HBO’s In Treatment

DVR Dispatches

This week, HBO is premiering In Treatment, a half-hour drama that’s supposed to mimic what happens in a real therapy session. Two of MC’s editors chat during the first episode—take a peek at their IMs for their real-time reactions.

LAUREN: I love this actress, Melissa George, playing Laura. She's great.

YAEL: This is more like watching a play than TV. It reminds of when I had to do monologues for high school. Honestly, except for the fact that Gabriel Byrne as the shrink is the link between all the patients, he doesn't even need to be there. I could see this as a one-woman play.

LAUREN: Good point. It's kind of riveting, but it could grow tedious.

YAEL: The problem with this show is I can't figure why you’d want to watch it. I mean, what do I need to watch people in therapy? Who's the viewer? Someone in therapy or not?

LAUREN: You need romance and sexual tension, and I didn't quite buy it between Laura and the shrink…Paul, was it? The monologues are supposed to tell this complete story, but with our stunted attention spans, I don't trust we can stay interested.

YAEL: Oh my god! She’s about to tell him that she's in love with him!

LAUREN: If my therapist were a Celtic fox like Gabriel Byrne, I'd be in love with him, too.

YAEL:I guess I could see how you would fall in love with your therapist. It’s a pretty intimate relationship. I mean, a therapist can know you better than anyone.

YAEL: How do you feel about a woman seeing a man therapist? I never REALLY thought about it before, but watching this show, I'm thinking it's not the best idea.

LAUREN: I wanted my shrink to love me and she was a 50-year-old Jewish woman.

YAEL: What’s the protocol for him as a shrink, now that he knows she’s in love with him? Is he going to keep treating her?

LAUREN: He’s gotta stop seeing her.

LAUREN: Did you see Miller's Crossing? I mean, Gabriel Byrne is one of the most handsome, brooding men I've ever heard utter a brogue on screen, ever. I love him. But he should have referred her to a colleague after this, not made their next appointment! Unless he loves her too?

YAEL: I guess we’ll find out in the last episode of the week, where the shrink goes to see his shrink.

LAUREN: Are all of these episodes going to be so high-drama? Most of the time I just talked to my shrink about my parents. Huge yawn.

YAEL: Yeah...it's still TV. They have to keep you riveted.