In Treatment (2008–2010): Season 2, Episode 4 - Walter: Week One - full transcript

Hey, Rosie... it's me... your dad.

Um... I haven't heard back
from you yet, and, uh,

I just wanted to confirm that you're still...

coming up next week.

So, uh...

I'm looking forward to seeing you. Okay?

I love you. Bye.

In Treatment, S02E04
Walter: Week One

- Dr. Weston?
- Yes. Call me Paul.

- Walter Barnett.
- Nice to meet you.

- I didn't miss the elevator, did I?
- Unfortunately not.



This way, please.

- Is there someplace I could hang this?
- I can, uh, put it in the waiting room.

Oh. No, no. In here.

Okay.

That's the trouble with having nice things:

You have to worry about them.

My wife bought me that coat.

I never would have bought it myself...
cashmere, English.

I said, "Honey, what's the matter with wool?"

She said, "You're a CEO, Walt.

"You're a CEO", as if that explains everything.

We should get started.

How do you begin?

Well, uh, why don't you tell me
a little bit about yourself, what, uh...



what brings you here?

Well, why don't you tell me what you
already know, and we'll take it from there.

What I already know? Um...

I appreciate your discretion,
but I'm thick-skinned.

It won't hurt my feelings.

I, I, I wasn't trying to be... discreet.

You really don't know who I am?

Well, you're a CEO with a cashmere coat and a
wife. That's, that's, that's all I know so far.

And two boys.

They're on their own... launched.

And a daughter.

So, you never read the business section?

Natalie, uh, she's my youngest.

She's a junior in college.

Whenever I visit --
or visited, she's overseas now --

whenever I visit her college town,
there's this coffee place,

bagels, muffins, kids behind the counter
with pierced everything.

And I noticed all the students, the professors,

they all read the art sections,
the sports, politics,

but never the business section.

They had pristine copies on every table.

The only news that really matters...

- and they think they're above it.
- And is that what you think I think?

No. That's not what I meant.
You're in a different line of work.

So, tabula rasa? Really?

Is there something you would have
liked me to know about you?

Well, that's not me in the papers,
that's my company,

although lately that girl reporter from
The Times has stopped making that distinction.

But -- no, that's good, that's good.

Let's leave all that tommyrot out of it.

A separation of Church and State.

We can do that.

I'd just like to be clear that if you
do wanna talk about your job,

whatever you say will be
completely confidential.

- Is that right?
- That's right.

Can I get that in writing?

Of course.

Oh, no, no. No, sit.

It's okay. I trust you.

You should feel honored.
I have people working for me

who've spent years trying to earn my trust.

I imagine your position requires
you to be very well guarded.

You're getting that from
all those articles you didn't read.

I, I just know that -- you, you, you
run a company, and, uh...

which will lead me to believe
that you're in charge of a lot of people

who, I'm sure, need all kinds
of things from you.

All the time.

It's like one constant meeting

15 hours a day, and somehow I'm
the only one with all the answers.

If I ever stop making decisions, making calls,

the whole thing would grind to a halt.

Well, I'm sure, uh, finding the time
to come here can't have been easy.

So, what did you want to, uh, to discuss?

Well, first off, it wasn't
my idea to come here.

- Hm, it wasn't?
- No, it was, uh, Connie's, my wife.

And, and, and what did she
want you to... talk about?

Sleep.

I haven't been sleeping well lately.

I think she's getting tired
of me tossing and turning.

I said, "Honey, it's a big house.

"I can sleep in a separate room
like other normal married couples."

But she likes to cuddle. So, here I am.

It sounds like you've got a...

pretty strong relationship with your wife.

It does?

Hm-hmm. You've already mentioned her twice,

both times referring to how she
takes care of you. You seem to...

well, you seem to appreciate her a great deal.

Well, listen, don't tell her that.

What else have you
already figured out about me?

Well, you said that you weren't sleeping, um...

I'd like to hear...
a little bit more about that.

