Summary
“Let’s Agree to Disagree” proves that things can be going a bit too well, as Sheila suffers an existential crisis.
This recap of Physical season 1, episode 5, “Let’s Agree to Disagree”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
“Let’s Agree to Disagree” is an episode full of ups and downs for Sheila. She manages to film the first in her series of experimental home video workouts! But she does so on a noisy beach and considers the whole thing a bit of a disaster. She stands up to Danny’s disgusting “campaign manager” Jerry! But then Danny’s political campaign becomes a thing that he might genuinely be able to do and not just a middle-aged man’s identity crisis. She seems to have gotten away with stealing Ernie’s video camera! But she has also taped over some kind of head-shaving fetish video of his with her workout. This is to say nothing of the fact that Ernie has blamed his housekeeper – and Greta’s general savior – for the crime and that, by the end of Physical episode 5, Danny wants to use it to shoot a campaign ad. Everything is fine!
Everything is not fine, though, obviously. And while the stolen camera looms large, Sheila’s internal monologue also refuses to let up, and she eventually, in response to all these warring developments, returns to binge-eating and purging to cope. Her relationship with Bunny is also still a bit testy, though “Let’s Agree to Disagree” at least reveals why Bunny, a Lebanese immigrant with a turbulent family life and now bombed-out childhood home, might be a little stressed out. Initially, she’s dead against Sheila’s home workout video idea, since it’ll mean that clients only need to pay once and then get continued access to Bunny’s services, but once she sees the ropey finished version she has a change of heart.
The Danny developments are surprising. I was as shocked as Sheila to see him effortlessly run rings around property developer John Breem in a televised debate. Of course, this is also what triggers her latest binge, since after carrying his dead weight for so long, the realization that Danny can succeed without her brings about a severe existential crisis. Her self-loathing monologue already makes clear how she looks at herself physically; now, she feels she has no meaningful role to play in her husband’s career, and without a career of her own (yet!) where does that leave her?
There’s no wonder, really, that Sheila relapses. She’s responsible for the difficulties Greta is experiencing, she has realized that her husband can continue to be a boorish slob independently of her, and the repercussions of her stealing the camera are presumably right around the corner. At some point soon she’s going to have to choose between filming her workouts and Danny’s ad campaign, and it doesn’t seem likely that both her dreams and her marriage can survive together. Physical season 1, episode 5 is a reminder that despite some things going well, it’s always easy to slip down a dark, dangerous path. And Sheila just might be nearing the bottom of one.
