dead man walking (burtmichael) I missed this one back when it came out but am glad I am able to watch the three seasons available on HBO On Demand. I love Gabriel Byrne, and Diane Wiest was the best. Some reviewers did not care for Byrne's character, but I see Paul Weston as just another flawed human being like his patients which is realistic. I don't think you're supposed to like everything about him, especially since his patients' problems and tantrums bring out his worst parts. I think these negative reviewers must have some very unrealistic expectations of a therapist character.In response to those who take a dim view of psychotherapy (I do), the show does question throughout the efficacy of the "talking cure" through the prisms of Paul's perspective and the eyes of his patients. He even gets sued by Alex's father who believes Paul and his services are completely responsible for his son's death and lawyers up to prove his point and take his revenge. Paul himself seriously doubts whether he has really helped his patients and analyzes these feelings in his own therapy with Gina.Dianne Wiest is better in this series than she has ever been in her long acting career. She no longer portrays the winsome doormat that she has generally portrayed in past roles. I am glad this series gave her an opportunity to show what she's really capable of as an actress. In Treatment isn't everyone's cup of tea, I don't think. The intensity alone makes the series difficult to binge-watch in the traditional sense. I constantly have to take a break from these sessions and characters.. These characters are not people who are any more disturbed than any other "normal" people. I believe nearly everyone of us eventually comes to a point where his or her circumstances and the consequences of dysfunctional, immature behavior render us helpless and ineffective, forcing us to suffer through emotional crises and the need to mature and modify our game. Sometimes that requires the need to engage in therapy to at least weather the crises.Like therapy itself, I don't think this series is to be "enjoyed" like standard, mindless entertainment. The writing seems intended to provoke similar questions in the viewer about his own life and behavior. That's rarely an enjoyable experience. Perhaps the negative reviewers are reacting to their nest being disturbed by the troubling questions brought up by this series.

blanche-2 "In Treatment" is a great show that for some reason only ran for three seasons. It's a shame because it was well produced, well acted and had good scripts. Gabriel Byrne stars as psychiatrist Paul Weston, who, during the run of the show, goes through a few changes himself. My first quibble, though I loved the show, is what straight woman or gay man could possibly have Gabriel Byrne as their psychiatrist? One of the main features of psychiatry - explored throughout the series - is that of transference, where a patient believes he or she is in love with the psychiatrist. Now, if Byrne were truly a psychiatrist, he probably would have had to close his practice with all the patients throwing themselves at him. That's just my opinion. That being said, we saw several instances of transferences throughout "In Treatment."The patients were fascinating: married couples, a potential teen Olympian (Mia Wasikowska), an angry gay teen (Dane DeHaan), a sexy beauty (Melissa George) who falls for Paul, an old patient who returns, a young woman (Allison Pill) refusing to seek treatment for her cancer, a successful businessman (John Mahoney) with panic attacks, a pilot (Blair Underwood) responsible for the death of children, a successful actress (Debra Winter) whose sister is dying, and others. The most interesting for me was the Indian man (Irrfan Khan) who has been brought from Calcutta after he was widowed to live with his son and his family.I agree with others, that this was representative of real-life therapy, the high points. Psychiatry is like police work - pretty humdrum, so smartly, the writers did not include the more pedantic parts.Along the way, Paul faces his own demons and works with two different therapists. One is his old supervisor (Dianne Wiest) and a young woman (Amy Ryan).Gabriel Byrne is fantastic -- circumspect at times, vulnerable, and completely human. I really will miss this series, which I viewed on Amazon prime.

rcs1319 I've always been engrossed by this show. When I got HBO to GO recently, I learned there was almost a whole season I hadn't seen - and I started watching episodes patient- by-patient instead of a week at a time. It was really an eye opener. The fine details of Gabriel Byrnes' superb acting popped right out of my iPad and into my mind. . Laura's alternating seduction, attraction, and need to hurt men hit very close to home. The dynamics of Jake and Amy and the ability of a vain and angry man to grow while his a "perfect" woman could not became palpably real. I even forgave Michelle Forbes' her irritating Kate when courtesy of IMDb I was reminded she had given life to the character Ro Laren of Star Trek TNG.I really encourage you to give your favorite patient a try like this. I think you will find it very rewarding.

Nooshin Navidi (*This is a Season 1 review only. Hopefully the show got better in the subsequent seasons.*) Being a long-time fan of Gabriel Byrne, I was hoping for a smart & edgy show. Instead I found a well-disguised soap opera.The pace, intensity and acting are highly engaging, but as a serious drama, it's short on believability. The thing I kept wondering was, 'How can Paul Weston get away with being such a bad therapist?' All the cases are conceivable enough, including Laura's narcissistic acting out (which somehow our good doctor never manages to fully grasp session after session.) But Paul himself is insufferable--both as a person & as a shrink. And not because of hard-hitting questions, but because of his painfully awkward demeanor, emotional cluelessness and disconnectedness from his own psyche. I also had an issue with the crossed boundaries in many of the sessions, most glaringly with Laura, who a real therapist would have referred to someone else in short order. I do get that the writers are pushing the ethical envelope in order to keep people watching, but it's still annoying if you're even remotely familiar with counseling psychology and its protocol & ethics.Even if you can somehow get past Paul's prickliness, sad smiles & missteps, his "sessions" with Gina are maddening. Why she puts up with him is not a mystery, but a disappointment. Is he paying her for these sessions? If so, then he's completely out of line as a patient when he repeatedly discusses HER life, past, etc. If he's not paying her & they're just having tete-a-tetes as old friends, then she's either a little masochistic, too lonely, or truly Buddha-like in her compassion, as he's a self-absorbed schmuck. By letting herself get sucked into Paul's drama (with or without payment) is Gina really helping him? I stopped caring enough to find out.If you've never worked with a therapist and one day find yourself in treatment with someone like Paul Weston...RUNNNN.On a positive note, Diane Wiest & Michelle Forbes are terrific here.~NN