Sunday, March 30, 2008

HBO In Treatment....The Final 3 Episodes

Sophie's dad shows up outside Paul's office. He wants to go in with her, she's clearly not pleased. Paul says he needs an appointment, there must be time to prepare, Dad is humiliated and angry. Oh and when Paul opened the door, he had a trio of congratulatory balloons for Sophie who had moved on in her gymnastics trials. It isn't too hard to see how Dad might be feeling a bit pushed out.

He leaves. Sophie asks why Paul couldn't just let him it. She's mad. Therapy has brought her to the point where she's getting along better with Mom who's stuck it out with her, and now she's angry with the father she adored because it's been brought to her attention that he abandoned her-- an idea she'd been well-defended against, for better or for worse.

Dad reappears, he barges in and Paul lets him. He talks about how he's torn apart when he doesn't hear from Sophie-- his love is genuine. He talks about his role as a parent-- he is offended when Sophie says he didn't raise her. He got up at 5 in the morning for years and waited for her at gymnastics practice. He sat with her while she did her homework. He got tutoring himself so he could help her with math. If only he hadn't found that wife who didn't like Sophie. If only. I actually felt for him-- it's true that as a parent, your efforts are expected, your failures are tallied. The session is a meaningful one where everyone felts heard and ultimately Sophie tells her Dad, "It's my therapy" and he leaves. One senses that reparations will be made and the episode ends with Paul speaking to his own daughter while Sophie and her Dad are talking on the lawn outside.
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Jake & Amy are getting a divorce. Therapy has illuminated for them how incompatible they are, how they strive on passion, be it sexual passion or simply a passion to argue about the mundane. Jake has grown over the weeks, he's come to some level of comfort, he's given up his role as the jealous stalker. Amy is sad, she calls the therapy a disaster. She doesn't want the divorce, and the tension of the session is set in seeing if they will change their minds. Paul, I believe, is not ready to give up hope. Joint custody for Lenny. A loft for Jake. The marriage is over, as it should be.
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Paul finally reaches Laura. They meet at her house. She points out that she's not a lover, not a girlfriend, not a patient. What is she? We have the sense that she is getting over him better than he is getting over her. He promises not to leave her or hurt her. She goes into the bedroom, takes off her shirt, and things go dark? Did they have sex?

Soon after, still daylight, and Paul is knocking at Gina's door. He had a panic attack, he ran out on Laura. Did the right thing. He is ashamed. Gina is glad. What a fiasco. We don't know what becomes of Paul's marriage, but it's hard to imagine there's much there to fix.

The End.
Thank you for reading.

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