We're here to review The Shrink Next Door one more week! The Foundation is an episode that shows us much more clearly the manipulation and control that Ike exerts on Marty and how he manages to take over his entire life…without Marty noticing. Time for a review!
Here we go!
Phyllis received a truly sinister gift at The Shrink Next Door. I mean, send her the heads cut out of all her pictures? Savage, Ike, savage. It´s a clear message for Phyllis that comes to say "if you don´t move away, I will cut off you.” And it's chilling.
But it´s real.
I mean, Ike manipulated Marty into kicking his sister out of his life without a second thought.
When Marty doubts his decision, Ike reaffirms what he led him to believe: she hurts him and he shouldn´t have her in her life.
Marty doesn't realize it, but Ike is taking him away from the only person who realized what Ike is doing with Marty and his life. Phyllis became a threat to Ike and he has not hesitated to do whatever it takes to get her out of the way. And it worked.
Ike manages to eliminate people from Marty's life who realize what he´s doing to him.
Little by little, Ike isolates him from all those who can make him doubt, from all those who can distance him from Ike while he becomes the only person in his life, the only person he needs, the only one who is by his side.
Because it's not just Phyllis; in The Shrink Next Door, Ike also takes Hanna out of the way as soon as he sees that she´s a threat. He was encouraging that relationship until the moment Hanna got too close and saw that Ike was taking advantage of Marty. That is, he was scamming him here because Marty put in all the money for the foundation and also for everyone to go to that gala…and he wasn't even recognized. It was Ike's name on that brochure.
Hanna believes that Marty is someone sweet, cute, and genuinely noble. She´s attracted to him and, although she begins to question whether he is worth getting into this mess, he cannot bear that someone wants to take advantage of whom it seems like a good guy.
Hanna, like Phyllis, becomes a threat to Ike because she endangers his control over Marty, so he decides to get rid of her.
But the thing about Ike is that he makes it look like it was all your idea. For this reason, he makes Marty believe that he will speak with Hanna when what he does is manipulate her so that "she" decides to move away from Marty. I can't help but admire Ike's machiavellian and sibylline way of doing this.
And the most surprising thing is that Ike not only controls and manipulates Marty, in a way, he also helps him. It´s good for Marty to fall in love and be delighted with someone, to let himself be loved, and to overcome his fears about it. So, Ike gave Marty some good advice, advice that can help him, but the question is: at what cost?
A very expensive one. Too expensive.
I can't wait to talk to you about the next episode of The Shrink Next Door!
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share with us in the comments below!
The Shrink Next Door airs Friday on Apple TV+.
