In Treatment Week 1 Laura Monday 9AM S01E01 (HBO)

This is a surprising show on HBO. I was really dumbfounded when I discovered that there will be 43 episodes of In Treatment. Wow, 43. These are only half hour shows, or almost half hour shows, but still. That is just incredible.

In Treatment is based on the Israeli series Betipul. Gabriel Byrne plays Paul Weston, a psychologist trying to deal with his patients while going through some personal problems. Each show focuses on a different patient. Mondays feature Laura, an anestheologist infatuated with Paul. Tuesdays feature Alex, an ex-fighter pilot traumatized by events that happened a few years ago. Wednesdays feature Sophie, a suicidal teenage gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Thursdays feature Jake and Amy, a couple in couple’s counseling. Fridays feature Gina, Paul’s own therapist and mentor that he stopped seeing 8 years ago for some reason.

I’ve always loved psychology. This show really feeds that need. The sessions are almost verbatim of what would happen in a real session. This show is about characters, not actions. It’s a very smart show and I am also very surprised that Marky Mark is the executive producer. Marky Mark has had success with Entourage so it makes sense that he decided to try out other projects.

Now don’t say it! He’ll always be Marky Mark for me. I’ll never call him by his other name. That’s how I first knew of him and his funky bunch, so that’s that!

This is a great show. I really liked it. I find that it’s best to watch it a few episodes at a time. On the weekend I watched the first five episodes. Tonight I watched the last three. I recommend this show.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

* * * * *

The show opens up with a woman named Laura crying. Gabriel Byrne is playing a psychologist. He pushes a box of tissues closer to her. She starts to get up. She almost falls down. She looks like she hasn’t slept. She looks like she came to the session from going out. She says that she was waiting outside for four hours. She wanted to call the session off. He asks her what happened last night. She says that her life is over. She says that she left Andrew. She said that she did some terrible things last night. Her phone rings. It’s Andrew. She wants to return the phone call. Paul says that the call can wait.

She’s trying to escape. Andrew gave her an ultimatum. Either they get married or he splits. He said that he wanted an answer in a few days. She said that he was crying and trying to manipulate her. She threw a tantrum.

She left and met her friend Alana. They went out drinking. She got hit on by a guy who told her that she looks good when she is sad. He followed her to a unisex bathroom. She was pissed. She’s had drunken a lot. She wanted to do it in the bathroom after a while. She hadn’t done it in a bathroom before. She recounts how she had sex in a stall. Well almost had sex. She had second thoughts and wanted to leave. The man was starting to get strange and told her to give him a handjob. She said that she didn’t run. She gave him a handjob before running to her therapy session. She excuses herself and pukes in the washroom. She cleans herself up.

She comes back out after a few minutes. Paul wants to know more about the argument that she had with Andrew.

He asks her if there was something in his behaviour that gave her a clue. She said that she told him that either let’s get married or split. She was the first to say it.

This contradicts what she said in the beginning. She initiated the argument. Paul says that she wanted to bring this relationship into crisis. Why did she choose this particular time? Why Now?

Laura admits that Andrew is right. She is being unfaithful to him. She has affairs. Andrew suspects this. She says that she has been unfaithful to him for a long time. Paul asks her why they haven’t talked about this before. She says that they have always talked about it. Paul doesn’t understand her meaning.

She tells him that this isn’t the way that she thought it would turn out. In her first scenario, she has sex with Paul. In the second, there is no sex but just words of love. He asks her how long she has felt this way. She says that it has been over a year. He has become the center of her life. Paul says that he is not an option.

She says that she didn’t sleep with the guy because of Paul. She has these fantasies about Paul. She knew that it would never happen between them. She won’t stalk him or anything like that. The session ends and she leaves.