TV Review: ‘Physical’ Episodes 1-3 Reviewed

Success and kindness don’t always go hand in hand. In the very first scene of Physical, viewers are given a glimpse of Sheila’s future and while it looks like her career is thriving, she also throws a Walkman at someone’s head.

Some people can’t handle their fame, so when the show goes back in time to 1981, it’s easy to assume that this will be a chance for viewers to find out what happened to make Sheila (Rose Byrne) so hardened. It turns out Sheila may have always been cruel, and that fame had nothing to do with it.

A show’s biggest stumbling block shouldn’t be its main character, but Physical’s Sheila is as hateful as they come, making it impossible to see past the hate to find the comedy underneath. Maybe if the show wasn’t dependent on voiceover Byrne could find some way to muster sympathy for Sheila, but the unfiltered access to Sheila’s thoughts only makes her seem more toxic.

It’s not like there aren’t things to sympathize with about Sheila’s situation. Her obsession with weight seems to stem from an eating disorder. Her husband (Ground Floor’s Rory Scovel) recently lost his job and is completely self-absorbed (though he also seems completely ignorant to the fact that his wife detests him, which is sad in its own way). While Sheila is the main caregiver for their daughter (Grace Kelly Quigley), she doesn’t seem to find much satisfaction from motherhood and if Sheila hates other people, that’s only matched by her self-loathing for herself.

To be fair, Sheila doesn’t usually call people fat or disgusting to their face but that doesn’t make her meanness any less terrible. It usually means having to sit through scenes where she’s outwardly nice to people while knowing she couldn’t think less of them. Again, though, this is why Physical’s overreliance on voiceover is such a detriment to the series, because even if the writers kept everything the same about Sheila, not being able to have access to her thoughts would a) allow more space for Byrne to emote, b) make it so that there could be hope that Sheila isn’t a total monster, and c) make her unrelenting cruelty all the more shocking, because Byrne doesn’t play it so you would suspect Sheila of being so hateful. The voiceover takes away the mystery for viewers but makes it torture to watch other people be fooled.

Of the three episodes that are premiering this Friday, the third episode shows the most promise but it’s also the episode where Sheila spends the most time pursuing the one thing she seems to enjoy – aerobics. There are also some sparks between Sheila and John Breem (Paul Sparks), the real estate developer whose politics she deplores, that could wind up somewhere juicy.

For a series that might’ve evoked Jane Fonda’s workout videos, or stirred up some nostalgia for Glow, Physical’s tone couldn’t be more different. The 80’s standards (like ‘Gloria’ and ‘Harden My Heart’) are there, but the joy isn’t, and what should’ve been an amazing star vehicle for Byrne (who’s been a standout since Damages) ends up leaving an aftertaste that’s hollow and gross.

The first three episodes of Physical are available to stream starting June 18th on Apple TV+. After that new episodes will premiere on a weekly basis.