunning, and at Marty for allowing himself to be treated the way he does. But I also feel a great empathy for Marty, because he sees Dr. Ike as a guru and his best friend. They are both living the lives each other wants — Ike has a wife and two children, Marty is alone, but rich and with connections he doesn’t appreciate. Dr. Ike is so eager to make a name for himself he uses Marty under the guise of helping him, and it is clear he truly believes what he is doing is right.
The Shrink Next Door isn’t filled with characters you will necessarily like, but this is probably the exact reason it is worth seeing. A positive sign of my investment in any series or film is that it managed to draw genuine emotion from me, and for that reason alone I would recommend seeing this.
Ferrell and Rudd are so great in largely dramatic roles, that they managed to fool me into not realizing I was watching Ferrell and Rudd. There is some comedy here, but it is typically very subtle of the non-laugh-out-loud variety. I think Rudd is particularly great as Dr. Ike, as he develops on screen to a loathsome manipulator and self-promoting A-hole. Sadly, we don’t see a lot of Hahn but when we do, she really is fantastic too.
Grade: B+
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