Well, HBO has decided not to make any more "In Treatment", at least no more with Gabriel Byrne playing Paul Weston.
Sorry, HBO - but replacing Gabriel Byrne with someone else will probably have the same effect as replacing Vincent D'Onofrio with Jeff Goldblum did on "Law And Order: Criminal Intent."
We're talking massive worldwide Switch-Offs. And, as "In Treatment" had such a small viewer base anyway, trying to run it without its main attraction would simply be foolhardy.
The only way I would personally still watch might - MIGHT - be if Amy Ryan as Adele Brouse were retained, with some kind of relationship with Paul Weston still going on so I got my Gabe fix. Other than that, fugghedabouddit.
So, most "In Treatment" fans are feeling pretty blue, or at least consternated, by the announcement that there'll be no more Paul Weston. Personally I noticed a real lack of decent lines for Gabriel to say when he was treating his patients in the last season; most of his comments and rejoinders were simply there to move the patients' stories along, and didn't give me nearly enough of that delicious insight into Paul's inner world that I so cherished in the previous two seasons.
I also hated the ending to season three, though other fans have been at pains to point out to me how it was very optimistic and saw Paul Weston off on his travels through the crazy mixed up mess of humanity that is New York City.
Somehow, I remain unconvinced.
I cannot watch the ending of the final episode without bursting into tears, for some reason. However, it does leave the doors wide open for some new fan-fiction about the show, which I hope some one somewhere will provide at some point. My story, Hungry Man is still the one and only "In Treatment" entry on Fanfiction.net.
I'll try and look on the bright side. Gabriel Byrne has always been a creatively restless man, and his staying tied down to yet more "In Treatment" might, for all I know, have precluded him working on something else equally as fabulous and equally stimulating. I'm happy that he's a free agent again, off to pursue his creative vision, and his personal one. So often the two seem to be one in the same.
Goodbye Paul Weston. You have changed my life and I will always love you for it.
