By Curt Schleier
In a week that thus far has been filled with unattractive patients, Jake and Amy hit a new low. He is angry, insecure, rude and surly. She is a manipulative liar. And they’re married. Now IN TREATMENT really gets interesting.
Jake (Josh Charles) is on time for his appointment with Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne), but his wife -- as is apparently her norm -- is late. He is fuming, in part because he thinks she’s having an affair with her boss. When she finally does arrive, he notices she has a different outfit on than the one she left for work in that morning. She just says she spilled coffee on the one she’d been wearing and purchased new clothing.
It’s not like Jake doesn’t have a reason to be angry and suspicious. For one thing, she cheated on her first husband with Jake. Also, they spent five years going through fertility treatments, and now that Amy (Embeth Davidtz) is finally pregnant she wants to get an abortion. She claims she had post-partum depression with their other child. “I won’t be able to take care of this child,” she says. “I won’t be able to love him.”
She has tears in her eyes as she says this – and both Paul and Jake are uncomfortably silent; they don’t know what to say. Then Amy stops crying and says, “So, is that convincing enough.” Later she apologizes for playing a part. “I’m sorry. I made all that up.”
In her defense, Jake is such a big a-hole, he’s almost proud of it; he’s rude to everyone around him, including the doctor, trying to make some sense of the couple’s constant bickering. And frankly who’d want to have a baby with a husband as obnoxious as hers? But Jake doesn’t want him to dissect the couple’s problems. He claims they did not come to him for marriage counseling. They just wanted his opinion on whether or not they should go ahead with an abortion.
It seems odd to go to an outsider for an opinion on something so personal. But I guess whenever you see a TV therapist, it’s best to have a flamboyant problem that needs solving. Paul attempts to explain that he can’t give them an answer. All he can do is to try to help them work through their problems so they can come up with an answer of their own. But that’s not good enough for Jake, who badgers the doctor for an answer until Paul finally says Amy should have an abortion. Both Jake and Amy are taken aback by that response.
Jake calls Paul a murderer and storms out. Amy sits quietly for a minute and then leaves, too. Paul clearly is not happy with what he said and immediately calls his former mentor/therapist, because he needs someone to speak. But she’s not in. But I bet she will be for the next episode.