Physical
Physical is the story of Sheila Rubin, a Californian hippy idealist and dance teacher who is now a stay-at-home mother. On the hippy days, she met with Danny and they've got married. Danny has transformed from a professor husband to a keener on persuading her into a threesome with a student. The film Physical first shows us Sheila sitting in her dressing room gathering herself before heading into a TV studio to deliver a Jane Fonda aerobics session to the nation. Then we go back 5 years to her life which is boring, bleak, and also bulimia-ravaged as Danny’s spouse, who is an unfulfilled person. The film later shows us her story and the answer of how she came from there to here. She became so successful businesswoman. By the end of the first episode of the Physical series, she has gone to her first aerobics class. This class is operating by Bunny who is a mysterious personality, and -somewhat unconvincingly- she was endowed with a kind of epiphanic ecstasy often associated with sex or religion. Sheila Rubin is an 80's woman trying to have it all: perfect home, perfect husband, and perfect body. Unfortunately, all these start falling apart. In the middle of the series, she has made little progress.
In the Continuation of the Physical Series
Sheila has been accepted by Bunny as a proto-business partner. While Danny decides to run for the California state assembly. But that takes money and left them broke. And about the perfect body comes as the result of a devastating eating disorder. Jerry, Danny's old friend joins the campaign and they will be unreconstructed 80s males towards Sheila together. At this part, the show becomes so irritating. Sheila tends to be the mistress of her hell. With a fake smile on her face, we see her attempts trying to make a life for her husband and her pleasant daughter. But along with that when stress gets too much she buys three burgers, fries, and a lot of things just to barf everything up again. Physical as a film can be triggering for those who have struggled with disorder eating. But the film itself doesn't just focus on her eating disorder but on her mental health and how society has contributed to her issues. Sheila2s thoughts are constantly spoken out to the audience reminding us of the self-loathing and doubt that everyone experiences. Her rush for perfection has caused her to self-isolate, and through the Danny campaign, she is forced to interact with people that are beneath her. One of them is Greta. And also, we wouldn’t get amazing moments of Byrne's aerobic routines without Bunny.
The show represents Sheila's inner monologues while judging herself. To work in aerobics is about working within your limits. And watching her getting on top is so amazing. Danny is a man who's been told he's brilliant and often he does whatever he thinks by himself. By the way, he underestimates everything that Sheila does. Through the Physical series, we learn how they ended up together.