The fourth episode of Fleishman Is in Trouble sees Toby struggling to accept the fact that his wife was having an affair with someone. The episode is now streaming on Hulu.
Recap
After browsing the Facebook accounts of Rachel and Sam Rothberg, a shocked Toby finds it hard to believe that he didn’t have a clue about his wife’s affair, although it was all so obvious.
Anyway, instead of spending time on their social media accounts, he decided to stay away from all of this. Despite his valiant efforts, Toby fails to distract himself from this situation.
He shares this with Libby and reminisces about the time he and Rachel spent at Rothberg’s. It all soon encourages Toby to reach out to Rachel at her apartment.
An emergency call from the hospital stops him before he could enter her place. At the hospital, Toby treats his liver failure patient, who now needs a transplant.
He observes her husband and her kids as they care for her. He wonders what a normal marriage feels like. He returns to Rachel’s apartment and breaks in using the key he has when no one answers the door.
During his time there, he discovers a number of food items that Rachel won’t even touch. He sums up that Rachel has changed over the course of time. He also comes across some medicines prescribed to Sam Rothberg there.
A furious Toby, who is now sure that Sam was with Rachel, leaves with a toaster to meet his lawyer to claim that his wife has abandoned their children.
After waiting for two hours and distracting himself by visiting a library, Toby finally gets to sit down with his lawyer. Toby states that he doesn’t want Rachel to have any access to his kids.
Toby’s lawyer suggests that he already has what he wants, especially with Rachel still paying child support. The laws are still biased towards the husband, but in this case, according to his lawyer, Toby is the wife.
Toby feels humiliated, and his desperation to satisfy his male ego leads him to one of his dates.
He tries to turn his relationship with this woman he met online into something serious, but this woman is not interested in that, as things will get complicated for her.
Toby didn’t get a normal marriage, not even a normal divorce, and now he can’t even have a normal girlfriend.
A disappointed Toby finds his way to the park and calls Libby, who seems to be having a busy day. She invites him to join her family for a day at the pool.
Toby does join them but all he gets to see there are happy families here and there.
He gets going, but a caring Libby asks whether she should tag along. Libby’s care for Toby soon backfires on her as Toby rudely asks her to leave him alone.
He then meets Seth and his girlfriend in a restaurant. Toby felt like every other person there is a Sam Rothberg, and it made him feel more like a Toby Fleishman.
A call from the hospital comes to his rescue, and he wastes no time going back to his liver failure patient, who is up for a transplant now. The next day, he sees his patient wake up alongside her family.
Toby quietly sits down in his office and cries to finally accept what has happened to his life.
Amidst all of this, Libby continues to struggle with her marriage. She reflects on her life, much like Toby.
Seth seems to be going through the same, as he quickly shares with Toby that he got fired from his job, but when it comes to his girlfriend, he hides this from her.
Review
- It’s good to see that the show has finally moved away from the constant time jumps. The last time around, they didn’t really provide anything much important to the story.
- The scene involving Toby imagining how Rachel’s life is with Sam Rothberg is quite amusing to watch.
- Also, there is a lot of heart in this episode. The viewers see Toby breaking down as he pictures how unlovable he is. Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal makes the character likable to some extent.
- Apart from Toby’s story, Libby’s arc has also become a bit juicy. The episode sheds some light on how hard Libby’s relationship with Adam is.
- Adam’s equation with Toby also brings up some questions that need to be answered, as it feels like he doesn’t like Toby.
Fleishman Is in Trouble season 1 episode 4
Director: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Date Created: 2022-12-01 00:00
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