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December 21, 2021 11:36 am
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‘The Shrink Next Door’ Is an Arresting Tale

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avatar by Alan Zeitlin

Opinion

Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd star in “The Shrink Next Door.” Photo: provided.

Paul Rudd, who just hosted “Saturday Night Live” and was recently named People Magazine‘s Sexiest Man Alive, isn’t that attractive a character on the Apple TV+ show “The Shrink Next Door.” But the Jewish actor isn’t supposed to be. The riveting and well-executed series is more tragedy than comedy, and those ignorant of the source material may be left scratching their heads wondering why Rudd, who plays Dr. Ike Herschkopf, and Will Ferrell, who plays Marty Markowitz, aren’t a barrel of laughs.

The show is based on a true story, which can be heard in a tremendous podcast series of the same name by journalist Joe Nocera. Nocera tells how Markowitz went to Herschkopf for therapy, but got manipulated and robbed instead.

Markowitz alleges that over about three decades, Herschkopf manipulated him into cutting off relations with his sister, Phyllis, inserting himself into Markowitz’s company, telling people he owned Markowtiz’s Hamptons house, and convinced him to found the Yaron Foundation — which donated to Jewish charities with Herschkopf taking credit. The show also claims Markowitz paid more than $3 million in therapist fees. The therapist maintained he didn’t do anything wrong.

The series begs the question: How on earth could an affluent and seemingly intelligent man such as Markowitz, who owned a fabric company, be taken in by his therapist. While there is no real clear answer aside from Markowitz being in a vulnerable place as he was grieving the loss of his parents, the podcast and the show make it clear that Herschkopf made Markowitz feel more powerful.

To be sure, there are some great comedic moments in the series. One is a wildly hilarious harmony between Ferell and Rudd, when Ferrell’s character reads from the Torah, as Markowitz has a second bar-mitzvah.

Rudd, Ferrell, and Kathryn Hahn, who plays Phyllis, the sister of Markowitz, all deserve Emmy nominations. Rudd is charmingly manipulative and you want to push some button to make him stop taking advantage of Markowitz. Ferrell succeeds in making you feel for his character, even though his accent at times wavers. Hahn is a sort of whistleblower who sees the doctor’s manipulation for what it is, loves her brother, and can’t get through to him — though they would eventually reconcile in real life.

The sad truth in life is that people in positions of power often take advantage of people, manipulate them, and lie. Most of the time, they do so because they assume they will get away with it, and that a person needs them and will put up with the abuse. It’s only to what degree. Markowitz was reportedly introduced to Herschkopf by a rabbi.

When you tell people what they want to hear, sometimes they listen and forget about truth or motivations.

“The Shrink Next Door” gets better as it goes along, and is more rewarding if you first listen to the podcast that tells the true story. One of the last scenes we see is a Passover seder. The door is opened for the symbolic appearance of Elijah the prophet. As the family sings “Eliyahu Hanavi,” Markowitz feels something bad and slams the door — because Markowitz has learned what he should have known about 27 years earlier: that while it is perfectly fine to believe in Elijah, you should not open your door to people that take advantage of you.

The author is a writer based in New York.

The opinions presented by Algemeiner bloggers are solely theirs and do not represent those of The Algemeiner, its publishers or editors. If you would like to share your views with a blog post on The Algemeiner, please be in touch through our Contact page.

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