The Shrink Next Door — Episode 5, The Family Tree Review

Get Rid Of The Tree

By Mark

It’s 1990 and Dr. Isaac ‘Ike’ Herschkopf, Paul Rudd (“Between Two Ferns: The Movie”, “ Avengers: Endgame “), receives a phone call that his father is dead.

Martin ‘Marty’ Markowitz, Will Ferrell (“Between Two Ferns: The Movie”, “ The LEGO Movie 2 “), invites Ike and his wife Bonnie, Casey Wilson (“Black Monday (TV)”, “American Dad! (TV)”), to the house in the Hamptons for the weekend.

He lets them stay in the master bedroom whilst he goes and stays in the guest accommodation at the bottom of the garden. Ike is very quickly at home, though does say that Marty should perhaps think about updating the house, as it’s stuck in the past.

Marty, eventually, agrees and he and Ike begin, though Marty draws the line at anything to do with the huge, beautiful Cherry tree in the garden as his parents planted it and he and his sister used to climb on it.

Marty is trying to do everything he can to get Ike to open up about his father, but he’s not having any of it. It’s clear that the psychologist has daddy issues.

Later Ike says he’s thinking of writing a book, but feels he needs space and may go to Jerusalem to write it. Marty says that’s crazy when he could just use the Hamptons house and he won’t get in his way. Ike and Marty stay, Ike’s wife and the kids go back.

It’s actually Marty typing the book out as Ike talks to him, telling him what to write. Ike, for some reason, can’t let the tree go, he wants it gone, as much as he wants Marty to buy the massive house next door.

Marty wants the tree, he loves the tree, it has sentimental value, but Ike is turning it into a big thing and, like a teenager, he storms off, proclaiming he’s a terrible therapist and he’ll get out of Marty’s life.

That evening, Marty takes the tree down, and, despite the family friend realtor telling him not to purchase the house next door as it’s falling to pieces, Marty does that too.

This feels like a bit of an in between sort of episode, it’s mostly around Ike and his issues, his problems that are clear for all, but Marty, to see.

We are very much stuck in the Hamptons with just Marty’s co-worker trying to get hold of him to talk to him about the accounts of the business. Unfortunately for him, and probably Marty, each time he does, he’s talking to Ike and that takes priority.

Georgia Pritchett (“Succession (TV)”, “Avenue 5 (TV)”) and Catherine Shepherd write this episode with Jesse Peretz behind the camera.

Originally published at https://www.ocmoviereviews.com.