I heard that Tim Baltz, who played BJ on The Righteous Gemstones, starred in a sitcom about an inept Shrink, so when we got Apple Plus, I clicked on Shrinking, Episode 1.
Scene 1: Husband and wife, Liz, in bed. Hey, that's not Tim Baltz. It might be Ted McGinley, who I last saw on "Married..with Children." He tells her it's her turn to handle it. They argue, but she goes -- not to take care of a new baby, har har, but to yell at the next door neighbor.
He is sitting by the pool, fully clothed, wiggling his fingers in a bizarre way while two bikini babes frolick in the pool. Heterosexual male gaze, anyone?
Liz tells him that it's 3:00 am, and he should turn the music off. But he and the bikini babes are partying with adderall and opioids. So why aren't you nekkid in the pool with them?
"What about Alice?" Must be Bizarre Guy's wife.
Left: I didn't realize it until I checked the IMDB, but Bizarre Guy is played by Jason Segel, and he's the focus character! Liz and her husband were just a case of bad editing.
He gets into his car, but it's out of gas, so he rides a bike -- badly. When bikers zoom past him, he yells "Suck my dick!" Inviting someone to engage in gay sex as an insult. Bizarre Guy is homophobic.
He ends up at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center, where he has an appointment with his shrink, Tim Baltz.
Wait -- Bizarre Guy is the shrink! But those bizarre finger movements, like he has some kind of psychotic disorder. The doctor is crazier than his patients!
Scene 3: Bizarre Guy holds his head under the water faucet, then returns to his patients:
"I hate my mother"
"The barista made me spell 'Dan'"
"I always go out with superficial girls"
Left: Jason Segel's butt.
"My boyfriend made me go back to fetch my sunglasses, but they were right on my head the whole time. Then he called me stupid, but he said I had great tits, so he loves me." Great Tis is displaying them very brazenly for the aesthetic pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer.
Bizarre Guy blows up: they've been through this again and again. If your boyfriend calls you stupid, he doesn't love you. Besides, he's not that breat "his muscles are too big, and his shirts are too tight. Nobody likes that!"
Forget that gay men exist, Bizarre Guy? Or maybe gay men don't exist in this universe, excdept in slurs. But obviously Great Tits likes it.
Left: Big muscles, tight shirt. Any questions?
"Just leave him!" Bizarre Guy yells.
"Ok." She goes home to pack her stuff. That was easy.
Scene 4: Sister/Daughter from Scene 2. is singing a silly song to the water she's pouring (yes, to the water) while old guy Harrison Ford rolls his eyes. "It's too much water." She must be volunteering in a nursing home, with Harrison Ford as the cantankerous geezer.
No, it's the break room at the Cognitive Center. Sister/Daughter is a fellow shrink, pouring her own water due to her "character quirk" of being health conscious.
Bizarre Guy bursts in and confesses that he just told a patient what to do. They are upset: this is against the rules of shrinking.
"We all know what they should do. Why not just tell them?"
"They have to figure it out for themselves."
After they criticize him some more, Bizarre Guy agrees to shrink patients "by the book" from now on.
Scene 5: Bizarre Guy is on his way out, when Sister/Daughter stops to flirt with him. Ok, not his Sister/Daughter, his Flirtatious Coworker. But why do the two characters look identical? .
After flirting, she gives him a referral: young soldier, just back from overseas, keeps assaulting people, and his parents are worried. What about the victims and the police?
More after the break
Scene 6: Bizarre Guy starts the session with the Soldier (Luke Tennie) with "Why do you think you're here?" It's cognitive-behavioral therapy, not psychoanalysis; give him some anger management strategies!
He waits for Soldier to open up, but nothing happens. Finally Soldier walks out. I would, too. Bizarre Guy yells "F*ck!"
Back at home, a new character name Tia is on the couch, watching wrestling. Bizarre Guy thinks people who enjoy wrestling are insane (calling your wife/girlfriend insane will decrease your chance of being invited into her bed, dude). He then turns into the pinching monster, and they end up smoooching.
I thought he was single-- he invited hookers over last night, and he had the photo of his wife and sister-daughters turned over. Maybe she's a new girlfriend?
Wait -- this was a flashback to back before his wife left him? Geez, I hate flashbacks that aren't signaled in any way.
Scene 7: Bizarre Guy peers in the window of Neighbor Liz. She's used to his bizarre behavior and asks if he's eaten today. "No? Ok, I'll make you a plate."
