Just find her irksome. My favorite patient this season is Sophie.
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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.
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Dragon000 — 10 years ago(February 19, 2016 04:38 PM)
I agree that it is always wrong. I think a friendship 5 years after therapy ends is wrong, much less a romantic relationship with a patient EVER. I thought his relationship with Mia (patient, then legal counsel, then patient again but one who flirted with him and was not rebuked, IMO, then just patient again)) was inappropriate as well.
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Thespear — 11 years ago(November 12, 2014 07:51 AM)
Guilty as chargedthough I think that had little to do with it. Previously I had actually discussed this issue with a psychology major at work (also male) and he tried to explain to me the whole issue of transference and why it was wrong etc. So intellectually, I understood the issue.
What I am saying is that somehow during my initial viewing I failed to see just how
seriously flawed
some of Paul's patients (and perhaps Paul himself) were. I am also saying this was NOT the fault of the show, since I can see these flaws clearly now.
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are" Nin -
DwarvesAreVeryUpsetting — 10 years ago(May 26, 2015 08:45 AM)
Laura and Alex were quite similar characters it's really no surprise that they ended up hooking up. Both were extremely narcissistic and arrogant. But I think Blair Underwood does a much better job of mining the dimensions underneath Alex's facade.