Physical Review: Let’s Agree to Disagree (Season 1 Episode 5)

Despite the fact that things seem to start going Sheila’s way in Physical Season 1 Episode 5, “Let’s Agree to Disagree,” It appears that there’s no level of good news that can silence the vicious inner monologue that lives in her head. 

Coming up with a slam dunk business idea (exercise videos that can be done at home, how modern!), filming a pilot, and using it to convince Bunny to go in on the project with her all pale next to the fact that Sheila thinks she’s fat and assumes everyone around her thinks she’s fat, and that she’ll never be good enough to do anything that matters as a result.

Physical’s forthright presentation of what living with the specter of disordered eating is like is often extremely difficult to watch. From Sheila’s constant runs to greasy burger joints and subsequent binge/purge sessions in skeevy hotels to the way she often deals with her own toxic inner voice by bullying other women, it’s a brutally honest depiction of the ways this illness can creep into all aspects of your life. 

Sheila’s “pilot” home aerobics video should be a moment of triumph for her, and yet all she does is obsess about whether random passersby see her as fat, question her own ability to actually make this product she came up with in the first place, and wonder how any women at home could possibly be okay with her telling them what to do on. 

Yet somehow, despite knowing that all these things are really just manifestations of her illness and her low self-esteem, her consistently nasty behavior makes it so darn hard to feel anything like sympathy for her.

I mean, sure, in the abstract we know all these things are bad and damaging and that a lot of Sheila’s toxic behavior is a result of emotional and mental issues she should be talking to someone about but isn’t.

But Physical gives us so little of Sheila being anything other than cruel and toxic that it’s hard to remember that she’s actually capable of being something other than…that.

Truly, though, the most interesting part of “Let’s Agree to Disagree” is that it’s also our first glimpse into Bunny as a character in her own right, beyond simply serving as a foil for Sheila to bang up against in some way.

She’s actually Lebanese, the daughter of parents who had to flee their home country in the wake of the siege of Beirut in 1982, and who has a complex relationship with the rest of her family.

Whether that’s because Bunny so aggressively embraced the ideals of 1980s America — beach bum living, peroxide hair, launching her own business, etc — or because she seems to have little interest in the country she left behind is unclear. 

But either way, as a character, she’s suddenly gotten a bunch of unexpected layers that I deeply hope this show explores. (Not for the least of which reason is that Bunny is often more likeable than Sheila is, so at least increasing her presence on the canvas gives us someone we mostly feel okay rooting for?)

Lou Taylor Pucci’s Tyler also remains Physical’s secret weapon, a charming stoner with a genuinely good heart. Much like Bunny, his character has evolved past his initial surfer caricature and actually seems like someone whose chill, kind attitude could genuinely be a good influence in Sheila’s life.

Plus, he and Bunny are honestly adorable together, and the scene where he volunteers to help bleach her hair — specifically because he is relatively “unimpaired” — is painfully sweet.

His quiet supportiveness is something that literally every other man on this show could take a lesson from. (And something I’d personally just love to see more of.)

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• Physical is truly at its most hilarious when it just leans fully into the weirdness of these sort of overprivileged 1980s white people. The revelation that Greta’s husband may or may not be cheating on her but is definitely turned on by using his top-shelf video camera to record women shaving their heads is just…whew. These people!
• For all of Sheila’s cynicism, it’s honestly amazing how truly sheltered she actually is about most things.
• I don’t know if I’m supposed to be rooting for Danny to fail at politics quite as hard as I am, AND YET. I’m curious as to what this show thinks are his redeeming qualities because I haven’t really found any yet. 
• Notes from the shallow end: The soundtrack of this show is just full of bangers.

What did you think of this episode of Physical? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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New episodes of Physical stream Fridays on Apple TV+.

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