What I’m Watching: In Treatment

In Treatment: Season 4, Episode 20 “Brooke – Week 5” (C)

This was the first episode of this season that I really didn’t like, and that’s mainly because the device here just didn’t work for me at all. The whole point of this show is that it’s an opportunity for people to process feelings with someone else, and in previous seasons, we’ve actually seen groups come to therapy together. That’s only happened briefly in this season when both Colin and Laila were introduced by someone else in their initial sessions. But especially when Adam was making a big deal about how Brooke was getting ready to look nice for her long-delayed session with Paul, it felt like a true disappointment for her to imagine a session with a version of herself. I’ve always found this show to be rooted in reality, which isn’t always comfortable, and it just wasn’t necessary to take the viewing experience completely out of that. It also felt like some of what Brooke was working through came from out of left field, which makes sense given that she might suddenly realize it with the right amount of introspection, but it didn’t feel germane to much of the existing narrative. If we’re not going to see Paul, that’s fine, but there’s no reason to reference him constantly only for Brooke to just face herself. I’d much rather have Rita there to hold her to account, and this further underlines my feelings that these week-ending episodes should have featured a consistent character there to work with Brooke on everything she’s going through during the week.