Summary
Sheila is housebound after her surgery and unable to work or exercise. After a slow start, this chapter picks up the pace, leading to an enthralling finale.
This recap of the Apple TV+ series Physical season 2, episode 4, “Don’t You Know,” contains spoilers.
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Sheila finds herself trapped at home in episode four, “Don’t You Know.” After her operation, the doctors have told the workout instructor to rest and eat more, possibly the two worst things for Sheila right now. She is desperate to expand her business, so she can’t relax and is still struggling with her own unhealthy relationship with food. These two major issues take precedence in chapter four of season two.
Physical season 2, episode 4 recap
The episode opens with a garish TV advert from Vincent Green, in which he rides a motorbike and talks candidly with Sheila. In this infomercial, she discusses her troubling eating habits and a routine of bingeing and then purging. Sheila calls herself disgusting and a monster, which Vinnie openly agrees with. He says he can help her on the road to recovery, then states that he loves her. Sheila begins to panic and wakes from her vivid nightmare at home, where she is watching Vincent’s commercial on TV. This all illustrates her declining mental state.
The medication is causing Sheila to have bouts of insomnia, with the housewife frustratingly trapped in bed. Husband Danny wants her to forget about work and concentrate on getting better. He insinuates that she needs to recover so that they can have another child together. But Sheila is adamant they don’t have another kid, even if Danny is almost forceful with his persistence. She wants to leave him, not grow the family. Even with all her stresses, Vinnie’s ad sticks firmly in Sheila’s mind.
In the morning, friends Greta and Ernie pay the Rubins a visit. They’re both dying to talk about what transpired the night before. Greta and Ernie had a threesome. It’s a funny setup, the raunchy couple informing their friends of their sexual adventures. Greta provides Sheila with a whiteboard to brainstorm on while Ernie and Danny discuss swinging in the other room. Later, John calls Sheila, but Danny answers the phone instead. The affair has stalled over the last few weeks, and John is eager to rekindle their romance once more.
After brainstorming, Auggie’s son Kevin arrives with flowers to update Sheila on her business venture. The company is worried this surgery will have financial implications, and they’ll have to cancel planned appearances. Sheila tells Kevin she has a substitute to replace her in the meantime. She tries to pitch infomercials to Kevin, although he’s already discussed this with the marketing team beforehand. Sheila feels her business is slipping out of her grip, and while she stews in bed, decisions are being made without her.
Sheila offers Bunny the placeholder role, and she begrudgingly accepts. Danny turns down Wanda’s offer to protest at the beach some more and misses out on a TV interview. He loves the idea of caring for Sheila (or controlling her), yet is furious that a kid steals his limelight and bad-mouths John Breem on the news in his place. Maya rubs off Sheila’s brainstorming ideas, and the unhappy couple argues. Instantly, Sheila realizes that she is becoming her mother and messing up her own daughter. This self-hatred leads to a further binge.
Our troubled housewife checks into a seedy hotel and binge eat burgers in her lingerie. Jealous John stalks her to the hotel and barges in, expecting her to be sleeping with another man, but finds her devouring fast food instead. Sheila appears extremely vulnerable in this instance, screaming for John to leave, covering her body with shame. John doesn’t leave, though, surprisingly, he comforts the poor woman on the bed, surrounded by her relapse.
The ending
The series ups the ante in the finale, with Tyler telling Bunny that he has dirt on Sheila. Meanwhile, the disgraced housewife returns home to find Danny asleep on the settee. Her whiteboard is covered in fresh, new ideas, and Sheila notices that her wound isn’t bleeding anymore. Did she hallucinate these events, or did Danny fix the whiteboard and John mend her wound? Sheila continues to lose the plot in another busy installment. When the drama escalates, this becomes a fascinating watch, but there are too many slow and meandering sections for such a short running time. Again, this series has the potential for greatness, it just keeps falling short.
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