In Treatment: Week Seven (1.31 - 1.35)

With the series nearing its conclusion, the sessions are becoming a little more fragmented, and each is winding down to their respective endings. There seemed to be a sense of walls being erected or alternatively knocked down for a lot of the characters this week. Paul continues to put up walls between him and Kate, helped by the involvement of their children, walls are being broken down and exposing real vulnerability in both Amy and Sophie, and Alex is forging his own wall, because allowing himself to be vulnerable is just too much for him.

Monday 9:00am
An unexpected detour episode now that Laura's therapy appears to be over, this did at least illuminate Paul's relationships with his kids. I found it surprising that, considering his profession, he has such a distant relationship with both of them, as if he doesn't really understand them. Kate, while she didn't appear, played an important part in the episode, most notably in the casual attacks both Ian and Rosie bestowed on her. She's seen as the bad guy by her own children, despite us as an audience understanding why she was briefly involved with another man and is struggling in her marriage. I don't know if everybody sympathizes with her, but I certainly do at this point. Her children's opinion of her only strengthens that.

Alex - Tuesday 10:00am
The more we hear about Alex's father, the more I'm sick of him. He sounds like a complete monster, somebody who still gets off on destroying their 40-something son and treating him like dirt. The most heartbreaking part was telling Alex to go back to the marines because it's "what a man does". Who the hell is this guy? Alex, to me, is still a mystery. He claims to not be homophobic in any way, yet his aggression in the gay bar and repeated use of the word "faggot" (in the most volatile way possible) leave me uncomfortable. He's such an angry man. Of course, it's easier to jump back into his Navy routine rather than work on his problems with Paul. Plus, there's the whole "manliness" thing. His last scene, exiting the session, was devastating. He's pretty much doomed.

Sophie - Wednesday 4:00pm
I know that Sophie's sessions are popular with everybody else, but I find them the least interesting of the week. It feels like every session ends with some kind of breakthrough or some element of trust is formed between Paul and Sophie, which is then wrecked by the beginning of the following session, only for it to come around again at the end. And so on. I find her dialogue unnatural and obnoxious, and Mia Wasikowska's voice and that nasal tone she has with every line bothers me. Phew. Now that I've put all that out there, I did like the ending to this episode, with the long lingering looks between both characters. I think it was probably the first time that Sophie didn't storm out when the session ended. On another note, I appreciated that there wasn't any sexual abuse between Sophie and her father, even if it feels as if she's been exposed to so much overt sexuality from a young age that it's screwed her up a lot. Her cheating, flaky father is fine, but her clearly sad and repressed mother is like a tumor. It's a lot like Ian and Rosie's view of their parents. The mother is forced to deal with all the carnage and seen as the bad person, inexplicably. But Sophie's still obnoxious, and she's still a victim of sexual abuse. I notice Sy hasn't been mentioned in a while. I hope that particular asshole is brought up again before the season wraps.

Jake and Amy - Thursday 5:00pm
With this episode, we finally got some insight into why Amy is the way she is. Her memories of her father's death left me a little clueless at first, wondering if she did in fact cause her father's death via some unfortunate accident. But then I realized that it's more than likely Amy's projecting of guilt. As she was the reason behind the trip to the ice cream parlor, in her mind it would be her fault that he ended up losing his life. So many people have written Amy off as a bitch already, but there's a tragic humanity underneath it all, as evidenced by her desire to be forgiven for her behavior. She's a basket case, and she constantly cheats and is constantly cruel because she needs to be forgiven by somebody. Jake's reaction to her infidelity was intriguing, almost like it was an unavoidable circumstance in the last days of their doomed marriage. He didn't really have a reaction, certainly not the one Amy was expecting.

Gina - Friday 7:00pm
Continuing on from Monday's episode with his children, Paul's parenting leaves a lot to be desired. He's surprisingly conservative when it comes to his kids' sexuality, deluding himself into thinking that Rosie isn't sexually active, or even remotely curious about sex. His anger over Kate's knowledge of Rosie's sex life wasn't surprising, but I would have assumed that somebody in his profession would be more aware of human emotions and sexuality. Maybe he assumed that sexually active young people only arise in negative environments of abuse or infidelity, such as in Sophie's personal life. Whatever his feelings, the secrets put another barrier in between Paul and Kate. Or Paul is at least allowing another barrier to be formed. I still think he's subconsciously trying to get out of his marriage. B-

Credits
Monday Teleplay Amy Lippman Director Melanie Mayron
Alex Teleplay Bryan Goluboff Director Paris Barclay
Sophie Teleplay Sarah Treem Director Melanie Mayron
Jake and Amy Teleplay William Merritt Johnson Director Melanie Mayron
Gina Teleplay Davey Holmes Director Rodrigo Garcia