5
by FlyOnMelfisWall
Hi jouster,
Sunil was by far my favorite of the new patients. Irrfan Khan was freaking awesome in that role. I hope he wins an award for it. I just can't imagine anyone being more compelling in a "guest" spot, if it's fair to call it that. The storyline and writing for the first six Sunil episodes I thought was also outstanding.
That said, I didn't care for the ending. I did not buy such an elaborate "con", especially since it was so dependent upon numerous other people taking actions that were in no way guaranteed or predictable. If Sunil wanted to be deported, he could very easily have done something much more "bright line" to get arrested and then refuse to present papers, like vagrancy, shoplifting, vandalism, etc. Having to depend on alarming Paul sufficiently with violent innuendo so that he would notify Julia, who would then have to call the police, who would then have to buy her side of the story for an alleged assault that occurred over a week earlier and wasn't reported contemporaneously, just smacked to me of a writer's contrivance so that Paul could be "played" in a way he never had before and never expected. That would, in turn, play into his whole dilemma over the artificiality of interpersonal relations in psychotherapy. I won't say it ruined the storyline because the rest of the writing was so good and the acting was so superb. But it kept it from being -- top to bottom -- my favorite patient storyline in the series. That remains Sophie from season 1.
Jesse started with potential, but after 2-3 sessions of his incessant, overwrought, narcissistic self-pity and shock value sex talk, I just lost all feeling for him. The actor was very good, but, for the first time, I felt Sarah Treem stumbled. She just didn't do a good enough job providing real reasons for this kid to be such a self-centered, whiny brat.
Oh, he was adopted. How tragic. He's gay and he thinks -- deep down -- his parents don't accept him because of it. Meanwhile, he treats his adoptive mother like dog crap, and yet she shows more loyalty, patience, and forbearance than most "real" mothers ever would. His blue collar father is shelling out $220 a week for him to rip his parents to shreds in sessions with a shrink and drives 8 hours one way to bail him out of jail without so much as raising his voice at him in rebuke. Yeah, he's got it tough.
I think there was a good story here, don't get me wrong. But I really think they overplayed the character's strident, abrasive, myopic side. It made it very difficult for me to invest in his story.
Frances' story improved as things went along but never really became anything special. I did feel very sorry for her in the last episode. And I loved the subtle way it was revealed in the last two episodes that Paul really had been in love with her sister, yet another example of how he has always unconsciously used his patients to forge pseudo-intimate relationships that he can't forge in the world outside his office.
Which brings me to the Adele episodes. Just flat out fantastic in every respect, up and down. For me, this was the best storyline of the whole series because it did far more than the Gina episodes ever did to really make sense of who Paul is. Even though she sometimes offered good insight, Gina's psychobabble could really get under my skin at times. She was just the epitome of a shrink that takes herself too seriously.
Adele was incisive, piercing, compassionate, firm, confident without being arrogant, and the right mix of everything Paul needed. I TOTALLY bought his romantic fixation on her (and believe it was returned, despite the fact that she couldn't admit it.) I never saw the pregnancy curve ball coming, but it was a brilliant twist that really propelled the story to the inevitable conclusion. The acting between Byrne and Amy Ryan in those moments -- and throughout the story -- was simply superb.
The last episode was especially touching to me, haunting, in fact. I've watched it several times. There was the poignancy of him holding his hand out to shake hands . . . and it literally shaking, a reminder that, even though he's finally countered his Parkinson's fears with some much-needed rationality, there still could be something to them. And as much as I love Byrne in that role and will miss the series if this was the end, it's really hard for me to imagine where they might go with it after this season. Unless and until Paul changes and undergoes a radical shift in his personal life, it would feel very false to see him back treating patients again, status quo. We know his heart isn't in it much of the time and that he's been teetering on this ledge since the series began. Adele forced him to face some truths about himself, and, of all people, for him to walk away from those truths and simply carry on exactly as before would be a disservice to the character and the series. He's too unhappy for me to buy that. So they either need to make a new season center around his personal life or just let it end where it did.
The last scene of him out on the street, literally not knowing which direction to take, was brilliant. If that's the last image we see of him, I'll be sad, but I can live with it.
Tony, his spirits crushed after b-lining to the fridge first thing in the morning: "Who ate the last piece of cake?"