, and more), stepdad , and obnoxious stepbrother, Barry . In an attempt to defer his student loan payments, David learns that if he completes 1,920 hours of free therapy sessions under the watch of a clinical therapist, he can become a professional counselor. David is often awkward and repeatedly puts his foot in his mouth, but his heart is in the right place as he sits down to help patients in his parents’ garage.
In the climax of episode one, David breaks it to a patient that it will be their last session because he’s decided to throw in the towel, but she refuses to accept his resignation. “You’re the only [therapist] I’ve ever met who seems to enjoy people,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, you definitely don’t know what you’re doing, but you care way more than any of those other assholes I’ve talked to.”
It can be difficult to find a therapist that checks all the boxes and fulfills all of your needs. This process can be exhausting and honestly soul-crushing for patients who already struggle with their mental health. In the past, I’ve found therapists that feel perfect, then run into issues with insurance and the limitations of the American healthcare system. I also learned it’s okay to “break up” with a therapist when things aren’t working.
For example, a patient David sees for a session at the beginning of the series obviously has difficulty staying in touch with reality, yet David does nothing. Towards the end of the series, the patient briefly returns, only to commit a shocking act that weighs heavy on David as he tries to make sense of where his life is going. David makes many mistakes that have real-life consequences, unlike other shows that just reset themselves in the next episode.
jackdprobst Jack, thank you so much. I burst into tears reading about you bursting into tears in the last scene you described. (I also cried while directing it.) It means the world to me that the show had an impact on you. And thank you for writing about it.
jackdprobst This show is fantastic. Having heard tim_baltz interviews talking about the process of how it was made, I'm amazed at how high quality it is with a modest budget. It's earnestness is ahead of its time & an outlier when so much of the market is dependent on cynicism to be funny.