Just find her irksome. My favorite patient this season is Sophie.
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LinnenLove87 — 14 years ago(October 03, 2011 11:06 AM)
Really? I loved her character. She and Sophie were my favourites from the first season. I loved the tension between Laura and Paul and felt myself wishing they would get closer, get intimate somehow - because they had such good/interesting chemistry! - not one of those far-fetched fairy tale relationships where two unlikely characters suddenly fall in love and run away together but something. Again, I thought they were great together. Her episodes were always the ones I looked forward to. Same goes for Sophie, like I mentioned before.
But to each his own, I guess.
I carry your heart; I carry it in my heart. -
jmbwithcats — 14 years ago(October 05, 2011 08:17 PM)
I agree, I just started watching the series this week. Sophie is an amazing and complex character, I love her. When she hugged Kate I cried, it reminded me so much of my own childhood.
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur2533227/ratings
www.kittysafe.net -
garrethcarter — 14 years ago(October 18, 2011 06:15 AM)
Laura felt very real, if you've ever known or been taken in by a girl like that, she very much rings true. I must say I never hated the sessions with her; she was pretty exhilarating all season.
I dont think the characters are there to 'like'. Sophie as complex and interesting as she was, was never likeable. She could be quite nasty at times but thats the deal. These people are talking about, or are at times in their life when they are at their worst.
The amazing thing about the Sophie story line was seeing her transform into a better state and better place - I 'liked' that. -
denise1234 — 14 years ago(October 18, 2011 11:32 AM)
The 'Laura' character is intentionally written to be who she is and how she acts.
Part of training as an MFT is being educated on the potential dangers of transference (the client transferring his/her feelings toward the therapist) and countertransference (the therapist transferring his/her feelings to the client) if those rather commonplace occurrences are not handled correctly.
Some clients might try to 'seduce' the therapist (and that does not always mean sexually) to distract away from his/her own issues, to 'test' the therapist, to try to maintain control, etc. So, a client may try to act like the therapist's best friend or parent or even as a potential lover and it is up to the therapist to see that, to set boundaries, and to establish a therapeutic relationship as opposed to an exploitative or otherwise harmful one to the client. The therapist must also remain aware of his/her 'own' feelings, and when something starts to feel 'not right' in that regard, then the therapist should seek counseling, as 'Paul' did with 'Gina'.
I used to receive a therapist trade magazine that had a section in every issue, listing therapists who had been reprimanded (some losing their licenses) for various ethical no-no's. The majority of those transgressions had to do with some form of boundary crossing by the therapist and not keeping the therapist/client relationship squeaky clean. And, some of these therapists crossed the very boundary that 'Laura' wants 'Paul' to cross. The magazine even had an icon of a big black widow spider and web for that particular section.
'In Treatment' was not meant to be just another soap opera and it was higher quality than some other shows dealing with therapeutic relationships. It is sprinkled throughout with issues and concerns that someone sitting in a therapist's chair and having done that kind of work can really relate to, whether it be a 'Paul' or 'Gina'.
I really liked this show for the first season because of how it handled the therapeutic relationship and treating a therapist as a human being. But, then, for me, it started sliding into more soap opera treatment of characters and stories, thus losing the very focus that I thought made it superior to other shows dealing with similar subject matter.
Also, I love just about every role that Melissa George has played. I can't see anyone else now playing 'Laura'. But, I do agree that Laura 'the character' could be annoying to a viewer, but for 'Paul', she was the perfect candidate to test his professionalism and boundary setting, and for him to seek much-needed and overdue therapy for himself.
"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois -
rainman11 — 11 years ago(June 05, 2014 07:44 AM)
I LOVE the Laura character. I think she is definitely not part of the story or character studies to be 'liked'. These people are all flawed and as a previous poster stated 'In Treatment' because they have problems, are varying in their response to 'treatment', and have different levels of awareness in terms of how to control a session. Melissa George ( love or hate her) is very good in this role. She doesn't shy away from unloveable characters and I think her character is absolutely the best catalyst to test Paul's personal and professional boundaries.
