EPISODE 1: The Rabbit Hole
“There’s a force more powerful than free willour unconscious.
Underneath the suits, behind closed doors, we’re all ruled by the same desires.
And those desires can be raw, and dark, and deeply shameful…
Credit: Alison Cohen Rosa/Netflix
The more you watch someone, the more you realize we’re never really who we say we are.
In fact, hidden underneath, there’s always a secret: We might actually be someone else.”
The glossyGypsyisn’t the subtlest show.
The point of all of this: We’re about to follow Watts down a dark and twisted hole.
She claims to be a freelance journalist.
“You’re not our typical kind of customer…
It’s actually kind of hot,” notes Sidney, who promises not to forget her name.
Obviously, that’s a lie; she ends up at a club where Sidney’s band is performing.
The next day is a busy one for our slightly unhinged therapist.
This is the first time the episode has had any sense of dramatic tension.
(Jean’s at it again!)
According to Sam, Sidney’s dad is not in prison; he’s dead!
What does it mean?
Gypsy’s premiere spends most of the hour introducing its concern with identity.
However, it dives into the material in the sleepiest way possible.
Perhaps it’s lulling us into a sense of security before hitting us with the thrill.
Most Unprofessional Therapist Move:Flirting with her patient’s ex-girlfriend and lying about her identity.
With its glossy filmmaking and clunky dialogue (“People tell stories that aren’t true.”
), it feels like it desperately wants to be a prestige show.
This news clearly bothers Jean, who has been waiting to respond to a text from Sidney.
“Even if it feels good, it’s not the solution,” she counsels.
Does she actually have Sam’s best interest at heart?
Is she trying to get rid of her competition?
Is this assignment also for her?
In the moment, Watts is compellingly inscrutable, even if the scene’s execution is rather dull.
While Sam struggles to stay away from Sidney, Jean continues to cautiously pursue her.
Sidney is a free spirit, seemingly beholden to nothing except for her own desires.
Jean’s clearly bored to death dealing with two-faced suburban mothers and finds Sidney’s lifestyle rather alluring.
Unfortunately, Michael has to work late, thus thwarting her efforts at spicing up their life.
But, alas, Michael is too busy having a flirty dinner with Alexis and working late.
So, Jean asks Dolly’s babysitter to stay later and goes out with Sidney.
Jean and Sidney get really close after Jean questions the story Sidney told her about her father.
(Sidney claims she told Jean the truth and is lying to Sam and to her friends.)
But their hot and steamy moment on the dance floor is ruined when Dolly FaceTimes her mother.
Jean just yanks the phone away, calls Sidney selfish, storm out, and heads home to Connecticut.
What’s frustrating aboutGypsyis that its goals are at odds with its execution.
But, right now, the actual story isn’t following through on the promise of the filmmaking.
It’s all flash and very little substance, although the show clearly believes that it’s very insightful.
Something needs to happen!
Most Unprofessional Therapist Move:Jean goes to a club with Sidney.
Best Line: “Do you think G.I.
Joe has beautiful hair?
In all seriousness, Jean’s tomboy daughter Dolly is my favorite part of the show so far.
And so, that night, she finally takes control by doing so in the bedroom.
When you’re free to’t steer your mind, you might as well use your body, right?
Next up for psychoanalysis: Claire.
Claire just smiles, asking how Jean feels her own daughter.
The episode then inexplicably shifts to Jean’s fractured relationship with her mother via flashback and clunky dialogue.
“You just don’t get me do you?”
Slightly Younger Jean whines to Mom.
“That’s not who I am.”
So who is she?
The flashbacks end there, but I’m guessing Jean’s mom’s love life will resurface soon.
Second, Jean’s mom shows up to the bash, stressing her out further.
He’s not entirely wrong.
(Think Dolly’s encounter with the magician and Jean’s conversation with Allison.)
The problem isGypsyhas no understanding of subtext.
At least this hour offers Blythe Danner and some wine-fueled suburban mom drama to add some sparks.
If only the rest of it could ignite, too.
