In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

As i grew older i'd think of my 'straight grandmother' and other folks who were 'stuck' on 'soap operas' and , basically , i am as stuck as they come with this show. I'm watching this with the same gusto as 'Justified' sometimes 5pm until midnight. I've read psychology all my life and have a brother and daughter who are clinical psychologists and i loved the show , 'Psychologist' , when young. The 'Psychologist' was more a 'group therapy' beefed up series but still good. This show is excellent. I suppose you're going to love it or just put it down but not in between. I love a show where i can be so excited with the least 'fluff'. If a show can hold me with just dialogue and acting like 'Juno' or 'Virginia Wolf' or 'Rachel's Wedding' i'm so grateful. And, a show that grabs me and doesn't let go and takes place in 1 ROOM then it's a show that gets my highest recommendation. And, this show does it. The camera work , the writing , the innuendo , the acting. Gabriel is perfect in his role, they all are. And, it's a perfect show for HBO and makers who want to make money and keep you watching. It serves me well and the people who want to make a buck on it. It's delightfully, completely addicting pulling and tugging like sugar and sex. Today, it hit me how much this series is like a 'book' in that i think about it between viewing looking forward to 'what happens next'. I think it comes darn close to the 'real deal also'. Gabriel has his little flaws like telling his therapist he said 'idiot' when he said 'pr--k'. And, telling his therapist Laura made him listen to graphic details when he made Laura tell him. And, i wonder 'does he know he's lying or does he not'?. The show makes you feel a 'fly' on the wall while, at the same time, getting you to empathize with each person. So, far i love the 'counter transference' deal they are bringing up because i have radical views about that. The show isn't afraid to address anything and , i think , does it splendidly. This is a show that 'ought not' be able to 'fly'. This show 'should' be failing'. I can't stand reality TV in any form and i don't like 'soap operas'. So, why the heck do i love this so much? Doesn't matter but i think it has something to do with director, writer, concept, pacing, multiple stories, accuracy and , absolutely great acting. With, even a little less adeptness at acting , this would fail big time. I think all components of this production are working almost flawlessly in order for this to work. I so love a show which can take place in 1 room and be as exciting to me as a humungus big money production. I'm glued to this and i wouldn't spend anytime on 'Independence Day' or some big production compared to this. Good show well done.

(*This is a Season 1 review only. Hopefully the show got better in the subsequent seasons.*) Being a long-time fan of Gabriel Byrne, I was hoping for a smart & edgy show. Instead I found a well-disguised soap opera.The pace, intensity and acting are highly engaging, but as a serious drama, it's short on believability. The thing I kept wondering was, 'How can Paul Weston get away with being such a bad therapist?' All the cases are conceivable enough, including Laura's narcissistic acting out (which somehow our good doctor never manages to fully grasp session after session.) But Paul himself is insufferable--both as a person & as a shrink. And not because of hard-hitting questions, but because of his painfully awkward demeanor, emotional cluelessness and disconnectedness from his own psyche. I also had an issue with the crossed boundaries in many of the sessions, most glaringly with Laura, who a real therapist would have referred to someone else in short order. I do get that the writers are pushing the ethical envelope in order to keep people watching, but it's still annoying if you're even remotely familiar with counseling psychology and its protocol & ethics.Even if you can somehow get past Paul's prickliness, sad smiles & missteps, his "sessions" with Gina are maddening. Why she puts up with him is not a mystery, but a disappointment. Is he paying her for these sessions? If so, then he's completely out of line as a patient when he repeatedly discusses HER life, past, etc. If he's not paying her & they're just having tete-a-tetes as old friends, then she's either a little masochistic, too lonely, or truly Buddha-like in her compassion, as he's a self-absorbed schmuck. By letting herself get sucked into Paul's drama (with or without payment) is Gina really helping him? I stopped caring enough to find out.If you've never worked with a therapist and one day find yourself in treatment with someone like Paul Weston...RUNNNN.On a positive note, Diane Wiest & Michelle Forbes are terrific here.~NN

No joke- I'm sure it's not the same in all cases, but the way the characters in this drama dig into deep, personal baggage, I couldn't help but look at my own. It began as a sort of admiration for the characters- Sophie in particular; she had a certain charm that just drew me in, and made me want to get to know her, much the way Paul tells her he felt, when she asks if he had to go at her "with a magnifying glass" to find anything to love. But the scene that hit me the hardest was the couple, Jake and Amy, in their fifth session. When Amy, with that glazed look in her eye, the one Jake hates, announces that she wants a divorce. And Jake just breaks down, crying into her lap, helplessly, yet she can't even bring herself off her own pride to properly comfort him. I felt so saddened by it, and attested it to "I don't want to be her. I want to treat my partner better than that." But then I realised my sadness wasn't pity on the characters, or worry of how I would treat someone, but the realisation of how I did treat someone. How I once was her. And it was both frightening and upsetting. I've since been really working through it, and have started to lay down my pride a little more.This is a powerful, powerful program, and I like to think that there's a little healing in it for everyone. I don't know how they did it, but HBO hit the very object of therapy right on target. Maybe it falls together a little too easily, or ties together a little too nicely from time to time, but the underlying truth of it is, it gets close and personal, and offers a little hope.Perhaps this is more a personal account than a proper review of a series, but this drama has touched me like no other, and for that I am very grateful.

In Treatment is one of those series that doesn't need anything more than creativity, because it's all about it. There's no need for more than a director, a camera, an effective editing, great few actors and interesting cases. OK, any other series need all of that too but here everything's much more simple, fitting in a low budget that results in a high profile series that holds your attention just by amazing performances in a room.When I heard about it for the first time I thought that it could be a lot boring, but I was completely wrong. HBO's philosophy about realistic drama shows never goes wrong on the target.In Treatment really is something like 6 different series in just one. I mean... you can follow each one of the 5 weekly patients individually or you can just opt following all of them. So you will keep understanding the primal idea anyway you choose. And that is a lot interesting and innovative.Boring? No way. The actors and their characters have their very own personality and problems a part, and each one of them has their own meaning and importance in a way that it's impossible choose the most interesting or the best performance between them.First season is filled with great actors and amazing characters. You have Laura (monday) - brilliantly performed by Melissa George - a person who have relationship problems with her fiancé because she's in love with Peter, her psychotherapist; Alex (tuesday) - performed by Blair Underwood - an arrogant navy pilot that is always testing Peter and himself without balancing consequences; Sophie (wednesday) - performed by Mia Wasikowska - a teenager that seems to be a potential suicide but in fact problems are too much worse than that; Jake & Amy (thrusday) - performed by Josh Charles and Embeth Davidtz - a couple which husband has trust problems with a wife that's always hiding truths to avoid his jealousy behavior; and at least and last Peter himself (friday), performed by Gabriel Byrne, who searches for his once a time mentor and now a retired psychotherapist Gina - magnificently performed by Dianne Wiest - because psychotherapists are also humans and have their own personal and professional problems.But the best thing for me is the realistic tone of each chapter, making us fell like in a real psychotherapy session. If you like consistent dialogs and enjoy a lot to be an observer of human behaviors and also all those psychotherapist manners to take away hidden truths like playing a game, you'll be mesmerized with this show. It's simple, consistent, dense and emotional with no shame.