In Treatment: Season 2, Week 2

week 2

One thing I'm really loving about this second season of In Treatment is how much we're learning about Paul. Now that he's spending so much time alone and his therapy with Gina isn't being distracted by the drama with Laura, Paul really has no choice but to turn inward and figure out just why he works the way he does. I think there was a key line last week in Paul's first session with Gina. He said, "There are no new problems." That places the unusual overlap of Paul's life and those of his patients in a meaningful context, as well as introducing those of us in the audience who aren't counseling professionals to a consequence of being a therapist. Paul not only has to carry around his personal baggage, he also has to see it played out in the lives of every person he treats.

In the case of Mia, she actually is part of Paul's past. She brings an interesting twist the therapy process by knowing what it's all about. She's no amateur and it shows. While the other patients are somewhat predictable in how they'll handle a difficult assessment, Mia's been down that road before. Watching her spar with Paul is entertaining because it's unpredictable. I don't know where she'll end up but it's gonna be fun getting there, especially watching the emotional powder keg that is her issue with serial dating and motherhood explode.

April's session was strange in that the outside world kept creeping in. By creating a TV show that spends 99% of its time in therapy sessions, In Treatment creates the same kind of intimacy and sanctity for us viewers as Paul tries to create for his patients. So, when April makes phone calls and invites her personal dramas into Paul's office, it makes everything that much more uncomfortable and it also makes April seem so much more exposed when she confesses the intimate details of her life anyway.

Thankfully, this week's session with Oliver didn't spend very much time with his parents. Watching Paul interact with Oliver on his own is so much more interesting, if only because Oliver is more willing to give up the meaningful details of his life. In short, the kid's got it bad. How Paul doesn't break down and cry several times every Wednesday is beyond me.

For all his dodging, Walter is chock full of stories. His life is a veritable novel of quiet suffering. He describes the drowning death of his brother, the coldness of his parents and the million tiny bits of loneliness he bears in every aspect of his life. We suffer along with him as he fights to stay strong when every bone in his body is aching to be tender and sensitive.

When Paul's session with Gina started this week, I groaned a little bit. He started on his usual bull about not wanting to be in therapy. Thankfully, he seems to have learned something in the past couple years because he follows that up with an open admission that he's never going to be able to figure anything out if he doesn't stay in therapy. When we get into the meat of it, we get to learn a lot of great details about Paul's childhood. Everything from his mother's first suicide attempt to his first love with the once-again-present Tammy Kent. This is a great evolution of Paul's sessions. In the first season, they were pretty much a way for Paul to summarize his other patients. Now it's actually some relevant stuff to the guy as an individual.

Week Rating: 4.8/5- I didn't enjoy this week as much as the Season 2 debut, but maybe the excitement has just worn off. I guess the part that really didn't work for me was Paul's interaction with his daughter. You'd think the girl would have gotten used to the idea of her folks being divorced, what with being in her late teens and the separation being finalized for some time already. I just don't think it serves any part of the plot except to make Paul feel worse about himself, like he even needs that. All the same, I'm really enjoying the change of pace and the fact that, after a full season of this show, we regular viewers can start to analyze the patients right along with Paul.