Sunday, December 4, 2022

What I’m Watching: Fleishman is in Trouble

Fleishman is in Trouble: Season 1, Episode 4 “God, What An Idiot He Was” (B+)

There’s definitely something frustrating about the way in which this show still hasn’t gotten us any further with figuring out what’s actually going on with Rachel, but it’s so entertaining and involving to see Toby spiral out of control as he tries to figure it out. The narrated stages were fun, as was Toby’s inability to actually go into her apartment because things kept coming up. Imagining her having sex with Sam while eating beef lomein was definitely the highlight of the montage of ways in which he kept thinking about and picturing their affair, and he did not do a great job of distracting himself. His sleepover resulted in another woman who didn’t want to commit to being with him, and he got to a point where he just couldn’t be around families anymore. Unfortunately that meant him lashing out at Libby, who was trying desperately to get away from the mundanity of her own family existence. Adam very directly acknowledged that it was Libby who Toby enjoyed hanging out with, a fair diagnosis that I think does happen sometime in real life with close friends who predate a relationship. Toby’s response to a mid-separation suggestion from Rachel that they should have more kids was particularly harsh, and that compounded the fury he feels in the present for her having just abandoned her family. Being told he was the wife in this custody case by the lawyer played by J. Smith-Cameron from “Succession” also didn’t sit well with him, and at least he was mentally present enough not to indulge Seth’s “bad time for white men” theorizing.

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