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sfrahman-848-612002 — 11 years ago(March 21, 2015 09:00 PM)
Yes, but it typecasts not the actors but the characters themselves. I was interested in Laura, and Sophie most of all. But by the fourth week of sessions, I began to notice that the stories were all written by the same author.
One common theme in Season 1 was all the actresses are succesful women. They all use their professional vernacular. Embeth Davidtz is the stereotypical go-getter. Mia Waschowki is a top level athlete. And Laura, melissa george's character, who was very sullen, almost human in the first two sessions uses the term "I am a doctor" in every episode thereafter, as if saying: Look I can analyze the analyzer. It just seemed like his patients used too many terms that normal people don't use.
I kept feeling like all three lead actors were the same person with the same work lives and all betrayed by men who were older or let them down. It just seemed like very
tired
writing. But I still really, really like the show because of the cast & production of HBO. But the show just lacks something that good therapy provides, ie Closure. This show has characters revealing flaws and never quite being able to redeem their past mistakes. And usually, it is too little, too late.
However, I still look forward to watching Season 2. -
istlotaeveryman — 10 years ago(May 26, 2015 05:46 PM)
I am watching the series for the first time on Amazon Prime and am only up to
session 1, episode three. Each episode seems to get better. But, episode 1 was boring for me, enough so that I almost threw in the towel on the series. Fortunately I stuck around for episode two, which featured the brilliant interplay between Paul and the character played by Blair Underwood and that seriously hooked me in.
Episode 1's flaw was that it had far more dialogue from Laura and minimal from Paul which I found boring. In Treatment works best when there is more of a two way conversation. Of course, the patient has to do most of the talking. But Paul's genius comes from being a great listener and zeroing in on just the right question to ask at just the right time to get the patient to open up.
I loved Melissa George's performance in The Slap, both the aussie and yank versions. Hopefully, future episodes featuring Laura will be less woe is me prima donna dialogue from Laura. -
lolarites — 14 years ago(March 17, 2012 12:16 PM)
I am just now getting to season 1. I saw them backwards, season 3 on HBO and season 2 and then 1 on my free TV site. I sit and squirm through Laura's time. I know something happens between them from watching 2 & 3 so I continue, but I can't understand why she got these caps on her teeth that make her look buck toothed. It seems to be a popular thing now, I noticed Streep had buck teeth doing Maggie Thatcher (and also her character in Sophie's Choice). The Laura character is very annoying, but I'm not crazy about any other character either. Everyone seems taken by the Sophie character, but she doesn't seem that different from the girl with cancer in season 2. I can imagine every patient being somewhat annoying to a therapist, at least at first.
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denise1234 — 14 years ago(March 20, 2012 11:23 PM)
lolarites^
"I can imagine every patient being somewhat annoying to a therapist, at least at first."
In my experience, most therapists enter the field because they really want to help people.
Many people who train as therapists are 'natural' therapists prior to training they have been those folks whom friends and family members have naturally flocked to over the years for advice and/or their sheer willingness to 'listen' to them and 'be there' for them some have been this way even since childhood. Because of years of amateur yet real-world practice, many already have a wide tolerance for behaviors that others might find 'annoying' or otherwise distressing, before they even enter the field to eventually become professionals.
Therapists are trained to handles situations that laypeople might find emotionally provocative uncomfortable feelings are part and parcel of their trade. In other words, what might be construed as 'annoying' to someone not trained as a therapist could be considered as somewhat 'typical' to a trained professional that professional would not/should not have the same response to certain emotional and emotion-provoking situations as a non-professional might.
It's kind of like comparing a non-medical person who feels faint at the sight of blood with a doctor who has been trained to not only see and work in bloody situations, but who is able to keep her/his wits about them and proceed professionally.
Finally, therapists are trained to handle all sorts of situations, including transference and counter-transference of both positive and negative feelings. That doesn't mean that a good therapist might not find him/herself in a unique type of transference/counter-transference situation that might have the potential to lead that therapist astray, but that therapist has been trained to recognize the 'warning bells' of such situations and so should know to seek his/her own therapy. If the therapist doesn't do that, then there is either something wrong with his/her training or s/he is ignorantly, and sometimes selfishly, choosing to ignore those warning signals.
