The Shrink Next Door
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The word of the day isboundaries!
Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries.
This episode is full of boundary talk and contains lots and lots of boundary crossing.
At the top of the episode, were invited to Martys dance party.
Marty is flying high on postbar mitzvah vibes, but then Phyllis comes to chat with him.
She comes to apologize … but also to ask for money to hire another divorce lawyer.
This money is ostensibly Phylliss, but Daddy Markowitz only gave Marty the ability to unlock the trust.
So he agrees to help.
Meanwhile, Ike and his very loud three-piece suit are charming the pants off everyone else.
Just try giving an obstacle as a gift to your friends this holiday season.
Spoiler: They will not be pleased.
Even Bonnie is like,Um, wut?But Ike shuts her down real quick.
And then he shuts her down again when she proposes going back to school.
And this is exactly what hes accusing Phyllis of doing to Marty.
So even when Phyllis comes to a session, he almost hoodwinks her as well.
I binge and re-bingeParks and Recreationalot.
(Maybe you do too?
Lets be friends!)
Phyllis is mad and barges into Martys office.
I cannot state enough how wonderfully these two fight exactly like siblings.
Phyllis levels an accusation that everything that comes out of Martys mouth isnt him; its Dr. Fuckface talking.
As per usual, shes 100 percent correct.
Unfortunately, everyone in the brain trust neglected to account for the presence of candles onstage.
The candles multiply faster than Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes in the Bible.
Bonnie is delighted, but Ike and Marty start to panic.
Their increasingly anxious banter is one of the truly comic moments in the series.
Martys frantic comment that the candles arent period accurate absolutely killed me.
The guys end the night happy.
Yet Phyllis does not.
While Marty was at the show, she went to see him at his apartment.
She doesnt find him, but she does encounter all of the bar mitzvah memorabilia, which setsheron fire.
Well, its certainly crossing a line to steal half a mill in jewels from your brothers place.
But instead of calling Phyllis to discuss, Marty calls Ike.
They go out to Martys Hamptons home to see if Phyllis has stolen anything else.
She hasnt, but Ike is agog.
The final scene of the episode sees Ike promising Marty hell take care of everything.
Hell always be there for him.
And this is just the beginning.
Our time is up for now, but Ill see you at our next session.
But a concerned family member checking out the credentials of a shifty psychiatrist is not breaking a boundary.
At least its not breaking a boundary as Ike himself is breaking a boundary.
Marty check-in:Marty is having some cognitive dissonance about separating from his relationship with Phyllis.
When Ike says Marty wont have to worry about things, the relief on Martys face is palpable.
He went to therapy to find a solution to his indecisiveness and anxiety, and here hes found it.
One of Martys beat-up baseball caps simply says ACK on it.
Youd best believe Cathy would also have been 100 percent taken in by Ikes shenanigans.
Ike cracks out not one but two alternate personae in this episode.
For you nonpodcast listeners, know that both of these things actually happened in real life.
Truth is stranger than fiction, as is the case of Phyllis stealing from Marty to get his attention.
and cleaned out an offshore bank account with over a million dollars in it.
Marty eventually got his half … and then promptly signed over access to Ike.
But well get to that.
