Physical Review: Don’t You Want Me (Season 2 Episode 1)

In all honesty, Physical Season 2 Episode 1, “Don’t You Want Me,” is a fairly low-key return for a series that was perhaps most widely known for its frequently unlikable female lead and occasionally controversial storylines.

Yet, the increased focus on character depth and dynamics—as well as the fact that the show seems to have toned down Sheila’s cruel inner monologue—is a welcome change, and one that hopefully signals the series’ second season will actually have something significant to say.

“Don’t You Want Me” basically picks up where the Season 1 finale left off: Self-loathing suburban housewife Sheila Rubin has acquired a distribution deal for her home fitness videos and is determined to make a real go of this new career opportunity (even if she basically had to stab her friend and partner Bunny in the back to get it.) 

Her husband Danny has lost his election bid—primarily because he never made any real attempt to understand the Reagan voters of Southern California outside of his own hippie enclave—and is now somewhat adrift with no job and no direction. 

Physical – Photo Courtesy of Apple TV+

It’s an important and uncomfortable shift for the pair: Prior to this point, it had always been Sheila asked to sacrifice for her husband’s dreams to support his latest crazy ambition, to generally put her own needs second. Now, with Sheila given the chance to truly chase something of her own, their roles are reversed.

And, to what is likely the surprise of everyone, Danny actually steps up.

Granted, he only does this after Sheila blows up at him for being a self-centered jerk at the first big event that’s important for her career, and spends the night at Greta’s in an attempt to get some space. But, considering he actually does spend the rest of the episode trying, perhaps that was all the shock to the system he needed. 

It’s hard to take Danny’s sudden about-face seriously, not just because we spent all of last season watching him treat his wife terribly, but because of the fact that society at large seems ready to fall all over themselves in his general direction for making the barest of efforts.

Like, great, he took his child to school! He made some small talk with the other moms! This does not automatically make him a candidate for husband and father of the year! (But, it’s the 1980s, so maybe it actually does, IDK.)

In my opinion, there’s a lot of rehabilitation that needs to happen for both Danny as a character generally and his relationship with Sheila. His acknowledging the presence of his child and cooking breakfast a couple of times is, I suppose, a start, but wow does he have a long way to go.

But, he does have one thing going in his favor—his only romantic competition at the moment is John Breem, who is probably the one man on the show that is actually worse than he is (save for maybe Jerry, who I can confirm still exists, unfortunately).

Sheila having an affair with him seemed pretty inevitable after last season’s mutual masturbation session, but Physical still appears to be incapable of making John interesting in his own right.

The scenes set at the Breem house (which, truly, just get weirder and weirder) feel as though they’re happening on a completely different show and have little connection with anything else that’s happening. 

Elsewhere, Bunny’s trying to pick herself back up after her former partner’s betrayal. She’s so furious it’s actually cathartic in a way, giving us as viewers somewhere to put our own anger at Sheila for the way she’s treated almost everyone in her life up until this point. 

Determined to still achieve her dream of making a fitness video, Bunny has apparently decided to put her own spin on the concept, reinventing her aerobic workout as something that can be done on roller skates and accidentally perfectly capturing that sort of late ’80s summer boardwalk vibe.

It’s something that feels as though it could have maybe been a niche hit, until one of their multiple new roommates tapes over Tyler’s recording with skateboarding footage and sets them right back to square one—putting Bunny back on what feels like an inevitable collision course with Sheila. 

(Especially since she steals a copy of her ex-partner’s new video herself to close the episode.)

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• Rose Byrne is so incredible—even the smallest moments of her performance are just all so perfect.
• Intriguingly, I think this is the least we’ve ever heard Sheila’s inner monologue in an episode. (Also, possibly the first hour with no overt binging and purging? Are we meant to assume that’s because she’s replaced that behavior with her affair with Breem?)
• I think Apple probably made the right decision by releasing just one episode of Physical a week. This is a show that gets lots in the TV shuffle pretty easily and hopefully, this will help it—and Byrne’s performance—generate more buzz. Unfortunately, this is maybe the worst episode to start off the season with, because so little actually happens in it. 
• Greta is such a ride-or-die friend. I aspire to attain her level of hating Danny.
• I remain 10000% invested in Bunny and Tyler’s relationship; they deserve nothing but happiness and roommates without lice.

What did you think of the season premiere 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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