Episode Grade:C
Shirley Li
EPISODE 4: 309
Yet again, Jean lied.
), with Sidney, and the pair gaze at each other lovingly throughout the date.
No wonder she spends the next day with Sidney, as well.
With her interest piqued, Jean investigates Rebecca’s sudden life change and goes to get another blowout.
Jean, though, isn’t as lucky.
She picks Dolly up late from school, then gets sneakily confronted by Michael at home.
He appears to buy the story of her meeting a patient at the Rabbit Hole for now.
“If you only had more secrets, I’d be so on to you.
I could totally crack you,” he says in a hint of a threat.
Before she does, we get another tidbit on Jean’s past as a therapist.
Now who’s kicking people to the curb, Jean?
Meanwhile, Michael’s getting close with someone other than his spouse, too.
When Michael sees it, he doesn’t delete it.
As for Jean’s work emergency?
This time, it’s not a lie.
But wait, whose apartment is this?
And if it’s hers, why does she have it?
Andisthat really her in the photo?
Best Line:“Indigo barely exists.
Lines like this make me wonder: Have the writers ofGypsyever heard of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl?
She’s not your boss, Sam!
Maybe this is a new beginning.”
Now that she’s talked up Allison’s sobriety, it’s time to do something about it.
Jean suggests Allison do a “90/90”: attend 90 meetings in a 90-day period.
When they’re approached by leaders in the group, Allison introduces Jean as her mother.
When he tries to apologize for hurting Emily, she quickly cuts him off.
Can you blame her?
Later that night, Jean is ready for a verbal brawl of her own.
This does not seem to convince a skeptical Michael.
The next day, Jean interrupts Sidney at her rehearsal space.
Facing dinner with Rebecca’s cult-y roommates might help with that.
She chalks her “sister’s” avoidance of the situation up to fear.
Even when Jean reassures her, Claire isn’t convinced.
After all, how could Jean know anything about Rebecca?
The housemates ask for context (rude!
), but “Diane” keeps it vague.
She seems uncomfortable, but she eventually thanks them for making her feel like a part of the group.
“I guess I feel like I’ve been living my life as two people.
Before heading home, “Diane” makes her way to Sidney’s rehearsal.
But she looks nervous when Larin spots her getting into her car and calls her name.
He says he doesn’t want to be like the “divorced, struggling” men he knows.
They kiss, and all seems well, until we see the pained expression on Jean’s face.
Best Line:“I don’t know who’s in control anymore.”
Most Unprofessional Therapist Move:Rewriting her notes on Allison to fool her coworker.
She then goes with Sidney to run an errandat what turns out to be Sam’s apartment.
Sidney has decided their dog is hers, and she’s taking him back.
Though she’s nervous, Jean looks around and stumbles upon a gun in one of Sam’s drawers.
Jumpy, she leaves with Sidney in a hurry, running into an unhappy neighbor on the way out.
She tells Michael that she’s worried life will be harder for Dolly.
Dolly calls it “stupid.”
The next day, Sam comes in for an emergency session.
(How comforting.)
It turns out his neighbor spotted Sidney and “Diane” leaving the apartment.
This whole ordeal has Sam in a less-than-ideal mood for his impending date with Emily.
The date winds up going well, despite some tension when Emily brings up Sidney.
She thinks Sidney sucked Sam away from everyone else in his life.
He tells Emily that he’s been seeing a therapist, which surprises her.
Jean clears her work schedule on the days her husband will be out of town.
On his way out, Tom warns Jean that she’ll “get what’s coming.”
Later, Sidney and “Diane” meet up at a museum.
Diane insists it’s best to have some idea of where you’re going.
Sid asks if Diane does, as her “stories don’t exactly track.”
She encourages Diane to be true to herself, because that’s all that will matter in the end.
As they walk to the museum, “Diane” becomes disoriented and convinced she sees Tom.
Did he put something in her food earlier?
She tells Sidney to call Michael, but Sidney doesn’t know who Michael is.
Best Line:“It must have been my doppelganger.”
Most Unprofessional Therapist Move:Being in Sam’s apartment, much less snooping around it.
