In Treatment: Laura – Week Six
By fred | March 4, 2008
(S01E26) Monday, usually Paul welcomes Laura in his office. This is how things went down for him in the past year, and we’ve witness the last few weeks of it. And, of course, this was what was going to happen this week again, we knew that and never doubted it, it’s the magic of television. But last week, Laura did say that it was her last time, her last week here, with Paul. She said she couldn’t do it anymore, she needed to stop it and wouldn’t see Paul after she left.
Then she left, and we all knew that somehow she would be back no less than one week later, as usual. And it wasn’t really hard to justify this after all, not because of the relationship that developed between Laura and Paul over the years, not just that, but simply because she’s not just attracted to damaged people but is also one of them herself.
Also, probably because she felt free (thinking it was her last session), last week Laura decided to talk about some things she hadn’t talked about before, in a way last week was probably the first time in weeks she had with Paul what actually resembled most to a therapy session. (Yes I’ll skip over Paul’s daughter coming in and crying over a pair of glasses or something, because that’s really lame.)
So of course Paul had not booked anyone else yet on Monday, and when Laura called and asked to see him, he was more than willing to oblige. She explained that her father’s condition was the main reason for this meeting, said she tried calling everyone else but no one was there for her, no one but Paul, of course. And right from the start, it was obvious that Paul wasn’t in therapy mode this week, and this is why – as she later noticed herself – he did sit by her side, on the couch, and not on his chair.
He wasn’t there as a therapist this time, he didn’t want to put himself in that “position of power”, he wanted to be close to her and to illustrate that he was here, for her, as a friend. As someone she can count on, not because she’s paying him, not because it is his job, but because he really genuinely cares about her. It was also probably easier for him to then tell her something she probably never thought she’d heard from him, something she obviously had trouble to accept like that : that Paul missed her, that he cared about her, that he had deep feelings for her.
Paul needed not to be in a therapist position to say those words, because it helped him. Helped him convincing himself that he wasn’t a therapist (ab)using his power over one of his patient, but only a man, admitting to a woman, a friend, the way he felt for her. I’m still quite sure this guy is a real ass, I mean just a few days ago, on Friday, he was yelling at his wife that she was the one at fault because she was the one who cheated on him, who had sex with someone else, while he never did (although he really wanted to and fantasize about it…), and yet here he was, just confessing his love to Laura and clearly not trying to put an end to it and save his marriage.
Obviously, he doesn’t care about his marriage, doesn’t think of his kids, not enough to put Laura away and let her go, but that won’t stop him from blaming his wife for all their problems, of course not. I’m sure he’ll still blame his wife for being a cheating whore, cause he’s a real hypocrite jerk that way. Anyways, so he he was, telling Laura he missed her and did not want to loose her, and after a moment of doubt, Laura finally “agreed” to hear Paul and to trust him. But because of the way their 1-year foreplay went on, they have a very special ways of talking to one another, and each of them confessed to the other a story from his past.
Paul, tried to explain to Laura why he felt that, despite his feelings, this was wrong and was probably not what Laura really wanted, and Laura confessed even more to her therapist than she already had the week before.
If at first Paul made sure to put himself not in a position of therapist, but more of a friend, by the end it seemed obvious that he was using his position of therapist to talk to her. When he told her that he wouldn’t be another David, that he cared too much about her to do that, it felt more like a therapist talking, guilty of the feelings he developed for one of his patient, that just a woman talking to a friend he’s in love with.
But what bugged me the most, in that scene, is how it felt like nothing happened. Not right here, right now, but ever since the show started six weeks ago. Back when it started we had Laura telling Paul she she loved her, that she did share much more that just a therapist and his patient usually does, that they had something more (an intimacy) and that it was time for Paul to face the truth and admit it, while Paul refused to do so.
And here, it was pretty much the same. Again Laura was yelling at Paul how she had something special, something more, and how Paul had to stop lying to himself and recognize this truth, while Paul was reluctant to do so. At this point I felt like, despite Paul having actually confessed his love for Laura to himself, to Laura, and even to his wife, still nothing had changed.
Speaking of the wife, quite obviously on her way out Laura “met” Paul’s wife, who could then see that, unlike what he said Friday, Paul was still seeing her on Monday. If she still can’t see how he’s not trying to save their marriage after that…
Posted in Reviews
Shows: In Treatment
