A woman struggling in her life as a quietly tortured housewife, finds an unconventional path to power through an unlikely source: the world of aerobics.
Although sold as a dramedy, Physical is light on the comedy, especially considering the half an hour premise. There is little comedy to be found in the dark tale of eating disorders and self-image demons.
"Physical" daringly reimagines the '80s cliché of the aerobics obsessed housewife, offering a subversive take on what it means to be successful in a culture that continues to value the appearance of success over actual well-being.
Physical looked from a distance like another surefire success. But just as Sheila Rubin's picture-perfect exterior conceals a whole lot of pain and suffering, the glitzy packaging of Physical is wrapped around a miserable, frustrating show.
The 80s may have been done to death lately in pop culture, but this transcends period to become a timeless tale about a woman navigating her place in a world that wants to hold her back. And such a story is always worth getting worked up about.
Physical commits the cardinal sin of storytelling by leaving it entirely up to its audience to project our personal catalysts for anger onto its character since the story doesn't do that for us.