She wants to know if he's going to stay a train wreck forever. "Probably." "But you have a daughter who hates you. Get back in the game."
Cut to morning, with Bizarre Guy trying to get back into the game by cooking an omelette for his Daughter. Why was Flirty Coworker there instead of his Daughter yesterday? She is not impressed: "You've done so many terrible things, an omelette won't fix it."
Scene 8: Another session with the Soldier. He told his Mom that Bizarre Guy "sucks balls," but she insisted that he come back anyway. Where did you get the idea that Bizarre Guy was gay? Or do you just mean it as a metaphor, "he's inept, like a gay person."
Bizarre Guy wants to know why the Soldier kept hitting the guy over and over, even after he was unconscious. Whew, that is definitely a felony aggravated assault, with a standard penalty of up to five years in prison. And it's happened before? Why is this guy walking around loose?
It's nothing specific. He can be triggered by anything -- someone bumping into him, saying something, looking at him funny.
To evaluate his condition properly, Bizarre Guy needs to see it happen, so "Let's go find you someone to beat up."
Scene 9: Bizarre Guy takes Soldier to a boxing gym and lets him spar. Then they get popsicles. Soldier won't blow up under controlled fighting conditions, but maybe he can work out his rage and not beat up random strangers who look at him wrong.
Cut to Bizarre Guy excitedly explaining his new "get involved" therapy to Flirtatious Coworker, but she's too busy staying hydrated to worry about his stuff. You're not going to get into his pants that way.
Scene 10: Montage of Soldier sparring with a lot of partners, while Bizarre Guy cheers; his daughter hating him; watching Home Alone because Flirtatious Coworker recommended it; and bonding with Harrison Ford. They consider hugging, but decide against it because all guys are disgusted by the touch of another guy, right. No gay men in this universe except in slurs, remember?
Cut to Soldier and Bizarre Guy having popsicles...sorry, icees (popsicles too phallic for you?). Bizarre Guy reveals that his wife died (so what? 99% of the focus guys in tv comedies have dead wives). Life is meaningless without her, so he engages in bizarre behavior.
Soldier wonders which of them is the therapist. You, obviously.
Scene 11: Bizarre Guy leaves his house to get the paper (there are still papers?), says hello to the neighbor, and almost gets squirted by his sprinklers -- but he jumps out of the way just in time. "Too slow!" he brags. You know they're not sentient, right? He made breakfast for his Daughter, but she doesn't want any because she still hates him.
This is getting redundant.
Scene 12: Soldier gawks at a girl, and her douchebag boyfriend bumps him on purpose, seething with jealousy. But Soldier doesn't clobber him! He calls Bizarre Guy, who rushes over to help him celebrate the victory. They're about to go out to dinner, but then Soldier remembers that Bizarre Guy's daughter has a soccer game, starting in ten minutes. "Maybe showing an interest in her activities is a better strategy than cooking breakfast?" Therapist-Soldier suggests.
They rush to the game, in a car at first, and then on foot. Soldier cheers her on (have they met?).
Uh-oh, the boyfriend of Great Tits shows up.. Remember, Bizarre Guy convinced her to dump the jerk back in Scene 2? He's irate over the advice, and starts punching. Soldier defends Bizarre Guy, and is arrested. A black dude punching a white dude? What did he expect?
Boyfriend is played by Tilky Jones, left. He appears in six episodes.
But at least it was to help his friend. And Daughter doesn't hate Bizarre Guy anymore. That was easy.
Beefcake: None. Later on, we see Jason Segel and Gavin Lewis (top photo), who plays Daughter's boyfriend. Tanner Zagarino (left) appeares in three episodes.
Heterosexism: The heterosexual male gaze is promoted excessively throughout. Endless vistas of bikini babes and big tits that we are expected to drool over.
Gay Characters: From the dialogue, it seems that gay people don't exist except in slurs. But the Episode 1.1 cast list includes Michael Urie as Brian, Bizarre Guy's best friend. I didn't see him, but he appears in 22 episodes, and his fiance/husband (Devin Kawaoka) appears in 13. They get married in the Season 1 finale. I guess they don't mind the emphasis on great tits and gay slurs.
Tim Baltz: His show was Shrink, no ing.
My Grade: D. Maybe if Brian had actually appeared, and been identified as gay....
Workaholics Episode 5.5: Penis jokes and buddy-bonding at a Gay Pride party
No comments:
Post a Comment