She’s back in the city again, outside a club, smoking a cigarette.
She saunters into the bar and sees Sidney walking toward her in a sexy red dress.
And, oh, it’s a daydream, and she’s still outside the bar.
Let’s try this again.
Jean tells her she is ready for the “full Sidney experience.”
Michael seems turned on by the fact that Alexis may have her bartending license.
“I don’t know,” he says.
“That’s the truth.”
Meanwhile, Sidney and “Diane” are playing games of their own.
Theyalsobegin to play Truth or Dare.
Sidney wins the first turn and asks Jean why she approached her in the cafe when they first met.
Jean lies and says she was “intrigued.”
Jean wins the next round and asks Sidney to dance, and she obliges.
Next, Sidney wins and asks Jean how she would kill somebody.
“I would use my mind,” Jean says.
“It’s my best tool: reading people, words.
I’d figure out their weakness and exploit it.”
This is my idea of typical third-date chatter.
Of course, Jean is talking about Michael, her real husband, and his real relationship with Catherine.
“I went through every photo and every email and made him get rid of all of them.
I tortured him.”
Sidney then asks, “Was that Michael?”
She remembers the name because Jean was mumbling it when she passed out at the museum.
Jean is shook, but Sidney changes the subject.
Meanwhile, in Texas, Michael has dared Alexis to get into the hotel pool.
She does, and he Navy SEAL-dives in after her, admiring her body underwater.
Michael and Alexis get out of the pool and into some fluffy hotel robes.
Alexis wants to stay up, but Michael is trying to go to bed.
If you thought this whole episode was just these idiotsaboutto hook up, you might still be right.
She opens one and finds bullets.
They smoke together, and Jean says that she was always into men.
They blow smoke into each other’s mouths, which is gross, and Sidney leaves her again.
Jean is high as f on the floor, hallucinating, and just realizing things.
Mainly how she is totally getting sucked in by Sidney.
Jean asks Sidney why she dated Sam for so long.
The revelation that Sidney knows about Sam’s therapist will probably be important.
In the hotel room in Texas, Michael admits to Alexis that he’s unsure about his marriage.
I don’t know how Alexis can still be in the mood.
It looks like a true crime documentary that was shot on an iPhone 7.
Jean deletes that conversation and deletes Sam’s contact from the phone altogether!
Michael asks Alexis if she sent the nude with Dolly’s birthday photos on purpose.
She says no, and then teases, “What if I did send it on purpose?
What are you going to do about it?”
Michael is just so conflicted.
They find themselves side by side in bed.
“I think you want this as much as I do, Michael,” Alexis says.
Michael does what he should have done a while ago and politely kicks her out.
Girlfriend rebounds quickly, and that’s something to admire.
Best Line: “I can see the truth.
Well, there is none.
It’s all just perspective.
Jean, high as can be, giving us her spin on L. Ron Hubbard.
But, you know, you have to have boundaries between your real life and your fake one.
“Hart,” Jean says.
Sidney searches “journalist Diane Hart” and finds a lot of stock photos of anchorwomen.
Surprisingly, she just lets that go and says, See ya tomorrow, pal.
Jean starts touching herself.
Jean, obviously trying to get out of it, claims she’s biased and can’t mediate.
When the session is over, Jean leaves a voicemail for Rebecca, saying they need to talk.
Noticing that she has been absent, Larin thinks that Jean is cheating.
Larin says the couple needs to build up trust again after Jean “blurred boundaries” with Melissa.
“But I was protecting Melissa,” Jean defends.
“I couldn’t tell Michael anything about it.
She’s the patient.”
Jean is very upset and makes Sid delete it.
She clearly doesn’t know about the recently deleted folder.
Michael approaches Alexis and asks her if she spilled the beans.
She denies it; what reason would she have to tell someone anyway?
Apparently, though, there has been scuttlebutt.
Michael decides to move her desk, even though that might make the rumors worse.
He threatens to tell Scott’s wife, Jennifer, about his infidelity if Scott spreads the rumor.
