The Shrink Next Door Review: The Foundation (Season 1 Episode 4)

Dr. Ike’s manipulations intensify on The Shrink Next Door Season 1 Episode 4, “The Foundation.”

The episode starts off very promising with a montage of Phyllis, Marty’s sister, in an anxiety spiral of her own. Kathryn Hahn is so brilliant here—Phyllis is neurotic and frank and hilarious, talking to anyone who will listen (and some who don’t) about her estrangement from her brother. 

Phyllis: What am I supposed to be feeling right now?
Acupuncturist: Extreme relaxation.
Phyllis: Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. Going through a tough time at the moment. Some stuff going on with my brother and-
Acupuncturist: It helps if you stop speaking.
Phyllis: Yeah, right, right. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen either.

This is pure comedy.

Because of Dr. Ike (Paul Rudd), Marty (Will Ferrell) has cut his sister out of his life, and in this episode, quite literally. Phyllis is worried that she might not hear from her brother on her birthday, but then a card from him shows up in the mail.

Inside, though, are a bunch of clippings of her face cut out from photographs of the two of them together. It’s sad and a real gut punch to both Phyllis and the audience who is privy to Dr. Ike’s con artistry.

This comprises a mere two minutes as the cold open and then we don’t see her for the rest of the episode, and it’s a real bummer. 

However, frame shop girl Hannah is a bright spot. Portrayed by Christina Vidal in a charming performance, Hannah seems like someone that might be able to have Marty see Ike for who he is. This comes a tad late because Marty is already under the doctor’s manipulative spell.

Dr. Ike uses many narcissistic techniques to cast that spell—isolating him from his loved ones, minimizing, guilting, and gaslighting. I said in my review of the first three episodes that it’s difficult to watch someone get taken advantage of, and this episode ends up being more of that and to a more intense degree.

We also see him behave this way with his own wife who just gave birth to twins. Bonnie (Casey Wilson) has a sense of this side of her husband, although, she may not know to what extent it goes. 

I’m not crazy about that version of you.

Marty isn’t there yet and he’s all in with Dr. Ike, trusting him completely with every aspect of his life—mentally, socially, and financially.

Marty: He’s kind of the brains of the operation, and I’m sort of the-
Hannah: The what? The heart?
Marty: I was gonna say the bank.

What did you think of this episode of The Shrink Next Door? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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