'Flatbush Misdemeanors' star Dan Perlman thinks more people should have a no-nonsense therapist
- "Flatbush Misdemeanors" star Dan Perlman spoke to Insider about the show's therapist, Dr. Flowers.
- Dr. Flowers is stern with his character Dan Joseph and forces him to be accountable.
Dan Perlman plays a character on "Flatbush Misdemeanors" who has a therapist that could not care less about him — and he loves it.
His character Dan Joseph on "Flatbush Misdemeanors" — a Showtime series about two friends just trying to get by in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood — is a co-dependent addict who has let his life spiral out of control. He overdoses on narcotics and even gets called out for "tweaking" by students at the middle school where he teaches.
But his therapist, Dr. Flowers (played by Yamaneika Saunders), is "bored" by her client's problems.
"I think she is the therapist that I should have, that more of us should have," Pearlman told Insider in an interview.
Dan complains about his friend Kevin, played by Kevin Iso (who Pearlman co-created the show with), crashing on his couch in season one episode six. She tells him to "kick his ass out." When he tries to work out patterns in his behavior during a session she interrupts him and says "the last thing I want to do is listen to your ass brainstorm."
Dr. Flowers is more about actions than analysis.
"Because so much of therapy is you just go there and you tell them a problem you have. And they're like, 'No, well it's really your parents' fault.' And you're like, 'Okay,' but that doesn't help you."
Saunders doesn't just bring the character to life on screen. She also contributes to the show's dialogue by improvising and going off script. Perlman called Saunders "one of the funniest people" on the show.
"Everyone's just dying when she goes off and is just yelling at me," he added before calling her scenes "the funniest shit" from "both seasons."
Perlman is open about how his own struggles with addiction have inspired the series he co-created with Iso. He said he has desired a tougher approach from his own mental health providers on occasion.
"I've sometimes wanted a little bit of Dr. Flowers where it's just like, you are fucking up, you are doing this wrong, and fix yourself. I'm bored. I'm bored by this. I think that feels like a nice catharsis there for it. And then it also just feels like a fun sort of subversion when we're making it," he said.
As terms like "love bombing" and "gaslighting" inject therapy speak into mainstream culture, the bold character subverts existing tropes about the profession.
"There's this trope going on now of the Black female therapist, who's just there to kind of like service the protagonist and the generally white character. But here, Dr. Flowers does not care about me at all. She's bored. She's, knitting, she's doing her own thing. She like could not give a fuck about my guy," said Perlman.
"I love that and wish that was more of therapy."
He might love her frankness but Perlman is not entirely happy with every aspect of Dr. Flowers' care though. He finds her à la carte fees a bit much to take for his character. She insists on payment upfront and has strict guidelines on what ride-sharing apps she will accept for offline sessions.
"I do think she overcharges," he admitted.
New episode of "Flatbush Misdemeanors" stream at 11 p.m. ET on Showtime on Fridays. The first five episodes of season two are now streaming on Showtime.