First off, I can't take pills...

sleeping pills, um... anxiety meds.

I've -- been that route already.

Who, who was your, uh, psychopharmacologist?

Are you kidding? That's all I need now.

The headline,
"Embattled CEO under psychiatric care."

No. I went to my internist, had him put
the prescriptions in my wife's name.

- That way they couldn't be traced to me.
- What, what kind of prescriptions?

Well, he wanted to try Xanax, uh,
Ambien, that kind of thing, but...

either they didn't work for me or they
made me loopy, and I can't have that.

I've got to be able to wake up
anytime, and be alert.

I have 20,000 workers, factories and
distributors on six continents, shareholders.

You never know when a brick's gonna
come flying through your window.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."

That's par for the course,
which is why my doctor suggested

that I talk to somebody about...

what did he call it... "an underlying anxiety."

I thought you said that coming here
was, uh... was your wife's idea.

There's the point:

I'm used to stress, I'm used to crisis.

I've been a CEO for nearly 20 years,

and before that I carried
my bosses' water, which was worse,

and before that I was in Vietnam.

My whole life, no matter what they hit me with,

I've always been able to sleep anytime,
anywhere for as long as they let me.

If I could get in an hour's nap,
I was good for the next 24.

- Only an hour?
- That's how I got where I am.

It wasn't because I was smarter
than the other guys.

It's because I could work
twice as hard, twice as long.

Connie used to call me Superman.

But... now I'm just lying in bed...

not sleeping, not working...

When did your insomnia begin?

- What difference does that make?
- Well, it just might give me a clearer picture

of any underlying problem
there might, there might be.

Did you ever read this book, "Blink"?

Malcolm Gladwell, smart guy.

His thesis is basically that an expert can
tell in the blink of an eye what the story is.

Is the painting real or a forgery?
Is the war won or lost?

Sure, I know the book.

But I think you should know that the kind
of therapy that I, uh... that I practice,

it's, it's not a quick fix.

It's a process, and...

eventually change happens,
but, but it does take time.

I have to tell you,
I don't have a lot of time.

Even being here, sitting across from you,

talking about my feelings or whatever,
this is costing me money,

it's costing my company money,
it's costing my employees money.

What I'm trying to say is,
you don't have to mollycoddle me.

You have a lot of experience, use it.

Tell me what my problem is
and what I need to do.

If I need to pay extra for
more intense sessions, that's fine.

Walter, every patient's therapy is...
it, it's different, it, it doesn't --

Yeah, yeah, yeah, "We're all
unique snowflakes", but still...

- You know what I'm saying.
- Yes, I, I think I do.

I think what you're saying is
that this isn't a casual matter for you,

that the stakes are... pretty high

and that before you "invest" your time in this,

you want to be sure that
I really can help you, all right?

So, "blink test". Help me. What's going on?

Look, I wish I knew the answers
that, that quickly. Um...

In the first place, I could, I, I could
charge a lot more for my time.

The truth is: if we're going
to find a clearer picture

of what's going on with your sleep problem,

we... we're gonna have to dig a little deeper,

we're gonna have to do a little bit more work.

What's going on is, I need to be
at the top of my game right now,

and I can't get there if I'm not sleeping.

I don't know how much clearer a picture
of the problem I can give you.

Wh-When you came in,

you, you, you mentioned, uh, something
about, uh, some, some articles

that were in the, uh, in the
business section of the newspaper.

Hatchet jobs, you mean.

We had to recall certain products,
uh, strictly for precaution.

But -- you know the press.
They want to spin a scandal out of it.

And, and, and when, when did these, uh...

articles st-start to appear, can you remember?

Oh, it's no big deal.

Some employee with an axe to grind
is, is feeding nonsense

to some reporter who doesn't know
she's being used.

It's not something I'd lose sleep over.

You did also tell me

that until recently you've never
lost sleep over anything.

I, I guess what I'm trying to find out is...

when... when you think that changed.

It's funny, I just can't remember.

It must have been gradual. You know...

