TVSquad

(S01E11-15) "Are you making fun of me." - Alex

Laura:
So Paul is now sleeping in his office. It kind of gives you the impression that his profession is interfering in his personal life doesn't it? This show is about as subtle as John Turturro in Miller's Crossing.

The more I watch this show, the more I'm convinced that Paul is the worst therapist ever. Not only is he still seeing Laura after she's made it clear that she's obsessed with him, now he's begun talking to her like some passive-aggressive Svengali. What the fuck the does he care if she's late. Is he her shrink or her father? Freud much?

Maybe I know nothing about head shrinking but I think only a total nutjob would pay somebody $200 to argue with them for 45 minutes. Maybe their verbal sparring is just foreplay for their eventual sexual relationship. If so, that doesn't bode well for the series, since it would turn In Treatment into the lamest soap opera ever.

That ending scene with Alex, by the way, was there to drive home the point that Laura is compelled to help the helpless. Just in case you were watching the show in a cave, with you eyes closed and your fingers in your ears.

Alex:
I love that Alex brought in an espresso machine. While some people might see it as an effort on his part to control Paul's office, I think it's just a way to guarantee himself a good cup of coffee. However, I'm a complete control freak.

I actually enjoyed this episode. I felt that Alex had actually stopped acting like an asshole and starting just being who he really is...an asshole. What I mean by that is that he is owning his assholeness. By walking out on his wife, he is acknowledging that he knows he is selfish but has accepted it and can only try to be a better person by first giving in to the self-centered prick that he is. This is something that all of us learn to do eventually. By us, I mean assholes and by eventually, I mean when we get married.

My favorite part of the episode was the end when Paul looked like he was going to die from being cock-blocked.

Sophie:
Sophie was particularly funny this week. Her routine in the chair was priceless. I'm continually amazed by the acting of Mia Wasikowska. She seems so natural. It's as if she is telling her own story instead of the story of the character.

So, at some point, Sophie's Dad lived in New York with a woman named Natasha. Could it be that Sophie's father is actually Mr. Big from Sex and the City?

Hearing Sophie actually confirm that she was in a relationship with Cy was much more disturbing than I expected. As a middle-aged man, I was disturbed to think about how hard it must be to resist the charms of a teenage girl, As a father, I was disturbed by the reality that there are going to be people like Cy in the lives of my daughters and as a fan of television, I was disturbed to think that Stabler and Benson were going to bust through the door at any moment.

Jake & Amy:
I found myself getting really irritated by Amy's attitude. Clearly, she was acting glib and trying to pretend that she was fine with the miscarriage but it was getting on my nerves. The episode really began when she started to cry and Jake showed up.

This has to be the most difficult session of the week. I mean where do you begin? Personally, I'm torn between feeling sorry for them for having lost a child and hating them for being so hostile and selfish.

The brilliant part of the Thursday session is how ludicrous it is to watch Paul try and help Jake & Amy fix their marriage when his own is so completely damaged. It must take a special kind of self-control to listen to someone else complain without breaking down and telling them how great they have it.

This session is the only one I really look forward to seeing every week. I guess it's because it helps feed the slight contempt I have for the concept of therapy. I've been to a few shrinks and some were worthwhile, some weren't, but I was always amazed by the number of therapists that exist and wondered if they are all really necessary. I like seeing that even the most expensive ones can have problems that are beyond their own ability to fix.

Paul & Gina:
As if Paul doesn't have enough problems now his prostate is shot? Wow.

It's amazing to me how childish Paul acts in his sessions with Gina. He knows that she's not responsible for Laura's reaction but he can't fight his need to place blame. I guess that's the downside of seeing a therapist who knows you so well. When you try and pretend about certain things, they can easily call you on your bullshit.

At least Paul is smart enough to see his potential for manipulating Laura, too bad he can't stop talking about gynos. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. I just wish he would stop acting like he's so concerned about everyone else. It's his therapy session, he's allowed to think about himself for an hour. If he would just admit he can't help Laura because he wants to bang her he would be much better off.

It was nice to see Paul make some kind of progress when he was describing Laura. You could see him actually start to think of her in a different, more productive way. How great was it when Gina said he didn't seem to upset about Kate. The look on Paul's face was hilarious. Now I see the the advantage of seeing a shrink who knows when you're full of crap. I only wonder when we're going to start seeing Gina visiting a shrink.