Physical Season 3 Episode 9 Review: Like We Never Left

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Physical Season 3 Episode 9 is technically the penultimate installment of the series. Theoretically, that means it should be preparing to wrap up Sheila Rubin’s and possibly say something substantial about the journey this character has been on for the past three years. 

Very few (possibly zero?) people were hoping for what we actually got: An episode that revolves around Sheila and Danny’s relationship, which sees the ex-spouses hook up after an emotionally complicated evening that reminds us how generally toxic their whole deal is. (Not to mention the fact that they’re absolutely raising a monster.)

After last week’s episode, which saw Sheila suddenly make up with Greta, pick a fight with Carlos, and nearly hook up with John Breem again, you may be surprised to learn that almost none of those events matter in this one. 

We learn from Sheila that she and Carlos broke up at some point off-screen, but the show doesn’t delve much into why. Ostensibly it seems as though we’re meant to assume it’s because he didn’t like her intensity about her business. Or she didn’t think he was ambitious enough. Or that Sheila was never going to be happy in a boring, normal relationship. Who knows.

As for Breem, he is…apparently gone? We don’t get to see his goodbye to Sheila, learn whether the pair ever managed to…um…consummate their farewell or why any of that mattered in the first place. Did Danny break up with Sheila’s assistant again? 

Instead of dealing with any of that, though, Physical decides to focus the entirety of the hour on Sheila and Danny, a relationship the show had essentially abandoned for the bulk of the season. Which, you know, is hardly what I expect anyone was hoping for out of the next to last episode of the series ever, but, here we are.

Perhaps this is the karma we (or, at least, I) deserve for simply wishing Sheila with anyone but Breem, but all this episode really does is remind you of all the reasons this pair is toxic and awful together. 

Danny, who doesn’t seem to feel terribly bad about banging Sheila’s assistant in her place of business, is still a needy try-hard. He’s upset at the thought that he never knew the “real” her because she’s changed since they were together, goes through her stuff when she isn’t looking, and, in general, seems to have changed very little since he and Sheila broke up the first time.

Despite being separated from Sheila for much of Season 3, Danny has had little in the way of an arc to speak of, and served no real purpose in terms of its larger story. If he was meant to be a real option for Sheila, or if the show wanted us to root for them to reunite in some way, then why not actually do the work to make that matter? 

Thanks to Maya’s apparent attempt to parent-trap them by eating a plastic toy and refusing to poop it out unless both her parents are present in the bathroom with her while she does so, the pair end up reminiscing a lot about their relationship and having A+ family time. This is, of course, the first time this season that has ever happened which I guess is obviously a sign that Danny and Sheila belong together despite the positive gulf of dysfunction between them.

Or maybe not, the show certainly seemed to be implying last week that Breem was the kind of man Sheila really wanted, just to have him exit the series completely without ever being seen again, so who knows! 

The point is, I’m not sure why Physical seems to be so convinced that Sheila’s ending — happy or otherwise — has to have a man in it. Wasn’t this show ostensibly supposed to be about her journey to healing and success? Who was watching this show for Sheila’s love life? I mean Carlos was probably the best person she went out with, if only because his only real sin was…being boring?

With one episode to go in Physical, it’s impossible to know or even to really speculate about how the show will tie things up. Will Sheila, miraculously develop a megasuccessful franchise in twenty minutes or less? Will she and Danny give it another go? Is there any way that any potential ending doesn’t feel incredibly forced or rushed?

Though Apple apparently decided to end Physical with enough time to give Season 3 an ending that ostensibly “worked” for the show, it couldn’t be more apparent that this series was never envisioned as a three-season affair. So many things feel crammed into these last few episodes, as though the show’s ticking things off a list of plot points rather than coming up with an organic way for any of these events to occur. 

Breem and Sheila have to have another moment! Greta and Sheila have to both fight and make up! Danny’s sleeping with Sheila’s assistant! J/K he’s still mooning over his ex maybe?  Maya now has opinions about her parents’ break-up? Breem found out his wife artificially inseminated herself with another man’s child and is…fine with it actually! He and Sheila are apparently still into one another! 

This show has become exhausting, and not in the good, fun way. Will any of us be happy with the way it ends? Is that even possible at this point.

Stray Thoughts and Observations: 

• What on earth was the purpose of Danny’s sister this season?
• To be honest, I feel like I could say the same thing about Kelly.  I mean, always happy to see Zoey Deschanel get a paycheck but the show has truly done so little with the character — any version of her — that I’d love to know how they convinced her to come back to television for this. 
• Weren’t Greta and Ernie having marital problems at some point? Did that just…work itself out?

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 Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

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