More reviews, analysis, and good old-fashioned interviews from October 31 – November 18, most recent first.

Associated Press, November 18: Irrfan Khan checks into In Treatment

HBO.com, November 18: Imagining Adele, an interview with Anya Epstein, executive producer and writer for In Treatment [this interview is no longer available]:

HBO: She (Adele) takes notes, whereas Paul doesn’t.

Anya Epstein: We wrote that into the first episode because many psychiatrists would take notes when asking the intake questions, particularly when it has to do with medication and dosage and past history. And that was something that Amy Ryan, in conjunction with Gabriel [Byrne] and Paris [Barclay, director and EP], continued to cook up for her character. Gabriel was very interested in how it made him feel when she started scribbling in that note pad–what is she writing, why is she writing? And that was something Amy was quite expert at–finding those moments when she might take a note. And she was spare, so when she did it, it held some power. Then we ended up adding those moments in ourselves, but it really came off of the actors and director.

Salon, November 16: In Treatment recap: Finally, some sexual tension, by Juliet Waters [note from Stella: read this NOW! It is funny, incisive, and really really good!]

Week 4. Check. Sexual tension. Check.
Thuds heard ’round the world. Check.

Z on TV, November 16: HBO’s In Treatment: Revelations and Breakthroughs, by David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun

But Paul’s journey is the one that has my brain racing this week. Even though I am questioning my empathy for Paul in a deep and fundamental way, I love the new directions this series is taking this year now that the scripts are original and not adaptations of those used in the Israeli version of the series.

The Huffington Post, November 15: Amy Ryan on In Treatment: She Owns It, by Nancy Doyle Palmer

NDP: Along these same lines of duality as ‘therapist’ and actor – you are facing the formidable talents of both Paul Weston the therapist and Gabriel Byrne the actor in your sessions with him – can you elaborate on what you bring to this one-on-one match-up?

Amy Ryan: Throughout the scripts, Danny and Anya wrote so many wonderful moments when the characters one up each other. It felt good to play those moments. It supplied lots of confidence to the character and me as an actor.

How to keep up with Gabriel Byrne? I thought it best to take his lead. He obviously knew the show on such a deeper level than I did. He knew so well how to navigate through 25 pages of dialogue in two days of filming. He is such a generous actor. He shared lots of tips and techniques.

I suppose what I brought to it, was the unknown for him. We never met before. He was getting to know me in the same time frame our characters were.

Also, having “Ryan” as a last name is welcoming to someone named “Byrne.” There’s a natural shared storytelling on set. Friends and places in common.

The New York Times, November 12: Therapy? Not His Cup of Tea: an interview with Irrfan Khan, Adam Rapp, and Jhumpa Lahiri, by Kathryn Shattuck

The New York Times, November 12: A Bollywood Star on the Couch, by Kathryn Shattuck [This article is behind a paywall, unfortunately]

Q. Why do you think American audiences have responded so favorably to Sunil and to you?

A. It’s the kind of part that makes the acting business so unique and interesting, when you push yourself into a situation that is not your comfort zone. And then through that the audience experiences something, and it’s a kind of communication that is unbelievable. I’m from Bombay, I’m Indian, I have no cultural reference in this country. But I come here, I do a part, and everyone relates to it. That’s magical.

Give Me My Remote, November 8: In Treatment: Irrfan Khan on Sunil, Working with Gabriel Byrne and What’s Next

The Daily Billboard, November 8: Daily Duo

Keep your eyes on the road–arrrgggh, I can’t!
(this is real, not a Stella creation)

Critics at Large, November 7: Of Sound Mind: Tackling In Treatment [I love it when my In Treatment wallpapers show up at sites like this! :-)]

Dr. Richard Warshak’s Blog, November 5: In Treatment

If you have your antennae out for references relevant to parental alienation, you will find plenty. I have seen a couple of examples in the current season of the HBO series, In Treatment. For those unfamiliar with this series, each episode depicts a condensed psychotherapy session with one of four patients who are followed through the season. The writing is tight, moving, and insightful. The acting is superb.

The New York Times, November 5: Debra Winger Drops Back In

The fan base for “In Treatment,” which is set almost entirely within the office of a therapist, played by Gabriel Byrne, is small, but it’s also devoted, persistent and questioning [note from Stella: uh, yes. Especially the devoted part]. The fictional patients are promptly reanalyzed in shrinks’ offices all over Manhattan, and the show’s actors need to be expert in simulating the kind of naturalistic, free-associative self-exploration that characterizes the therapy sessions.

The opportunity to peel back layer after layer, week after week, in a series of half-hour playlets is, potentially, an acting banquet. But it seems like the last project that an actress who has long shunned the camera would take on.

Winger said her motivation was simple: “It scared me.” She calls fear “a useful muse.” The idea that the territory was somehow dangerous for her, that she was courting failure or embarrassment, was enough of a motivator to counterbalance her greatest misgiving. “I’m sure that people will think it’s me,” she says. She may be right; even leaving aside the fact that Winger has been open about a couple of her own experiences in therapy, it’s easy to imagine viewers blurring those lines. It’s a risk that even Winger, who was granted some input in shaping the role, was willing to toy with.

The Wall Street Journal, November 4: In the Spotlight: Irrfan Khan

The Crazy Woman, November 4: Mesmerizing Intimacy as Addictive TV [this blog posting is no longer available]

The Hollywood Hills, November 4: In Treatment Week 2 Recap: Everyone’s A Jerk

The AV Club, November 2: In Treatment Week 2

The Cricket’s Chirps, November 2: In Treatment 3X01

TV Set Decoration We Love, November 2: In Treatment [this article is no longer available]

Fancast, November 1: Irrfan Khan’s Western Adjustments [this website no longer exists]

What was it like to work with Gabriel Byrne every day?

Gabriel made some gestures which were unique, and I have never ever come across an actor who has been so warm, so caring and so considerate. What he did, even before I met him, he sent his secretary, and the secretary came and gave me his cell number [and told Irrfan] he’s available and told me that [if and when] you need anything in this country, please, this is Gabriel’s personal contact [information]. It was a fantastic thing, you know, [for] a man coming from a different country – you know, you are halfway around the world, in a different part of the world. And then, working with him was an excellent experience because of the amount of importance he gives to the other actor’s performance.

Ruthless in TV Land, October 31: The Return of In Treatment

8 Comments

  1. Love that bill board

  2. Will there be an IT4?
    Have anybody heard anything about that?

  3. I hope so. This season went by too quickly. And it hasn’t lost its grip on me.

  4. I agree Acool about that this season went by very quickly. I feel that it has just started and I am ready to many, many more weeks with Paul and Adele and the patients. I wonder if HBO and Gabriel are ready to create more episodes for us. I really hope so.

  5. margaret slevin

    I really hope that there will be more episodes of” In Treatment” It is really gripping tv and the last one was the best one of all. Has anyone heard if there will be another one?

    • Margaret, sorry to say that HBO has so far said that the series is over. 3 seasons of In Treatment is all that we will get. However, some HBO folks have said that they might be looking at a different format for it, so who knows? It might come back someday. Will Gabriel Byrne continue to play Paul Weston? No way to know, although he seems relieved to be done with the guy. For the time being! We must stay tuned.

  6. It didn’t help that in the UK Sky Atlantic were showing 4 episodes every Saturday/Sunday so it was over before it started so to speak. Made for a great 2 hour catch up on a Monday morning though, when I had the house to myself! It would be nice for an IT4 but I hate to say I don’t think we’ll get it. :((

  7. margaret slevin

    I truly love to watch Gabriel Byne acting, it is very addictive.Hope that they will make another series of In treatment.

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