After nearly a decade of airing action-packed, original programming like “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City,” HBO is going in a whole new direction with its newest show, “In Treatment.”
The series stars Brooklyn Heights resident Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects,” “Stigmata”) as Dr. Paul Weston, a psychotherapist whose weekly meetings with one of four patients — as well as visits to his own therapist — make up the show’s episodes.
The set-up goes like this: each half-hour episode focuses on one session, and the episodes will be aired Monday through Friday for nine weeks beginning Jan. 28, allowing viewers to get to know each patient and his particular set of issues.
We first encounter Dr. Weston during his 9 am Monday session with Laura (Melissa George from “Alias”), a young anesthesiologist whose relationship is close to fizzling out. When Laura begins unloading on Dr. Weston — we learn they’ve been meeting for a year, but quickly catch up on her story — it’s a bit difficult to focus. With little in the way of an introduction, I floundered for a few moments trying to figure out who this woman was, and why I should care.
Once the first episode hit its stride, however, things started to go smoothly. This isn’t a shoot-’em-up or feel-’em-up like HBO has been known to present; it’s going to take time to learn about each character, and as Dr. Weston himself says, sometimes a patient lies to a therapist and sometimes even to himself.
It was slightly surprising, in watching Laura’s session, to see a number of psychotherapy stereotypes play out so immediately. Perhaps my mind resides permanently in the gutter, but Dr. Weston’s couch looked awfully big for one patient, and Laura’s face, despite being caked in makeup, was plastered with a come-hither glare; though thankfully, Byrne’s good doctor is a more scrupulous man than television therapy sessions have taught us to expect.
In the second episode, the doc meets with Alex (Blair Underwood from “Dirty Sexy Money” and “L.A. Law”), a first-time patient who’s more interested in asking questions than answering them. Hammed up by Underwood, the character is all bluster and one-liners, but through his swagger, it’s easy to see that the recent events of his life — a botched bombing in his career as a Navy pilot and a subsequent heart attack — have him more rattled than he lets on. It’s in this session that viewers get the first peek of Dr. Weston truly engaging with a patient; the cool, calm and collected façade (in an office decorated with sailboats, no less) begins to crack just a bit, which, for a show that will require patience and a keen eye, was a mighty big deal.
As the season goes on, viewers will meet the rest of the cast, including aspiring gymnast Sophie (Mia Wasikowska), married couple Jake (Josh Charles from “Sports Night”) and Amy (Embeth Davidtz from “Schindler’s List”), and Gina (Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest), Dr. Weston’s own analyst. And though it might move in fits and starts, over the course of the nine-week run, each character will unravel more and more, unveiling a unique and fulfilling first season.
