In "The Party" The Shrink Next Door gets darker and more sinister. Ike occupies a central place in Marty's life, so much so that his life revolves around him, without Marty noticing. Time for a review!
Here we go!
Ike continues to take over all of Marty's life. He not only organizes parties at Marty's expense and doesn’t care that he feels uncomfortable, but he also manipulates him so that he doesn’t even tell the truth: he’s the owner of the house. As always, Ike's manipulation is sibylline. He makes Marty feel guilty for telling the truth as if he had done something wrong. Everything Ike says makes sense, sounds logical, and that leads Marty to reinforce his thought that Ike is right.
I think Marty's room and Ike are with his family in the photos on the walls are very significant. It's like a symbol of the way Ike’s taking over everything that belongs to Marty, even his life, getting under his skin, without him noticing.
And in the middle of all this, we have Bonnie. Last week I said that I don't think she knows everything Ike is doing, but this week I take it back because, even if she doesn't know what is going on broadly and wants to keep her eyes closed, she may know how Ike is taking advantage of Marty, for example by having him continue to sleep in a guest room when Marty is the owner of the house. How can that sound good to her?
But there is another person who notices Ike's maneuvers: Myriam. She woke up to reality, it was like a slap, like a jug of cold water, but it helped her see everything clearly and see what Ike was doing with her, what he is doing with Marty and the monster that he is.
However, Marty is still fully into that toxic relationship and is unable to see it. What Marty yells gives me chills "he saved me," "without him I am nothing," "I owe him everything, I owe him my life." And Marty means it. Ike got into his head to that point. And no matter what Myriam says, Marty is unable to understand how right she is.
Marty doesn't even react when he finds out that his family moved on without him and he missed important moments, unrepeatable moments, with them. A reaction begins to wake up inside Marty but it’s almost asleep. It is not enough to do battle.
That makes me chill. But I feel terrified when Marty, influenced by Ike, decides to set a trap for Myriam to leave her in the middle of nowhere just because she tried to help him. I wanted to kill Marty here, but we're not going to be foolish, Ike is the mastermind of this and Marty is just the executing arm.
After Myriam told Marty the truth, Ike needed proof of Marty's loyalty, proof that he was still in control and this was how Marty passed the test. It's frightening. I don't think Ike has limits but the question is inevitable: how far will this go?
I can't wait to find out!
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share with us in the comments below!
The Shrink Next Door airs Friday on Apple TV+.
