Friday, February 15, 2008

In Treatment, week three: Paul and Gina

Talk about the week's fifth episode of "In Treatment," and how it makes you look back at the previous four.
Posted by Alan Sepinwall at 10:11 PM
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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The biggest thing I noticed tonight is how infrequently Paul looks directly at Gina. He's not just avoiding her gaze, but avoiding dealing with the insights she has into his problems. He's right that Gina has scalpel-like precision with her comments, but he's not listening in the same way his patients (mainly Laura and Alex) don't listen to him.

Paul also flips Gina's comments back onto her the way Laura does to him. There's so many parallels between his behavior and theirs, but he doesn't want to see it. I think it would make him a better therapist if he would admit to the parallels and deal with them. Or, you know, just friggin' listen to Gina already!

Very interesting that he didn't mention Sophie tonight (and I was hoping he would because I wanted to hear Gina's opinion on how he should deal with Sophie's suicidal tendencies and especially, the molestation). Of course, he was only talking about the patients he doesn't like, so I guess that would leave Sophie out of the conversation.

Is this the first time they've mentioned Paul's oldest child, or did I miss it in one of the past eps? I'm surprised Gina didn't say something about Paul's leaving Max alone in the house while he slept in the office; OTOH, she might have been tired of him rejecting her thoughts every time she brought up Paul's father. Oh, and did it look to anyone else like Gina may have been crying before Paul showed up? I thought her mascara looked a little runny.

10:44 PM, February 15, 2008
Mapeel said...

This is pretty painful to watch--the slow implosion of Paul. Byrne's performance is riveting.

12:04 AM, February 16, 2008
Anonymous said...

maybe people have already talked about this on other posts (if so, let me know and I'll just reread what was written)
but is anyone out there actually a therapist? Is this what therapy is like? I am interested to hear how authentic these sessions are. Not so much paul/gina, I have a feeling theirs are a bit different than traditional therapy.

5:27 PM, February 16, 2008
Michael said...

There was also a point where Paul echoed Amy's comment about how he doesn't feel as bad as he should under the circumstances.

6:31 PM, February 16, 2008
Anonymous said...

I think he is going to Gina because he needs someone to side with him on acting on his transference towards Laura. He thought of Gina because of her history of succumbing with patients, and even if she told him not to, he has set her up in their sessions as a hack, obsessed with her own theories rather than understanding what is actually being said. He has made up his mind, just like Alex, but wants her to rubber stamp them to alleviate his guilt

8:01 PM, February 16, 2008
Cinemania said...

Just as teachers make the worst students (trust me on this) it sure looks like therapists make the worst patients. Paul says he knows every trick in the book and if he wanted to, he could seduce Laura in a second. He is using these same tricks to avoid any sort of self-analysis, resisting Gina at every turn, dismissing her insights as "pet theories" so he can carry on treating his patientss-especially Laura-in his reckless and self-serving manner.

Byrne, whose work I sometimes have a problem with in film (he occasionally mails it in), is absolutely first rate in this episode. Subtle, yet forceful. Intelligent, but blinded by his pride.

Good stuff.

9:48 AM, February 17, 2008
Anonymous said...

I'll be honest - I thought that Sophie's episode was the big one this week - obviously I was expecting him to talk about his issues with his wife, as well as the situation with Laura and Alex - but I really thought they would take time to work through his issues with the situation Sophie was going through. Instead, I don't think she even rated a mention.

I've been trying to work out why he started going back to Gina, especially since he's obviously still angry with her, and as soon as I read The Other Andrew's comment, I realised how obvious it was. That's the question he wants answered - is it okay for me to sleep with Laura.

This really is a great show. Gabriel Byrne is an actor that I've liked, but he never really seems to get the roles he deserves. And in a show like this, which really must test him so much as an actor - only in one episode do we actually get to see Paul being Paul, the rest of the time he's trying to disguise what he's thinking and feeling from the patients - he really demonstrates his strength as an actor.

So, Alan - wasn't this the point that the screeners were up to? Or have you seen past this point? I'm really interested in hearing your views on the storyline and the episodes. I'm getting a lot from the comments of the other viewers, which are really helping highlight elements I may have missed, but I'm definitely interested in what you have to say.

8:03 PM, February 17, 2008
Anonymous said...

I've been in therapy for years and I've never yelled at my therapist or had my therapist yell at me. However, they do tend to avoid directly answering questions, instead getting you to come up with the answers on your own. If you can't learn to make your own choices, the therapy isn't helping, IMHO.

11:18 PM, February 17, 2008

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