Meanwhile, Allison has relapsed and moved back in with Tom because she has nowhere else to go.
Jean offers up a solution: Allison can stay at “Diane Hart’s” apartment in the UWS.
Allison loves the terrible auction painting, too.
“It’s just my job,” Jean says.
But Allison knows that Jean really cares about her.
“If I had a mom like you, I’d give it all up,” Allison says.
“Things with Emily are going good,” Sam tells Jean in their next session.
At the Upper West Side apartment, Allison is rummaging through Jean’s stuff.
These are my recordings.”
And, bonus, she’s having a baby.
That’s why she wants to go see her mom: to completely disconnect before becoming a mother herself.
She reads Jean the letter she intends to read to her mother during the session.
Jean convinces Rebecca that the session is a bad idea because the therapist will take her mother’s side.
She leaves, but not without slipping the letter into her purse first.
When he leaves, she posts the picture she took with Jean to her Instagram.
Then she makes out with Michael in the shower.
Allison is reading in bed that night when there’s a knock at the door.
Who could it be?
Best Line:[slaps her husband] “Don’t ever go to my coffee shop again.”
We can understand how Jean is protective of her best-kept-secret coffee shop.
Aren’t we all?
And then stealing the letter Rebecca was going to read out loud to Claire.
Episode Grade: B
EPISODE 9: Neverland
This episode starts off with a reveal of sorts.
A much bigger reveal comes shortly after when Allison’s mom shows up at Jean’s office.
Slowly, Jean realizes that she finally found a patient capable of beating her at her own game.
Unfortunately for Jean, she’s in too deep now.
They’re starting to get suspicious of her, however.
He’s done playing this game and announces he’s ending their sessions, to Jean’s distress.
She clearly doesn’t care for people breaking her control over them.
Michael finally figures out that it was Alexis who spread the office rumor that they hooked up in Texas.
She admits to it, after which he announces, “Nothing is going to happen between us.
I need you to understand that.”
Clearly, he’s got complicated feelings.
His complicated feelings are nothing compared to Jean’s relationship with her mom, however.
Jean asks Sidney why she seems so upset about him.
Ahead of Dolly’s play, Jean tries calling Sam and leaves a message asking for another meeting.
I’m sure that wasn’t a mistake.
Jean then gets a new call from psychiatrist Gary, who informs her that Allison is officially missing.
Also, props for sticking up for a child’s right to be who they want to be.
Detective Chris Kelly (Craig Wroe) shows up at Jean’s office the next day asking about Allison.
Lying to the police is different from lying to her gullible friends and husband, however.
So she gives in, but not before directing Kelly to Tom Devins as the likely suspect.
Speak of the devil, Jean soon runs into Tom.
Jean runs off in a hurry.
They go, and it’s weird.
All these games are starting to come apart in her hands, though.
Sidney then stomps around the office and finds the picture of Jean on Michael’s desk.
Michael’s had enough.
Did he literally never click a link?
Does ANYBODY on this show know how the internet works?
This causes him to snap and piece some other things together as well.
She pulls out a news clipping about Melissa getting arrested and puts on a turquoise bracelet.
She says Sidney contacted her to voice her worries about Sam’s engagement (??)
That’s not even Jean’s creepiest encounter of the day, however.
She goes to meet Melissa (Kerry Condon) now that she’s out of the hospital.
I think this scene is the most revealing in the series.
Jean isn’t getting anything out of this.
Michael asks for a key to the apartment so he can check it out.
He’s not the only one who wants to get in, however.
When Detective Kelly calls Jean again, he says he talked to Tom.
Jean manages to get there first and clean out most of the incriminating evidence, however.
She then goes to give the big speech about bullying we just learned about in this episode.
It’s unclear) in the back of Tom’s car.
Like the Freud paraphrase that began the season, this is not a particularly new or original insight.
Then the show just ends, with absolutely nothing resolved.
Can’t say I think it was worth watching 10 whole episodes just for this final nothingburger.
Best Line: “F this.
Right you are, Michael.
Get out of there while you’re able to, Sidney!
