Another Movie Guide

Watch In Treatment on Satellite TV

In Treatment is a new show on HBO, (which you can watch via satellite TV or cable) featuring a trove of young talents both on screen and behind the camera. The series is based on the Israeli drama entitled BeTipul. It’s about a psychotherapist, played by the esteemed actor Gabriel Byrne, who has his own private practice in New York. There he encounters all sorts of head cases who share their ills not just with Byrne’s character Paul Weston but also with a whole television audience. While there are subtle thrills and there’s a fair amount of dramatic flair, this isn’t the NFL Sunday Ticket, don’t expect adrenaline-filled action, not even of the mental type. Nor is this a luring look at neuroticism. Don’t expect the melodrama of HD reality TV either. In Treatment is a show that plays on the ability of TV to profit from regular scheduling. The premise is that you get a nightly does of the show for nine weeks straight as the good psychotherapist goes through his appointment book. Night after night you get a therapy session with a recurring cast of characters. So on Monday we have Laura; Tuesday makes way for Alex; Wednesday brings in Sophia; Thursday we get to see Jake and Amy; and then Fridays, well, those are special-on Fridays Paul goes to see his own therapist, one doctor Toll played by Dianne Wiest.

Laura is a woman who may or may not have a thing for her therapist. Alex is a military pilot who has to deal with some unpleasant memories. Sophie is a teenage gymnast who’s had a recent break as it were. And Jake and Amy are a couple fond of squabbles especially pertaining to the child they may or may not have. Each episode brings in a new slant on each person’s problems. And Paul more often than not, gets involved more than he should. He’s got a thing for his Monday patient, Laura, whose father is ill. Meanwhile his Tuesday patient, the army pilot grappling with issues of military morals is actually dating Laura, aka Miss Monday. Conflict of interests indeed. This show sports such little patient doctor breeches on a frequent basis-it’s what makes it interesting after all.

Season two is a whole new ball game. Weston has a brand new roster of clients and a newly minted divorce. He’s also got a new office. The patients are Oliver, Luke, Tammy, Mia played by Hope Davis, Walter, played by John Mahoney, Bess, Alex Sr, April played by Alison Pill, Kate, and once again doctor Gina Toll, played by the formidable Dianne Wiest. Pill’s character is an architecture student studying at Pratt who has cancer. Mia, is an attorney whose firm is handling Weston’s malpractice suit-should soon becomes Weston’s patient, dealing with some unresolved feelings she has about an abortion two decades past. Oliver is a young boy whose size makes him the target of bullies and whose parents are in the middle of a divorce. The second season, though, the cast has changed, still retains the same edge as the first. Check your local satellite TV guide for showtimes.

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