‘The Shrink Next Door’ Recap: Episode 5 “The Family Tree”

Kaity
Kaity - Co-Director
6 Min Read
Apple TV+

Last week, Marty and Ike set up the Yaron Foundation, which is sort of turning out to be the Ike Foundation. Ike has been stealing money to fund his longed-for lavish lifestyle and Marty is still clueless about the theft. Marty also suffered a heart attack due to Ike’s frivolous spending at an auction, proving this relationship is detrimental both physically and mentally. Will he see it yet? Or will Ike continue winning his battle to gain all that Marty has?

The Hampton House

Apple TV+

The series has fast-forwarded to 1990, eight years after Marty and Ike’s first session, and from the looks of Ike’s girls, it’s been about 6-7 years since we last saw the pair. Ike’s father has just passed, and while he gives quite the tear-jerking eulogy, he details his lacking relationship with his father later in the episode to Marty and his mother in the closing scenes.

In an attempt to console his grieving friend, Marty invites Ike, Bonnie, and the girls to the Hampton house for Memorial Day, and they gladly accept. Ike’s interest in the Hampton house has been evident since episode 2, and thanks to the opening scenes of the series we know there’s a lot more to come regarding this property …

During their stay, Ike plants the seeds of renovations in Marty’s mind, saying he’d be honoring his late parents by updating the property to enjoy it rather than preserve its dated state as if it were a museum. Ike also takes a noted interest in the surrounding neighbors, mostly their prominent statuses and wealth.

This Hampton house is going to be a very important detail, likely being the crown jewel of Ike’s manipulation.

The Ever-Persuasive Ike

Apple TV+

Ike wants that Hampton house, or a Hampton house, and when the property next door to Marty goes for sale, Ike tries to persuade Marty to buy it. First, he tries to convince Marty to sell his current home and purchase the neighboring one, but Marty refuses. As he should, that was his parents’ house. Then, Ike tries his hand at telling Marty to buy it and combine the properties for one massive estate. Ike mentions cutting down the cherry tree in the backyard to create more room for a miniature golf course, but Marty details how much his mother loved that tree and he could never, ever cut it down.

Marty does however agree to renovate, likely in an attempt to appease his friend who he’s consistently disappointing regarding the house.

When Ike threatens to leave to take a sabbatical in Jerusalem to continue working on his novel, Marty offers up an extended stay at the house instead. He’s desperate not to lose his only friend. Ike accepts and sends Bonnie and the girls home so he and Marty can “work.” The work? Marty is Ike’s transcriptionist and personal remodeler. In fact, as the remodel continues, it’s photos of Ike that are hung on the wall in place of Marty’s old family photos.

Gaslight, Greenlight

Apple TV+

If there’s one thing we’ve learned thus far it’s that Ike is a master at gaslighting, and Marty is especially susceptible to it. While we’ve seen Bonnie maneuver around Ike’s special gift, it gets Marty each and every time. This time, Ike utilizes his intellectual upper hand on Marty to convince him he loves his mother’s cherry tree because of her ineffective way of raising him. That somehow all of Marty’s issues lie in how much his mother loved him, love Ike didn’t seem to receive from his parents. He threatens to leave Marty, and quit being a therapist altogether because clearly, he can’t do the job.

Of course, Marty gives in immediately, again petrified to lose the only person he’s close to. He’s lost his parents, his sister, Phyllis, and his last attempt at a romantic relationship went sour (the latter two thanks to Ike). In a desperate attempt to save the one person who Marty has, Marty himself chops down his mother’s beloved cherry tree.

The episode flashes to one year later, Ike at his father’s grave with his mother again detailing the lack of love and warmth in his upbringing. Ike returns to the Hampton house and Marty has news, he’s bought the house next door. Looks like Ike is truly getting everything he wanted. In a rare display of emotion for Ike, he’s practically inconsolable as he tears down the fence separating the two properties as Marty looks on. Perhaps now, one year later, he’s finally processing just how much his father’s indifference toward him has affected him.

Episodes 1-5 of The Shrink Next Door are available exclusively on Apple TV+. Episode 6 will release Friday, December 3. Be sure to keep up with our continuing coverage of the series!

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By Kaity Co-Director
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Kaity started with Harry Potter in second grade and it’s been a losing battle ever since, or maybe a winning one ... She lives in New England with a small herd of cats, two dogs, three chinchillas, and one daughter. You can definitely find her either watching anime, reading manga, or playing the same five video games over and over again. Contact: kaity@nerdsandbeyond.com
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