The fifth episode of Physical Season 3 ended with Sheila walking out of the endorsement deal with the diet cookie company because she believes it goes against her values. She tries to convince Greta that they are better off without the deal. But Greta doesn’t care what Sheila has to say because she is worried about losing her financial independence. She seems to have gotten a fair deal with Kelly Kilmartin, and she willingly walks away from Sheila. Running in panic mode, Sheila leaves the expo halfway through. Her inner voice and hallucinations go into overdrive, and she starts spiraling. Sheila is not in a good state of mind, and Physical‘s upcoming episode will most probably begin her healing journey.
Spoilers Ahead
Sheila Is Trying To Move On
After falling out with Greta, Sheila had no option but to move on with her television gig with “Wake Up San Diego.” She is not happy with the kind of people she must deal with, but at this point, beggars can’t be choosers. Sheila is going through tough times mentally and business-wise. She must find ways to keep herself financially stable. She comes across obnoxious male colleagues who always reject her ideas for the fitness segments.
What we understand is that men in general in that decade and before hardly took any suggestions from women and considered their gender incapable of coming up with interesting subjects to talk about on television. This condescending behavior puts Sheila off right away, but she stays silent for a while because she is desperate. She comes across Kelly’s commercial with the diet cookie company and is disturbed by it. She notices that Kelly is singing in the commercial as well as starring in it. On the surface, she claims to be unaffected by it, but internally, she is livid at Kelly’s popularity and her taking Greta away from her, and it starts messing with Sheila’s mind.
Greta And Kelly
Greta is worked up about her husband’s man-child behavior as she has taken on more responsibility on the job front. Greta puts in a lot of time to accommodate her husband, which again throws light on how women have to be on edge at work and at home all the time. Greta spends most of her time at home preparing food, all while she has to keep herself busy working for Kelly as well. She is having a hard time handling Ernie because he is unable to do the basic things at home.
Greta’s work with Kelly has begun, and the commercial that Sheila came across is one of their first successful campaigns. Greta, though, is appalled by the control Kelly’s boss has over her professional choices. The man is drunk and not a visionary like Greta. She had plans to elevate Kelly’s brand, but all of them were thwarted by Kelly and her boss. We never thought Greta would face this dilemma this soon. Greta’s already started regretting her decision to leave Sheila. Her former friend at least showed courtesy and respect for her ideas. We think Kelly is getting carried away by her image. It was just a power move to bring Greta onto her side, as she had no intention of capitalizing on Greta’s capabilities.
Danny Goes On A Date.
Danny finally goes on a date with Fidelia, Sheila’s assistant, but they have an awkward time with each other. At his sister’s insistence, he puts himself out there and speaks about his passion for jogging rather than saving the environment. The two of them have nothing in common, but it seems this date will give him some confidence to ask other women out. Danny seems to be on the back foot in his personal life, but slowly, he is gaining confidence thanks to his sister, who is honest with him about his life.
John And Maria Breem
John apologized to his wife for suggesting they meet a psychiatrist. As Sheila told him, he is trying to be there for his wife and is doing his level best to make this marriage work. John offers his help by taking his daughter to the doctor so that Mary can have some time for herself. It is only when there are female writers on the show that we get to see male characters like John who are willing to come forward and admit their mistakes. He has a hard time taking care of his daughter, but he keeps his promise. John seems to be taking the right steps after putting his wife through a lot. He is keen on understanding Mary’s state of mind.
Why Does Sheila Reveal The Truth About Herself On National Television?
John receives a phone call from the doctor, who informs him that his daughter’s blood group is different from his and Mary’s. This implies that John is probably not the father of the child. In the decade the show is set in, DNA testing was not widely available, and the blood group was one of the only ways of determining the parentage of the infant.
John is in shock because he never expected his wife to be capable of cheating on him. This also shows his double standards because he briefly had an affair with Sheila. This will prompt John to end his marriage. We feel this will be a breaking point for him.
The television executives force Sheila to work on the subject of gyms being hotspots for single men and women. She finds this topic bland and feels it serves no purpose for her bigger goal. She has to agree to them because they pay her, and going against them will ruin her business for good. Sheila, at this point, is acting impatient. We feel she should wait for the segment to pick up and become sensational. That will give her the leverage to make decisions for herself and her professional growth.
She invites Carlos to one of her shoots, where he is as outraged as she is. He believes her employers are wasting her talent on baseless segments that have nothing to do with her line of work. Television executives do not come across as visionaries who want to give the audience what they expect. Sheila considers herself someone who thinks outside the box, but she is being ignored because of her gender. Carlos is the only person who can look beyond all of this and see her flair, which is a good sign. We feel Carlos is the only healthy relationship she has had so far, and he is unwilling to abandon her.
Sheila starts spiraling during the shoot. She imagines Carlos hurling mean words at her just like the inner voice used to, and she is taken aback by the way her mind is working. She is on the brink of having a mental breakdown, which is why her hallucinations get worse. Sheila should address her mental health issues because she is in denial about them. She had another set of hallucinations during her support group talk. She refuses to talk about it because she feels it will be easy for her to deal with this matter on her own. The narrative from this point on is getting repetitive.
At this point, we are aware of Sheila’s spiraling mental health. This subplot needs to move ahead. Sheila finally takes things into her own hands during her segment on the morning show and refuses to speak about the topic assigned to her. She uses this platform to finally speak about her struggle with bulimia since her teenage days. She confesses that aerobics allowed her to challenge her body and slowly get over bulimia. Sheila probably did this because she could not hide behind the façade of being healthy all the time while internally struggling. She claims her marriage and motherhood also never reduced her bulimic spells. But speaking about her issues is just accepting the problem at hand. The writers have not addressed her need to seek psychiatric help. This confession on live television will either gain her a wider audience for being honest about her struggles, or she will end up losing her job. Sheila also addresses her issues with the diet cookie company. She indirectly attacked Greta and Kelly Kilmartin’s ambitious plans to sell unhealthy food items packaged as nutritious ones.
Physical Season 3 Episode 6 ends with Greta calling Sheila and showing her resentment towards her for pulling a stunt against the cookie company. Greta was upset with Sheila because she felt her former friend ended things amicably, and this vicious attack was uncalled for. We feel what Sheila did was right, but she will have to face the consequences of it. Greta disconnected the call after stating that she would be sorry for what she said on the show. It implies that Greta and Kelly might sue Sheila. If she does, either Sheila will win, or she and her brand will disappear into oblivion. Hopefully, Sheila will come out victorious from this.