You look in the mirror one morning and
you say, "When did my hair turn white?"

Or you get an e-mail from your daughter,
halfway around the world, and...

you think, "When did my baby grow up?"

Your daughter, uh... Natalie, right?

Uh, you said she was
spending her junior year...

- abroad?
- Yeah, not like that. Uh...

My boys spent their junior year abroad, too,
one drinking beer in Munich

and the other drinking Chianti in Tuscany.

She's nothing like them.

Sometimes my wife and I will look at her

and we'll say to each other,
"Where do you think she came from?"

She wasn't even supposed to be here.

The boys were already in high school, when...

Connie told me she was pregnant.
I thought, "You can't be serious.

"I don't have time for this."

But Natalie wanted to be here.

She was in a rush.

Premature... walked early, talked early.

So bright...

so happy.

She came a great distance to
give us all something to believe in.

- You sound incredibly proud of her.
- I am.

And now she's...

halfway around the world.

Some clinic in Rwanda.

My wife didn't want her to go.

She wanted me to say "No", to talk her out of it,

but I talked to Natalie
and I could see it in her eyes:

Something she had to do.

So I let her go.

It might have been a mistake, but...

I let her go.

- When did she leave?
- October.

And when did your insomnia begin?

I told you, I don't know.

You think that's my underlying anxiety?

No, but I can imagine, if I had a daughter

living in Rwanda, I think,
that would keep me up nights, right.

So that's your "blink test": Natalie?

No, I'm not so sure
that it's, uh, it's that one-on-one.

Why not?

I just think that things may be
a little bit more complicated than that.

You sure you're not just trying
to get me in here for more sessions?

If people, if people could treat
themselves and diagnose themselves,

there wouldn't be any need for any kind
of drugs or for therapists like me.

So what are we supposed to do, doc?

Uh... well, I'm not exactly sure,
to tell you the truth, I...

I do think that you are suffering
from some kind of...

an anxiety.

And the only way I know to alleviate
your symptoms is to figure out...

well, what's causing that anxiety,

and the only way I know how to do that is to...

is to talk.

I talk to people all day long.
It doesn't help me sleep.

Sometimes I think if I could just...

get away somewhere...

the country or...

maybe a lake.

What?

Oh, just a funny thought.

Would you -- care to share it?

With you?

Hm-hmm. That's kind of what happens in here.

I'm supposed to tell you everything
that pops into my head?

- Well... yeah.
- Okay.

I just thought, "I'll sleep when I'm dead".

And, and, and that struck you as...

funny?

I wish someone could take care
of something without me having to...

I'm sorry. Uh...

You were talking about, uh, talking.

It's... it's not an easy thing,
developing self-awareness.

Some people say that it's...

a man's entire life's work.

That sounds pretty self-absorbed.

Uh, no offense.

I was talking about your patients,
understand, not you.

It's just that I have a thing against people
who think the world owes them a favor.

My take...

you play the cards you're dealt.
You do the best you can,

to do your job, to protect your family.

That, in my opinion,
is a real man's life's work.

It's so quiet in here, doesn't it?

I'm never usually anywhere this quiet...

except on an airplane.

That's why I love airplanes.
My favorite place to be.

Is everything okay?

Never.

Just now you talked about -- how --
important -- your job is, and...

how -- difficult it is for you to be discreet,

and that you're not even comfortable, uh...

getting certain prescriptions in your own name.

- Are you saying I sound paranoid?
- Well, it makes me wonder, Walter.

Do you, do you have anybody that you can talk to

about the pressures of your business?

Not at work.

Anything I say could be used against me.

And I don't like to worry Connie.

- And how about your children?
- No.

No, the boys don't wanna hear about their old
man's problems. They wouldn't understand anyway.

Why, why do you say that?

Oh, everything came too easily for them.

They never had to make
their own way or fight in a war.

They just take everything for granted,
including their old man.

And, uh... Natalie?

I told you, she's different.

Here, uh, I'll give you an idea
of what I'm talking about.

