Physical Season 2: Nowhere to Go but Up
On the surface, ‘Physical’ is sad. Deep inside, ‘Physical’ is sad as well.
Set in the ’80s during the early Reagan era and the first tangible manifestations of self-hate culture, Sheila Rubin, played by Rose Byrne, scrapes helplessly at life, family, and the American Dream.
Unhappy with herself, her body, and her marriage, Sheila smears disgust all over her family, her acquaintances, and much of the State of California. In addition, she lies, cheats, and steals, which detracts from her already-depleted charm.
She loves/hates her husband Danny (Rory Scovel), with whom she shares a daughter and some of her life’s most poignant moments. He’s also all she has. Viewers learn in Episode 1 what Danny’s about when he sleazily attempts to coerce Sheila into a threesome with one of his female students.
Factor in an eating disorder that is both disturbing and expensive, and we’ve got a main character about whom we don’t know what to do or how to feel.
Sheila’s damning inner monologue, paired with the lies that seep from between her lips, prevent viewers from truly letting her in. The way she is forgiven as well for extorting gym owners Tyler (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Bunny (Della Saba), and for stealing Greta’s husband’s high-end camcorder, is unbelievable at best.
Although fellow mom Greta (Dierdre Friel) is a bit starchy herself, she tries, thanks to her desperation to connect, to support Sheila. Without their common misfortune, though, it’s hard to see where their lives can comfortably or permanently intersect.
Viewers by now realize that some series are propelled by the concepts of shock and discomfort, capitalizing on the dark corners we’d rather ignore, but our humanness often still yearns for characters onto which our hearts can cleave. Right now, Sheila is not that character.
The final episode of the season finds Sheila in the shopping mall that houses her aerobics studio, gazing wantonly at developer John Breem (Paul Sparks), while touching herself and fantasizing about how successful she might become.
Of all the cringeworthy moments of season one, that moment leaves a difficult-to-remove stain on our psyches.
The series has been renewed for a second season, tentatively ready by the end of Summer 2022.
But why watch?
Do we love Sheila? Can we love Sheila? Will her stepping on faces on her way to the top of the workout video market render her more affable? Can she find a stride that actually redeems her of her sins? And what of her husband? Will she make the leap and leave the loser?
Are we rooting for Sheila or railing against her? Will she make her way out of the maze she continues to build around herself? Will she heal from her past hurts? Will she acknowledge and receive the help she needs for her eating disorder?
In an ideal world, Sheila could straighten up and fly right, earn her money back legitimately, repay all of those she wronged, move out on her own with her daughter, and start over again. All during season two. So as not to continue to torture the public.
But that may be too neat, too simple for this series.
Is there redemption ahead for Sheila, or a fall, perhaps harder and more painful than she’s already endured?
We’ll just have to wait to see what reflects in the shimmer of her leotard.
