I’m an LCSW, and though I’m no longer a clinician for individuals, I’d say Sharon acts pretty typical for how a workplace wellness professional might if they were very strict about boundaries. I used to work inpatient at a hospital, so I was responsible for not only my patients’ health, but occasionally also offered…

It was so revealing he keeps calling her “my wife” even though they signed divorce papers months ago and live in two different countries.

I think there’s two reasons this story tracks for me:

His fight-and-flight peaked at the “blame my folks” thing when it was a wholly imagined conversation on his part. That’s definitely the bit he’s avoiding, and the ‘real’ reason he’s afraid of therapy though I’m sure his marriage didn’t help.

What I loved about it was the call-back to the Wrinkle in Time plot from the first season. Ted gives Roy the book, and then later, after Trent Crimm explains the basic story, we see Roy’s real-time realization of how it’s applicable to the current situation while reading to his niece in bed. It was hysterical then and…

I don’t think Ted’s exact words when lashing out weren’t necessarily meant to be rational thought, or what he truly thinks of Dr. Fieldstone. Just what can come out when your brain gets twisted by anxiety/depression/etc, and you have that kind of panicked response.

I understand the “Humility is better than arrogance” mentality, and I’m not trying to excuse Nate’s behaviour, but Nate’s dad really is a giant dick in the two episodes we’ve seen him in. He was cold & standoffish in the restaurant episode, and he really acted like he couldn’t care less about Nate’s accomplishments…

This is entirely a guess on my part, but I think Ted’s parents were divorced when he was young, and he lived with his father until his father died when Ted was a teenager, which crushed Ted. At that point, Ted just started to will himself to be happy.

The ‘wunderkind’ thing is perfect because it’s so petty. No one but Nate actually cares, it’s the world’s gentlest ribbing that’s already been reclaimed by both the team and complete strangers as an affectionate inside joke. He’s said far meaner to everyone in the room as a pre-game roast. But you can give Nate all…

I don’t think people make the child connection right away with ‘kund.’ But they certainly do with ‘kid.’  People think of a wonderkund as a maestro, a fully formed genius, and think is a wonder kid as a child prodigy, kind of a novelty.

Also, a nice little subtle bit of scene blocking:  Nate's the only person whose office chair faces away from the door of his office.  He has to decide whether to turn around and acknowledge you.   Keeley, Ted, Rebecca and Sharon all face the door.

For me the best parts of these episodes are the Roy/Jamie interactions.

It’s actually pretty simple - “wunderkind” is the correct phrase in context, and even though the translation is literally “wonder kid,” the implication that Nate didn’t know the correct label, or that he flubbed saying it on camera, just festers in Nate’s mind as another in a long line of humiliations he believes that…

I think Ted’s vitriol towards Sharon and the psychiatric profession is eminently believable. He repeats himself that “he doesn’t quit,” which is more than just a personal philosophy - it’s what he tells himself about his marriage. I think a key to his emotional issues is that he will not let go of the idea that he…

If I’m going to put a tinfoil hat on for a second, I don’t think Ted’s antipathy towards therapy started with his ultimately unsuccessful couple’s counseling. We know his dad’s dead and he told Jamie that he was “a lot harder on himself than he ever was on me.” So maybe his dad killed himself, and before that had…

It is a small bit. They are saying that the smallest bit will set Nate off. Nate needs therapy.

I think it was supposed to feel like an assault. Like it was supposed to be disturbing and upsetting and it... definitely was.

Yeah. The way the dad shuts him down even as Nate attempts to introduce it with a bit of a self-deprecating joke is pretty heartbreaking. No amount of humility is good enough, it seems.

It’s funny, I thought Roy’s Scrubs-like lesson on the field leading to a breakthrough in his relationship could be a bit on the nose, a little too tidy, as it was happening. But forcing Roy to take an extra ten or fifteen seconds to process it even after the players break it down for him worked well to turn it into a…

Does anyone have the list of books Beard is reading (or is it on iBooks)?