Possibly one of my favourite episodes of In Treatment, ever. I JUST DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING.
Neither, it's pretty apparent, did Alex. Or, for that matter, did Paul. His expression as his anger cools, Alex leaves, and Paul tries to steady himself by making minute adjustments to the ornaments on his bookcase is extraordinary. The sudden slackness in his face, as he realises what he has done, and how many professional guidelines he has just flown in the face of, and how many rules have just been broken, and how he has potentially robbed himself of any kind of professional security. I mean, Alex could have gone straight to the police, had he wanted to, and charged Paul with assault. Assault With A Deadly Coffee Cup. OMG.
Paul's entire life could very easily have all come undone like a piece of piss-poor knitting at that point.
I'm jumping ahead.
The episode starts with Paul checking flight arrival times. I suddenly think - He has no idea when Kate is coming home. He's trying to figure it out. Maybe it's today. Alex arrives. Paul hides his irritation, but only from Alex. We see ALL OF IT.
Or at least .. we THINK we do. The majority of the episode for me was spent thinking - Paul is different. He's having a problem containing his jealousy and his irritation. The barrier that he has up between his work and his private life is perilously worn in places. Will Alex breach it? Will Paul allow him to do so?
What? What? Are you asking me to tell you whether Laura has already had a run in with the Pants Python? Is that what you're suggesting?
Huh. Not tellin'. I'll let you THINK whatever you like, you arrogant asshole.
I have my fingers steepled. this means I feel myself to be superior to you. So nerrrr. And yes, I left the bathroom door open. You wanna make something of it? Huh? Do ya? Do ya?
You wanna know what I think? I think you and I are digging ourselves a terrible pit with sharpened stakes set into the floor of it. The pit mouth is getting wider and wider, and the edges of it are beginning to crumble. That's what I think.
Sometimes i think I am already at the bottom of the pit, looking up and outwards. All I can see is you and Laura, and Kate and her insurance salesman, or whatever the fuck he is.
And you come in here and say I should try Viagra? WTF? Seriously - getting it up is not my problem. It's finding something to do with it afterwards that's the problem.
Kate knocks at the door and Paul's concentration goes momentarily to hell and back in a hand basket. He's spent the entire episode twisting and shifting in the chair like he has ants in his pants (or possibly some of his Twitter fans.)
We start to get lots and lots of close-up shots of Paul's face, which remains largely impassive. I think it was done in close-up so as to accentuate what a master of expressive understatement Gabriel Byrne really is. But ... his hands. His hands never stop moving the whole time. They twist and they pull and they turn. They seem to be linked to my stomach as I watch this scene.
This episode is shot with a hand-held Steadicam, meaning that none of the shots is very stable. The viewer's perspective is forced to wobble along with the camera itself. Likewise the editing is much faster - chopping between shots - than usual. All of this builds up the suspense.
Gabriel keeps his face as still as he can. Which, isn't very. His eyes slide off frequently to his left. He avoids looking directly at Alex, in stark contrast to the previous episode with Laura, where he almost never takes his eyes off her.
His hands keep moving, moving, twisting me up in knots. The episode is even harder to watch a second or a third time, knowing what is in store: and very difficult to watch in slow-motion as part of the capping process.
I hate seeing Weston on the back foot. Alex has him in a corner. But Alex is making a mistake - he thinks that Paul is weak, and will simply aquiesce and brush off what Alex is saying. Nothing seems to be happening, even when Alex talks about Kate and Rosie and Paul's father.
Alex goads him about how he would never stand the glimmer of a chance with Laura. Paul plays unceasingly with his ring finger. He may well be wondering if Alex speaks the truth. But how could he bear that?
There's one part where Paul turns and grimaces and sniffs. It's a very ugly moment for him and I didn't try and cap it. I hadn't seen that expression before.
This however, I have seen before. In "End Of Days". It is a very dangerous expression. But Alex cannot see it at this point - he is moving behind Paul. My heart inches upwards, closer and closer to my mouth.
Paul must be bringing his decades of professional experience to bear at this point. Or, he THINKS he is doing that, anyway. He's had difficult and awkward patients before now, hasn't he?
Paul carries on soaking it all up like a sponge. And then Alex moves in closer, deliberately invading Paul's personal space in addition to everything else.
Uh oh. It's gone! It's all gone! Everything professional about Paul Weston vanishes in a split second. (It was almost impossible to get this screen-cap. Sorry it's fuzzy.)
It isn't until Alex starts to turn his vitriol on Laura, tellingly, that Paul loses it. And I have slowed the scene down to less than a quarter its original speed, and you STILL cannot see it coming.
You know something? I am not ashamed to say that I find Paul's violent outburst to be sexually stimulating. His reaction is rooted in sex, after all, and in love, and in despair. These things are at the base of Paul's character throughout the whole of the first season. I love to see him finally standing up for himself and for Laura, for expressing his true feelings (albeit in a potentially disastrous way!)
Gabriel Byrne has always, always excelled at playing the Romantic Anti-hero but here, just for once, he does the Hollywood macho thing. Alex is a prick and Paul tells him so and pushes him away (but stays with him at the same time, like a good therapist.)
My MP3 has just thrown up "Spellbound" by Siouxie and the Banshees and I am thinking, Yup, that about sums it up.
But then Paul has to somehow come to terms with what he has done. He appears to be going into shock, especially after he cuts his hand. He cannot speak to Kate. That is, assuming he even wanted to.
WHY DID THIS MAN NOT WIN AN EMMY.
I think Paul suddenly realises that he has just assaulted a patient and for that, very easily, he could be professionally 'struck off' whatever professional register of psychotherapists he is on. There are strict Codes of Conduct for any type of therapeutic work. Paul is in breach of that code - and how.
So .. he's lost his wife to another man, and his eldest son is away at college. His daughter is apparently running wild - his youngest son is scared of him and his father cannot or will not speak to him any more. Paul hasn't really been able to patch things up with Gina and his relationship with Laura is now also dead in the water, she having announced that she's not coming back to therapy.
But I think what is really terrifying Paul in these last few moments of the episode, is that he could lose his license to practice psychotherapy. Like Bobby Goren once said - if you stop a man from doing what he is really good at ... well. Therein lies the path to madness.
