While this is definitely much different than the horrid truths that were revealed in Peacock’s Dr. Death, Apple TV+’s The Shrink Next Door was almost as mind blowing. In this 8-part miniseries, we see how one emotionally vulnerable man was ruthlessly swindled by his psychiatrist.
Will Farrell plays Marty Markowitz, a man who suffers from anxiety in the form of disrupted bowls and frequent panic attacks. His sister, Phyllis (the always delightful Kathryn Hahn) suggests that he go see a psychiatrist that someone told her about. Eventually, Marty reluctantly relents and goes to see Paul Rudd’s Dr. Ike Herschkopf. That first meeting is truly when the snowball starts rolling down the hill. For a very short amount of time, it seems like Ike really wants to help Marty, but then he learns about Marty’s inherited wealth. From there, you can see a lightbulb click on in Ike’s mind, and the creeping into Marty’s life really begins.
He tells Marty to cut of contact with his sister and nieces, which is really sad given it’s the only family Marty has. Next, Ike works his way into his curtain business as an industrial psychologist, and then Ike even manages to sort of take over a beautiful Hamptons property that’s been in Marty’s family for decades. Ike disguises his takeover as friendship, and Marty is so emotionally beat down that he latches onto this relationship with everything he’s got. Truly. As the show goes on, it’s clear that Ike could convince Marty to jump off a cliff pretty easily if he really wanted to.
It’s not until the final three episodes that we start to see doubt start to creep into Marty’s perception of Ike. One of Ike’s other patients sort of lays out the distorted picture that Ike’s painted in almost all of his patient’s lives, but it takes a little more pushing before Marty finally falls over the edge. The first real nudge comes when he’s laid up in the hospital for a few days, where Ike doesn’t bother to call or visit because he’s too busy throwing gaudily themed parties at the Hampton house to bother. The final straw though is when Marty learns his beloved koi fish, Adam, died because of Ike’s carelessness. It’s is obscenely sad that this is what it takes for Marty to realize he’s been manipulated and duped for the last 27 years, but I guess it’s better late than never.
Overall, this series wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I’d hoped it would be. Do I think they needed to stretch this story out for eight episodes? Absolutely not, but Rudd and Farrell are endlessly charming, and so was Hahn given her limited screen-time. In the end you learn that over the course of Marty’s relationship with Dr. Ike, he gave him roughly 3.2 million dollars. That’s insane! I wondered the same thing that Marty’s sister did: how could he have let this happen?! I know Marty’s self esteem was the lowest of low, but come on. In that way, it made this show frustrating. Also, despite having some comedic giants attached to this project, it wasn’t all that funny. Which probably wasn’t the point, but I did cackle at a scene involving only half fire-proofed curtains and a play with lots of candles. This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, and I could recommend several other shows in Apple TV +’s catalog before this one.