What I’m Watching: In Treatment

In Treatment: Season 4, Episode 23 “Laila – Week 6” (B+)

This episode was reminiscent in structure to Alex’s final session from season one, where his father, played by Glynn Turman in an Emmy-winning performance, showed up to hold Paul accountable for what happened to his son. In this case, we met Rhonda before and she’s been a frequent topic of conversation over the course of the sessions, and it makes sense that, especially since she was the one paying for them, she would show up at Brooke’s home office looking for her missing granddaughter. It felt very casual for Brooke to text her the clock and eyes emojis, and what Rhonda conveyed to her about what she did compelled her to take a far more serious and worried approach. After hearing Colin butcher all of the concepts about race in the previous episode, Rhonda presented a different but equally contrarian attitude, one that necessitated servitude and knowing a Black person’s place in America that did not sit well with Brooke. The way she encouraged her to change “how dare she” instead “she dared” was a strong suggestion, and the advice she gave her upon leaving right after Rhonda offered to hook her up with a nice car indicated tremendous progress just over the course of this one makeshift session. Most of all, Brooke seemed proud of Laila for doing what she set out to do and doing it on her own, an unexpected but apparently happy ending to a relationship she definitely did not want to forge at the outset.