I, I got an interesting e-mail
from her over the weekend, um...

To tell you the truth,
it worried me a little.

- Would you mind if I read it to you?
- Please.

- I could use your expert opinion.
- Sure.

Uh -- "Hi, dad. Oh, god, uh, Rwanda is hard.

"I've never worked so hard in my life
and understood so little.

"We've set up a rape clinic
in the village of..."

I'm not even going to try to pronounce that.

Um... "This woman came in,

"she was desperate.

"They all think we can get them visas
because we're American.

"I explained to her that I could only offer her

"some emergency contraception.

"She must have been angry or disappointed,

"but she just stared at me, mute,

"still, as if she were frozen.

"Then a girl came in, eight years old...

"gang-raped.

"The doctors did what they could,
but she will never be the same.

"I wake up every morning exhausted.

"By the end of the day
all I want to do is drink.

"We have nothing to offer these people.

"The young men have nothing to do.

"Some of them are so angry...

"They spit at us when we pass.

"The strange thing is,
I have never felt so alive.

"This is what life is about: helping people,

"every second of every day.

"I'm so grateful to be here.

"I love you and mom.

"I'll write more when I can... Natalie."

So, what do you think?

She sounds like an extraordinary woman.

- I should go get her out, right?
- What do you mean, "get her out"?

She's in some kind of trouble.
This is obviously a cry for help.

Why do you think that?

Are you telling me that, if you received an
e-mail like that from your daughter from some

rape clinic in Rwanda, you wouldn't be
on the first plane to Africa?

There's a fine line between
bravery and stupidity.

I can't sit here and wait for her
to be kidnapped and dismembered.

- Where did you say that she was staying?
- I didn't.

She's living in Kigali, and, uh, the clinic's

- somewhere in the countryside.
- Kigali...

- That's the, uh, that's the capital, isn't it?
- And what?

You think that makes it safe?
Have you ever been to Africa?

- No.
- Well, I have, and let me tell you,

what we consider stable here
and what they consider secure

are two very different things,
my friend, two very different things.

They're two very different things here as well.

- Come again?
- Stability and security,

they are two very different concepts.

- Okay, fellow.
- Walter, your daughter sounds...

very stable.

From a psychological perspective, given the...

situation that she's in,
she sounds remarkably healthy.

She obviously feels very deeply,

and she has a very lucid way
of expressing herself.

And it leads me to believe
that you should just...

trust her.

And trust her to take care of herself.
As for her security --

Unless you've been there,
you have no idea what it's like.

- Do you have a daughter?
- If you're asking me if

I'd be worried, if I had a daughter in Kigali,
yes, I have to say that I would be.

- And you wouldn't go and get her out?
- I can't say what I would

or what I wouldn't do in your position.

But you can imagine it, can't you?
Come on, just give me an honest answer.

- I'm paying for your opinion, aren't I?
- In a sense.

But we are different people
with different experiences.

I'm wondering why, Walter,
it's, it's important...

for you that I back you up on this.

I don't need your goddamn permission.

I asked you for something very simple.
I have insomnia.

It's a real problem,

a concrete problem that
prevents me from functioning.

I came here and I said, "Tell me what to do."

Uh, mental exercises, breathing techniques?

Now you've got me...

reading my daughter' private e-mails
to you. I don't even know you.

How much do I owe you?

Walter! Walter, are you okay?

Walter, answer me, please.

Are you, are you on medication?

- Do you have a doctor I can call?
- Just...

give me some air.

Okay, okay...
You're okay, Walt, you're okay, Walt.

It's okay, Walter.

Breathe... breathe... breathe.

That's it.

Are you sure you're okay to get up?
Okay, let me help you.

- You feel okay?
- Yeah.

You can, you can stay for as long as you like.

No, no. I... I told you, I'm fine now.

Listen...

- I'm sorry if I gave you a scare back there.
- It's not a problem.

I knew it would go away.

They always do.

Has this happened before?

They go away.