Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Sepinwall on TV: 'In Treatment' post-mortem

Today's column offers a belated look back at the first season of "In Treatment."
Posted by Alan Sepinwall at 7:30 AM
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8 comments:

Tony Dayoub said...

While I see the attraction in game-changing the show to have Weist's Gina be the central character, I must strongly disagree. Having watched all 43 episodes, I still feel that the surface has barely been scratched with Paul.

Byrne's mysterious passivity masks a considerably volatile persona within the character. We caught glimpses of this side throughout the series, and I hope to see some of that again. I especially want to see more of his interactions with his wife.

I believe that despite his epiphany regarding his incompatibility with Laura, his marital problems are yet to be resolved.

8:03 AM, April 08, 2008
Anonymous said...

I was kind of under the impression that the show was close to being an English translation of the Israeli series Be'tipul, which, if true, would imply that in any second season they'd continue with the same therapist (Paul) and characters that were in the second season of the Israeli show.

I was under the impression that even though people didn't love Tell Me You Love Me, HBO renewed it because it was really cheap to make. Isn't that also true of In Treatment? I hope so because I loved In Treatment (and didn't really feel anything towards Tell Me You Love Me) and definitely hope HBO renews it.

8:41 AM, April 08, 2008
Eric said...

Anonymous,

I don't think HBO is under any requirement to follow Season 2 of Be'Tipul. They recently sent me a survey which asked, among other things, if I'd be interested in seeing a female therapist in the second season of In Treatment.

I'd like to see a detailed comparison and commentary between the two shows by someone who is fluent in both languages. I remember reading something where the creator of Be'Tipul noted the fact that therapeutic talk of "boundaries," "borders" and "walls" have a political resonance for Israelis that the don't here. I wonder what else was lost and added in translation.

10:37 AM, April 08, 2008
Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you for that Alan! I'm still grieving the end of this season (I'm hoping there will be another but am doubtful), so it was great to read your final thoughts.

2:05 PM, April 08, 2008
Anonymous said...

I don't have HBO, so I'm (im)patiently waiting for this to come out on DVD.

2:36 PM, April 08, 2008
Anonymous said...

It should be rein, not reign, in the last graph. I expect a correction forthwith.

Otherwise, excellent summation. I hadn't planned on watching it but when I saw all of the comments on here about the show I caught up with it on On Demand and loved it.

7:43 PM, April 08, 2008
Anonymous said...

Thanks for that article, Alan! I disagree that Laura was a grown-up version of Sophie, but otherwise, I liked your take on the show as a whole.

10:57 PM, April 11, 2008
Brandon said...

Alan, I just finished catching up on In Treatment Season 1, and I wanted to thank you for posting these responses for the episodes and weeks. I've come here to read thoughts from you and the commenters after finishing several series that I missed the first time around, like Freaks and Geeks, and it's always been fascinating to see what others pick up on.

1:52 AM, June 27, 2009

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