HBO Series "In Treatment"

In Treatment: HBO Original Series

I stumbled across "In Treatment", a 45 episode original series that has been airing on HBO Monday-Friday for the last nine weeks, during some down time at my job as a PTSD screener. HBO was showing the early episodes online to garner interest in the show. I rationalized watching it at work since it dealt with individual counseling and at least one character MIGHT have PTSD.
The basic structure and set up of the series is this. A therapist and his patients' sessions. HBO would follow one patient every Monday, and so on through the week. So for nine weeks we get to sit in on these sessions with the psychiatrist. Mondays it was a beautiful young doctor named Laura, Tuesdays a Navy pilot mandated to get treatment after bombing a school inadvertantly on a mission in Iraq was shown (MY PTSD TIE-IN!). Wednesdays it was a teenage gymnast who may or may not have driven her bike into oncoming traffic. Thursdays a couple with many issues are featured, and finally on Fridays the therapist sees his own therapist to help make sense of his week. The acting and writing are top-notch and award-worthy considering this is television. Gabriel Byrne, who usually annoys me in most of his big screen outings, is in full command here as the therapist with his own family and marriage issues. There are Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe nomination can't miss performances from at least two of his patients. Blair Underwood as the Navy pilot Alex has NEVER been close to this good in anything. The teenage gymnast is played by Mia Wasikowska and she is nothing short of a revelation in this role. Solid work is also turned in by Michelle Forbes as the psychoanalysts' wife, Dianne Wiest as his mentor, and Glynn Turman turns in an unforgettable one episode shot as Alex Sr., the Navy pilots Dad, looking for answers. HBO is now airing the first fifteen episodes for free on hbo.com. The episodes online are edited for language but you don't lose any of the content. One minor criticism of the show is that it was slightly hampered by its' structure when it tried to introduce other characters from the therapists' personal life. Just give us the sessions.