Round Two: The Shrink Next Door

The Shrink Next Door: Season 1, Episode 2 “The Ceremony” (B+)

This may be the most Jewish show I’ve ever watched, competing with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for the sheer volume of expressions and references tossed around with no explanation. What this episode did that the other hasn’t is to include a heavy amount of Hebrew, and I wouldn’t have imagined I’d ever had the chance to hear Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell chant a Torah portion together. I have to commend Rudd on his pronunciation and delivery, while Ferrell is still pretty impressive, especially considering the fact that he never had a Bar Mitzvah since he’s not Jewish and that Marty is not meant to doing a terrific job. It’s fascinating watching just how enthusiastic Ike gets about everything, and how he managed to throw a huge party for himself where even the videographer didn’t care what Marty had to say when he mistook him for someone other than the Bar Mitzvah boy. Phyllis is making her opinion clear about Ike and his dangerous influence, but that just means that Ike is going to work harder to convince Marty that his sister doesn’t actually care about him even though she’s the one who convinced him to do therapy in the first place. That scene at work with Marty trying to chew Phyllis out for being late and her not taking it all was fantastic to watch – Kathryn Hahn is such a great actress. I am intrigued by the relationship between Ike and his wife Bonnie, played by Casey Wilson from “Black Monday,” and I’m curious to see how she reacts to Ike’s manipulation of Marty and the way in which he’s very unsubtly taking over his life.