What I’m Watching: In Treatment (Season Premiere)

In Treatment: Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2 “Sunil – Week One” & “Frances – Week One” (B+)

A few words of introduction before I get to the actual content of these episodes: this is the first time that I will be reviewing episodes of this series as they air, after despising the first year’s premiere installments on my initial viewing and then getting into the show while studying in Italy and racing through seasons one and two. It’s quite an ambitious effort to keep up with a show that airs four fresh installments each week, and I haven’t yet decided how I’m going to review each week’s episodes. This time around, I’ll address each night’s episodes separately, and I’ll also have to figure out whether I want to grade the episodes since it’s very hard to assess them in the same way that I would grade other series. On to this season and these patients. Regarding the actors, I’m quite impressed with both Irrfan Khan and Debra Winger. Khan may be familiar to audiences from supporting roles in “The Namesake” and “Slumdog Millionaire,” though the best role I’ve seen him in was as the captain in “A Mighty Heart.” Winger made a number of high-profile films in the 1980s and recently appeared as Anne Hathaway’s mother in “Rachel Getting Married.” As a hermit grandfather and an aging actress, they’re both extraordinarily compelling and give Paul plenty of work to do regarding analysis. I loved how Sunil barely spoke until the end of his session and Frances talked nonstop throughout hers. The casting of Sonya Walger from “Lost” and “Flash Forward” as Sunil’s daughter-in-law is also interesting she was a star of another HBO show having to do with therapy and couples that started just before this one, “Tell Me You Love Me,” before being mysteriously cancelled after having been renewed for a second season. Anyway, welcome back, Paul, and I’m looking forward to getting to know these new patients.