The temporary absence of my least-favorite character made the Monday edition of In Treatment more enjoyable for me this week. And with Laura briefly out of the picture, we got to open another door on Paul Weston’s home life. His encounters with teen daughter Rosie and college-aged son Ian–each addressing in a different way his wife’s affair–raised a couple thoughts from me:
* I’ve been wondering whether the Sophie storyline, still my favorite, would ever tie in in any direct way with the other stories or if it would continue to float separate from them. (I mean, it’s connected in the sense that everything in Paul’s life comes up in the Gina sessions, but not in the way that Laura and Alex are.) But at the least, while neither of his kids have quite the same issues that Sophie does, his problems with both of them at least reflect on the special protectiveness he feels toward her.
* It’s curious how, although Paul discusses the affair with both kids, he handles it in quiite a diifferent way. With Rosie–who despite her anger at her mom, lashes out at Paul for not fixing things–he defends himself. With Ian, who is much more unambiguously on Paul’s side (and seems to feel more of a need to please Paul), he defends her instead. I hope In Treatment keeps following this, because this dynamic–the different relationships and alliances that form among parents and different children by the time they get close to adulthood–is something I’ve rarely seen handled well in TV shows. (One that comes to mind was Zwick-Herskovitz and Jason Katims’ Relativity.)
Any thoughts? I haven’t been blogging on the show regularly–that’d be a full-time job–so feel free to use this post to weigh in on any of the In Treatment storylines.