About halfway through the sixth episode of Fleishman is in Trouble, a realisation dawns. This is not the streaming series you thought you were watching.
Adapted for the screen by Taffy Brodesser-Akner from her own novel, Fleishman is in Trouble seamlessly shifts perspectives in its final chapters, elevating an already great show to a brilliant one.
The miniseries starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes and Lizzy Caplan landed in Australia late last year without much fanfare or marketing, and by the time it wrapped its eight-episode run right before the New Year, it had cemented itself as one of the best shows of 2022 – it just came out at the wrong time for everyone to notice.
Character-driven and written with a complex tapestry of human foibles, Fleishman is in Trouble delves into some heavy subjects, focused on relationship breakdowns, midlife crises, nostalgia and regret.
But even with all those thematic burdens, it’s surprisingly light and agile, as it deftly explores the emotional weight of just living.
When it starts, the story is focused on Toby Fleishman (Eisenberg), a recently divorced New Yorker. He’s a father to two children, who are now in his care after his ex-wife Rachel (Danes) seemingly disappears after she dropped them off.
Rachel is supposedly at a yoga retreat, but Toby’s inability to reach her sends him increasingly into a bitter spiral. As Rachel remains elusive, he tries to balance his new life of casual hook-ups, his work as a doctor and reconnecting with college friends Libby (Caplan) and Seth (Adam Brody).
Toby’s understanding of his marriage breakdown is told through flashbacks lensed through his perspective. He stews over what he understood to be Rachel’s insatiable professional ambition and clambering for material and social status.
He reveals how he felt diminished by her, that his job as a hepatologist would be considered successful by conventional definitions but not by her. And that she prioritised her work over her family. It’s clear Toby blames Rachel for their divorce.
Even though the story is narrated by Libby, it’s Toby’s point-of-view that is foregrounded.
Which makes the second half of Fleishman is in Trouble so impressive. It’s a stealthy show that lulls you into one understanding only to flip it around and challenge the audience into examining their own biases.
We get to see Rachel only through Toby’s voice, presented as if it’s fact. But as Libby tells us, there are two sides to every break-up. Rachel’s story, when it comes in episode seven, tells a very different story – different perspectives on the same scenes.
The transition is done so well, so seemingly effortlessly and yet so effectively, that it recasts everything that came before without undermining it. This is the mark of fantastic storytelling.
And if you had been wondering why the production cast a powerhouse performer like Danes in a relatively fleeting role, episode seven is why. She breaks your heart, as does Caplan in the final episode.
When the finale comes, when the story shifts point-of-view again, you realise that Fleishman is in Trouble was never Toby’s story, and that he was merely a device through which to explore someone else’s midlife crisis.
It’s a series with great emotional depth and nuance, and a profound understanding of humanity with all its flaws and grace, all wrapped up in a talky New York story. What more could you want?
Fleishman is in Trouble is streaming now on Disney+