"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois -
WalterEliasDisney — 14 years ago(March 28, 2012 05:03 PM)
She might be anoying, but she is not cartoonish or exaggerated in my opinion. She might seem extreme, but my ex girlfriend was exactly like that. She even looks like her. Very dependant and emotional, lovely and a annoying at the same time.
I my opinion Pauls wife was the most unlikeable character.
It all started with a mouse and a bang. -
mudlo — 13 years ago(November 14, 2012 02:33 PM)
I can see Laura in some women I know, the most annoying thing for me was the constant sniffing.
I agree Pauls wife was the character I was most unsympathetic to, probably because they had problems without real explanation and the tension was already in place. -
Dreamer27 — 13 years ago(December 29, 2012 04:19 PM)
Laura was my favourite of series 1.
I feel like I fell in the same trap as Paul, as the series went on I felt like we were seeing her unravel until she was willing to admit her first sexual encounter wasn't as great as she had claimed. She all along was sexually dominant in what she was saying and with Paul, by the end of the series I felt we could finally see the damage from other people and sympathize more with her. -
Valerie_Vance — 12 years ago(May 04, 2013 06:29 AM)
I know that Melissa George is Australian, but I wondered if she was supposed to be half American half Australian because her accent kept faltering. Mia Wasikowska definitely did a better job in that area.
It's an ordinary high school day. Except that it's not. -
Neuronhead — 12 years ago(July 10, 2013 06:14 AM)
I like Laura in as far as I think the position Paul is in in relation to her is interesting. With the situation with Kate, and Sophie planting seeds of doubt about his daughter, I imagine Paul's having some issues holding it together.
As far as hers and Alex's actual stories go, they do seem a little cliche and unoriginal.
I didn't like the show at first but it's starting to grow on me.
I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe -
saganist — 11 years ago(September 03, 2014 05:37 PM)
I could relate to Paul in many ways and I can understand why he found her sexy but I found Laura very annoying and cold (Kate and Amy seemed really cold as well). I was surprised when I first heard Paul say he loves her. I thought what he was feeling was strictly sexual. But I guess it's different when you are giving therapy to someone for a year. All the transference, etc. During that time, you find something to love in every person.
Alex, Sophie and Gina have been the best things about the series so far for me. -
ma_marcil — 11 years ago(October 31, 2014 07:30 PM)
First of all, I have to say I am somewhat biased towards the whole series since it really did hit close to home on several occasions with numerous patients in the show. I have been through problematic relationships myself and quite frankly I was actually in therapy for many years for multiples reasons at several moments in my life (the longest period being after I was diagnosed with a major depression and hospitalized). I would have to say that basically every patient of every season got to me at some point and that the series as a whole felt very real for me from an emotional perspective. It is definitely a bold show though, and not something that everybody could enjoy, but for me it will remain one of the best and most unique shows I have ever seen.
As for the character of Laura specifically, well I could definitely see how Paul was attracted to her even though she does not exactly represent a healthy relationship.
Bill Foster: I'm the bad guy?How did that happen? -
Thespear — 11 years ago(November 10, 2014 05:54 PM)
I am finally re-watching the series again on Amazon. I'll say this: the characters and themes are mostly
very
well written. Alex and Laura are obviously very sick people but it is only with hindsight that I can see that clearly.
During my initial viewing, I couldn't see just how disturbed these two really were. I was also more conflicted about what Paul's role should have been re: Laura. Now I see he was definitely wrong to pursue her in any way. Indeed , season one central thesis id that ANYONE in such a position of authority over someone else, WOULD BE WRONG to enter into a romantic relationship with them.
The trouble is it was all there, in the show, the first time around but somehow I missed it. Watching the show a second time has put it all into better focus for me.
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are" Nin -
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(November 10, 2014 08:35 PM)
Do you agree, though that it is always wrong for a therapist to pursue a client or vice versa after their therapy together is long over? I know they said on the show that this is unethical. For a therapist and an ordinary patient I can see why.
But I can't help wishing Paul and Adele had gotten together. They were both therapists so seemingly there is no exploitation going on. We'll never know for sure if the show intended to push them together romantically since it ended that season. They seemed like a promising match.
Read this post before my stalkers get it deleted.