Fleishman is in Trouble is about a newly middle-aged man, Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg), who has recently gotten an overdue divorce from Rachel Fleishman (Claire Danes). Toby wakes up one morning to find that his two preteen children have been dropped off at his apartment early in the morning by his ex-wife, Rachel, with no explanation. Toby, looking forward to experiencing his new single life, irately calls her, wondering what she was thinking handing off the kids during her week with them. Rachel doesn’t respond that day. Nor the next day, or the one after that. Little by little, and then all the sudden, Rachel has disappeared from both Toby and his children’s lives.
Where is Rachel Fleishman? I think it’s fair to say this show belongs somewhat in the Mystery genre, although ultimately not the one you thought you needed. The story of a missing Rachel Fleishman carries the viewer through most of the show, but doesn’t turn out to be the question that the viewer wants answers to. This is a story of something much deeper. It’s a story about stories.
The show has a sophisticated creative direction that feels as if The New Yorker would have written it. It’s a tale about the upper class in Manhattan, yet its clean and beautiful narration makes it feel relatable. Toby Fleishman reunites with two of his college friends, people who he hasn’t been close with during his dozen years of marriage. There’s Libby, the bored housewife who lives outside the city and feels largely like she gave up her career as a writer and the life she wanted to live. And there’s Seth, the bachelor who chases money and women, and who has a child-like bluntness about him. And of course, there’s Toby, newly divorced, a father of two, and the head Hepatologist at a hospital.*
Toby is combing through the memories of his failed marriage with Libby and Seth, trying to solve the mystery of Rachel’s whereabouts, but more importantly the mystery of how things went so wrong. How the person he loved became the person (that represented the things) he resented. His ex-wife, Rachel, becomes the antagonist because we’re hearing Toby’s side of the story. The show explores how Truth is something we hold together, yet never fully agree upon. As Schroedinger’s equation shows, the truth is both correct and subjective, depending on one’s perspective. Each episode begins with a drone shot of New York City, but flipped upside down. At first I took it as an undisguised metaphor for Toby’s life being flipped upside down, but as I continued watching, it turned into a symbol of the many ways to experience reality.
Fleishman Is In Trouble is also a show about death. Death of relationship, of potential, of youth. The paradox of the Moment that is both endlessly passing us by, yet infinitely here. Something we are always in (at our best) or yearning for (at our worst). The past is something we feel as if we have control over, likely because we can nip and tuck, relight, and rewrite the ways in which things happened. The future is dark—not in a morose way, but more in an overwhelmingly possible way, like a room of Vantablack, a lightless void you must walk into blindly. Neither the past nor the future are places to create yourself, yet we so often convince ourselves that we can make a home there. As much as this show is about death, it’s also about growth. We see Toby’s character become a better father, friend, doctor, and human being. In fact, there’s growth in each of the characters.
If you’re wondering how a show about wealthy New Yorkers could be relatable, the perspective actually proves its point: No amount of money or stability can stop life from moving forward. We live, we lose, we change, and we adapt. No matter one’s status.
This show was never really about Rachel Fleishman’s whereabouts (although this is answered). Fleishman is in Trouble is about continually finding one’s self, remembering that potential is the enemy of presence, and that without others’ perspectives, we are unable to find compassion. And a life without compassion, is a narrow life indeed.
5/5
* Note the irony of these roles being played by Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls) and Adam Brody (The O.C.), who seem to have not aged in their 20+ years of acting.