<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/28/0/0/0/0/664/0/75/0/e38a482_1690536968269-physical-photo-030104-jpg-photo-modal-show-home-large-2x.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/28/0/0/0/0/556/0/75/0/e38a482_1690536968269-physical-photo-030104-jpg-photo-modal-show-home-large-2x.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/28/0/0/0/0/600/0/75/0/e38a482_1690536968269-physical-photo-030104-jpg-photo-modal-show-home-large-2x.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/28/0/0/0/0/664/0/75/0/e38a482_1690536968269-physical-photo-030104-jpg-photo-modal-show-home-large-2x.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/28/0/0/0/0/700/0/75/0/e38a482_1690536968269-physical-photo-030104-jpg-photo-modal-show-home-large-2x.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/28/0/0/0/0/800/0/75/0/e38a482_1690536968269-physical-photo-030104-jpg-photo-modal-show-home-large-2x.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="Sheila (Rose Byrne) in Annie Weisman's " physical.""="" width="100%" height="auto">
APPLE TV+ – ON DEMAND – SERIES
"This is a story about control," sings Janet Jackson at the start of the final episode of Physical. Since the start, Annie Weisman's series has indeed enjoyed the spectacle of characters struggling with the period they're living in, those around them and, above all, themselves, in order to maintain some semblance of control over the direction their lives are taking.
A biting parable of the cult of performance in any field, Physical continues its gritty satire of self-obsession in its third and final season. Sheila, a former feminist turned bulimic and borderline housewife in San Diego, California, has fully embraced the Reagan 1980s and transformed her aerobics addiction into a profitable business. Meanwhile, she's lost her leftist husband, an idealistic academic and unsuccessful candidate for local office. He's struggling to understand his place in a world that overvalues individual success and consumerism, and his efforts to raise awareness of the environmentalist cause imperceptibly hint at the ecological catastrophe to come.
Although Sheila seems to be coping better, she remains consumed by a nagging sense of imposture syndrome and a deep-seated self-hatred. This hatred is embodied in this season by a new rival, Kelly, who's blonder, younger and, above all, more media-savvy than Sheila. Season 2 treated us to the exceptional participation of Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus and The Last of Us), and the third season sees the return of Zooey Deschanel to our screens as Kelly. In just a few scenes, the former star of New Girl reminds us just how much we've missed her.
But even more than in the previous two seasons, Rose Byrne remains the backbone of the series. And she's incredibly resilient, even if Physical's machine sometimes seems to be spinning its wheels a little for lack of ideas. Her trajectory continues to carry the series, which is essentially held together by the actress's nervous energy and hilarious facial expressions. She even manages to make us believe in Sheila's conversion to well-being and benevolence when she's seduced by Carlos, a farmer who helps her rediscover the taste of field-grown tomatoes. She publicly drops her mask, reveals her bulimia and decides that, from now on, there will be no mirrors in the rooms of her business locations.
This character is a centrifuge around which it's hard to exist. And while Kelly and Greta (Dierdre Friel), Sheila's plump but formidable associate, manage quite well, the men remain the series' weakest link: soft, unfaithful and indecisive. Sheila's ex-husband sleeps with his secretary and her ex-lover has abandoned his own wife, who has just given birth. Only sympathetic Carlos makes out all right. The earth doesn't lie.
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