TO paraphrase the old Levy’s Jewish Rye Bread ad, you don’t have to be crazy to like “In Treatment,” HBO’s new series debuting tonight.
And you don’t have to be Jewish either, even though the show is based on a hit show from Israel. The one thing you do have to be to enjoy “In Treatment” is patient, no pun intended.
The show, which runs five nights a week, follows the sessions between a psychiatrist, Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne), and his patients. Like a table at Rao’s (or a real shrink’s office), people “own” their time slot. In other words, they are booked same time/same day every week. We follow their treatment as though it were really happening each week.
Some half-hour segments work spectacularly well and some don’t. Like real life, I guess.
But even the ones that don’t work so well are very interesting.
On Monday nights, it’s Laura’s (Melissa George) session. She’s a young doctor with boyfriend commitment problems and erotic transference problems with Paul.
She shows up at Paul’s suburban office after a wild night on the town, looking more like a junkie in need of rehab than an anesthesiologist who had dirty, anonymous sex in a club bathroom. (You might feel like you are trapped again in HBO’s horrible “Tell Me You Love Me.”)
Tuesdays belong to Alex (Blair Underwood), an arrogant Navy pilot who, under orders, bombed a village killing 16 children. He claims he has no guilt, but his actions and health say otherwise.
This is the patient that will have you glued to your seat. Underwood’s performance is so understated, it may stand out as the best work of his career.
Wednesdays are Sophie (Mia Wasikowska), a young gymnast who has a penchant for getting herself into auto accidents. Wasikowska and Byrne have such good chemistry together that you immediately get it – he’s a shrink, but he’s also a father and he’s trying to bring out a kid who has more secrets than we can handle.
Thursdays belong to the Bickersons, Jake and Amy (Josh Charles and Embeth Davidtz), a couple who fight constantly and have just discovered that Amy’s pregnant after five years of fertility treatments. They are my least favorite patients because the whole thing seems forced and doesn’t ring as true as the others.
On Fridays, disheartened Paul reconnects with his own shrink, Gina (Diane Weist), whom he hasn’t seen in over 10 years.
The interesting thing about the format is that, if there are patients that you don’t like, you can skip those nights.
Clever premise, nice execution.
Oops. What would a shrink say about that choice of words?
“In Treatment”
Tonight at 9:30 on HBO