This season introduces nightmare young person #3, Jesse, a gay 16 year old who deals with his adoption issues by skipping school, staying out all night, selling his Adderall, and being generally a horrible kid. It is an uncomfortably pitch perfect performance to anyone who has encountered a situation such as this. Paul will get to test both his professional and paternal roles not only on Jesse but also on his own son Max who appears on his doorstep to come live with him.
Adele:
"That's the second time you've mentioned how young I am. Does my age bother you?"
The saintly Paul always turns ugly when it is his turn to sit on the couch, and this time it is no different. In search of a renewal prescription for Ambien to combat his sleeplessness, Paul temporarily reaches out to Adele, just for the script, mind you. Unaccountably rude and resistant for a person in his field of work, Paul will no doubt return to Adele for some talk therapy to go along with that insomnia because Adele is played by the sublime Amy Ryan. When your therapist has been nominated for an Academy Award, you return. That trumps a best-selling novel each time.
There is much more to discuss with the return of In Treatment for a new season: to begin with, there is the overarching realization (or non-realization) that Paul's patients mostly mirror his own problems. Paul and Sunil stare at each over the coffee table in a parallelism of dislocation. Frances' handling or mishandling a test for a genetically probable terminal illness is analogous to Paul's fears that he may be suffering from the disease that killed his father. Although Gabriel is looking much older than in Season One, obviously HBO being an aging ordeal, he is too young, as is Sunil and Frances, to be coming to an end of a life as his knows it.
We can also discuss our relief at the apparent lack of a transference plot line this season.
Is it time? It must be time. I feel the need for an Ambien and a nap. Until next week, I look forward to your comments.
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Article comments
1 - Carl Zimmerman
Sunil indeed has culture shock. He may resent his son’s marriage to a western Caucasian woman. His consistent use of Bengali language may be regression to previous happy times in India. Paul could establish rapport by pointing out that his Irish ancestors, like Sunil’s Indian ancestors, lived under British rule.
2 - Kate
He could, Carl. Thanks for bringing that up. I've been long waiting for Paul's Irishness to be a topic. When Byrne was first cast, it was a puzzle, now of course we can see why - he's a fine actor first, an Irish national second - but it will be interesting to see how "being an outsider" will manifest itself.
Thanks for the comment.