What I’m Watching: In Treatment

In Treatment: Season 3, Episodes 21-24 “Week Six” (B+)

With only one week to go for this round of patients, it’s no surprise that things are getting truly intense on almost all fronts. Most alarming is Monday’s session with Sunil, in which the patient skirts around actually expressing an actionable desire to do harm to his daughter-in-law but does give his therapist a croquet bat to hold on to so that he doesn’t get any ideas of using it. Paul responded exactly how he should have and tried to get Sunil to say exactly what he was thinking in order to determine whether Sunil posed a credible threat to his family, but what I found truly fascinating was how Paul went on the defensive on Sunil’s side completely in his session later with Adele. Part of it, I think, was an effort to undermine Adele and to catch her admitting her feelings related to her early morning call before Frances’ session. It was just as interesting to see him clam up completely as soon as he noticed her subtle move to cover her stomach that revealed her pregnancy. In the middle of the week, Frances’ hunger and Paul’s stoic reaction to it reminded me of the last time a patient expressed his appetite and Paul prepared a sandwich or two for Oliver. It’s definitely hard for Jesse to hear anything Paul is saying to him with all of the aggression he has built up and waiting to explode (or rather, in the active process of exploding). In any case, I’m intrigued to see how all of these patients’ arcs will be wrapped up next week as the season comes to a close.