In Treatment : Alex – Week Three
By fred | February 13, 2008
(S01E12) So as always, it’s a new day and with every new day comes a new session on In Treatment on HBO. And yes, this time it really is Tuesday, so it is time for Alex to come see Paul. Paul is the military guy who died and came back, yes he’s that guy who needs to be best at everything he does, he’s that guy who always has a lot of stories to tell.
And if at first I liked his stories, for its second session I haven’t been that much of a fan. And since we had some development that took place yesterday, as we saw Laura and he crossing paths, I was pretty curious to see how it would go this time.
And it turns out that this session could be split in about three part I’d say : First, we had the little introduction, the part that wasn’t really a therapy, but a little conversation between “friends”. Though Paul didn’t had much to say, because Alex loves to talk. So he talked about the coffee machine he brought Paul, and how he got it for a really nice deal over the Internet, and all of that.
Paul didn’t seem to appreciate the gesture, and in his usual way wasn’t quite nice. Paul is really not such a nice guy, he appears to me to often be quite bitter. But in the end Alex can be happy, he still won. He couldn’t get Paul to accept to be paid in coffee machine, no, but the machine will stay right there in the office. And I really liked that whole part, good rhythm and made me laugh, too.
Then, the therapy itself. There was two things : we had the usual talk about Alex, his wife, and his father, and we had his new relationship with Laura. As I said, what had me interested was the last part, how things would go with Laura, and how Paul would react to it. For the former, it was the usual deal with Alex, the way he works and the stories he tells.
I’ll talk about the whole Laura-situation, because that’s what interest me. And yes, Paul was not really at ease when Alex was talking about her. Not because there’s this thing where she’s a patient of his too and he can’t talk about her, no, what bothered him was that he didn’t like what he was hearing. He didn’t want Alex to hook up with Laura, and he was feeling some jealousy.
He could try to put things into perspective or find therapeutic aspect to that discussion, but what was really on his mind was whether or not Alex went back to her place or not. Paul didn’t try to interfere into the relationship, but I think it’s because he knows that Alex needs to win, he’s got to be the popular kid, the center of attention, the one in control. If Paul tried to say anything, it could “backfire”, because Alex would see right through it and would throw it back in his face.
I think he’ll probably wait for Laura to come back, hear what she has to say, and remind her of that she’s engaged, and that using Alex as a way to get to him isn’t working… and I can’t wait. This might be stupid, but I find that this little “love-triangle” actually does get things interesting.
Two more things about Alex :
- Not sure if I mentioned this already or not, I know I noticed it and I may not have actually talked about it : I love how Alex is always paying Paul. No one else does, but he. He always has to take the cash out end put the bills on the table, it’s part of him imposing his dominance, and I like it.
- I loved how he “slapped” Paul, and yeah that line actually made me laugh out loud : “I’m used to you not giving me advice anyway!” Nicely done, Alex!
I don’t think I care about Alex, his wife, kids, or any story about his parents, but again that love-triangle is working on me and I can’t wait to see what Laura will have to say about it, next Monday.
Posted in Reviews
Shows: In Treatment
