In Treatment (2008–2010): Season 2, Episode 5 - Gina: Week One - full transcript

Excuse me.

Let's see...

I think this...

Is that free?

- That there, is that free?
- Sure.

Thanks.

Uh... do you mind?

That's great. That's great, thank you.

There we go.

Oh, boy.

Oh boy, I'll tell you...



what a day.

- Thanks a lot.
- You're welcome.

How's it going?

Good. Good, thanks.

You know, uh,

I thought the afternoon trains
would be less crowded.

- Friday, it's bad all day.
- Sure.

And it gets more crowded
the longer you stay on.

Sure.

And by the time we get to D.C.

I'll be sitting in your lap.

I'm just joking.

Just joking, no offense.

My stupid shrink says
I shouldn't say shit like that.



But what does he know?

Last year he tells me
I should leave my wife.

Now who do I got left to talk to?

Strangers on trains.

So, uh... what do you do?

- Uh, I'm in sales.
- Ah.

In Treatment, S02E05
Gina: Week One

- Hi.
- Hi.

You've, uh... You've done
a nice job on the place.

I tried to warm it up a bit.

- Sit down.
- Listen, thanks for taking the time out...

to, uh, to see me. I know you're really...

I know you're really busy. Um...

I'd always see you.

So I've been worried about you.
I haven't heard from you for a while.

Yeah, I know, I, uh...

I'm not so great at keeping in touch.

No, I know you had your reasons.

A lot's happened, you know?

Did, did, uh, did my lawyer call you?

Yes, he did.

I'm so sorry, Paul, I mean,

to have a patient die is terrible.

But then, to have the family sue you is --

Did, did, die he say that, uh,
that he wants you to testify?

He did. I'm going to be deposed.

Although I'm not sure
how much help I can be.

Yeah, that's what they,
that's what they want me to kind of...

suss out from you.

Well, you didn't really talk much
about Alex until after he died.

I told them you were, you weren't in the room.

You couldn't possibly know whether
or not I gave him the proper care.

You didn't keep any notes, did you?

I, I, I don't need notes. You don't need notes.

- No, no.
- Was it my not taking notes that killed him?

I haven't taken notes in 15 years, Gina.

Should we put all the rest
of my patients on suicide watch?

- Why do you call it suicide?
- Well, isn't that what everybody thinks?

No, Paul, he died. That's all anybody can know.

He either killed himself
or I killed him. Take your pick.

Paul...

Whatever happened between you and Alex
in treatment, you didn't kill him.

You were trying to help him. He left therapy.

His plane crashed. He died.

Those things occurred in a sequence,

- but they're not causally related.
- I know that.

I know you know that.
I'm just saying it so you can hear it.

You know, I, I, I knew that, too.

When someone dies...

you want an explanation.

It doesn't mean there is one.

I don't know who that could be. Sorry.

I'm sorry, Gina. I left my glasses.

Oh, come in.
I didn't see them, but take a look.

Paul.

Tammy.

How are you?

Good.

And you? I, I, I...

- I, I barge right in. That's me. I'm sorry.
- No, Paul's a friend. He's not a patient.

Um, I left my glasses,
or at least I hope I left them here.

- Oh, they're here.
- Got 'em.

- Here you go.
- Thanks.

- Oh, imagine, after... all these years.
- Yeah, it's been a long time.

- You look great.
- You, too.

I'm, I'm sorry. I, I should've called.

- Bye.
- Bye.

- See you next week.
- Okay.

It's nice to see you smile.

Uh, you know, I keep forgetting
how small this town is.

That's, that's Tammy Kent, right?

She's Tammy Meswick now.

You know, we... grew up in the
same street, ten minutes from here.

She's your, uh...

- Are you seeing patients again?
- I am.

I thought you were a writer now.

Just the one book.
But people seemed to like it.

Yeah, I, I, uh... I saw the reviews.
They more than liked it.

You, you didn't get a chance to read it?

To tell you the truth, Gina, I, uh...

I don't think I'm ready to read it yet.

- You know what I mean?
- Hm-hmm, I do.

I enjoyed writing, but...

I, I feel like I've had
enough time alone, for now.

Have you ever lived by yourself?

This is the first time in... for...

forever... that I've lived alone.

Can you believe it? I'm 53 years of age
and I've never lived by myself.

Well, it takes some getting used to.
But there are good things about it.

Yeah.

Gina, about this, this, uh, lawsuit...

What I'm going to tell them is,

that you did everything you could
to help this patient in treatment,

and that if you had felt he was in any danger,

you would've tried anything
to keep him from flying again.

Okay. Thank you.

You think that'll help?

I don't think it matters what you say.

They're gonna have their experts,
and they won't know

- what they're talking about either.
- They won't know what they're talking about?

The whole case is gonna be decided by people

who, who have no idea what went on in the room.

Then the ethics board
are gonna take away my license

because, it's the cheapest way
to settle that thing.

I, I don't have the money to fight it.

If, If the jury awards them any more than
the $3 million the insurance will cover,

I'm gonna have to declare bankruptcy.
I'll lose the apartment in Brooklyn

and anything I have left after,
after child support and alimony, it's...

Brooklyn? You moved to Brooklyn?

And Kate and the kids are still here?

You know what, the way I look at it is,

they, they can have my license.
They can have my practice.

I, I, I'm an educated man.

I, I, I can, I can... do something
respectable, or... or, or not?

I, I, I just don't care.
I don't care anymore.

The truth is, I'm just fucking sick
of sitting in a chair,

day after day after day,
listening to people's problems.

Oh, boy... oh, boy.

Yeah... Sorry.

Kate... Kate and the kids
are, uh... are still here.

Ian is, uh... Ian is in college.

I've become one of those...

Amtrak dads. I see the kids at weekends.

- That must be hard.
- Yeah.

But... my alma mater have offered me a
teaching position. I was hoping that, uh...

- that might mean a fresh start.
- Some new problems to listen to.

- No, there are no new problems.
- I know.

Why do we do this, Gina?

Don't you get tired of... sitting in the chair?

That's why I took two years off.

My office is in my living room...

so I, I actually never get away from them.

They leave things in the sofa.
I'll be reading or dozing off,

and somebody's earring or a date book
will fall out on the floor.

You're sleeping in the living room?

It's, it's, it's good... a good sleeping couch.

You know, I made sure of that, just
in case Rosie or Max come to visit.

Did I tell you Rosie
is looking at colleges now?

And Max...

Max likes the Mets, which, uh,
could be an early sign of masochism.

I promised to take him to a game if, uh...

if he ever comes to see me.

- Do you think it'll work?
- I'm sure it'll work.

You just... need to take a little time...

find some good restaurants
for you and the kids to eat at,

and find some new routines and...

I don't think you'll be alone for long, Paul.

But I want to be alone.

I had my chance at, uh...

at love last year and I, and I blew it.
I'm not taking that risk again.

"That risk"?

The risk of seeing how, how happy I could be.

The risk of having somebody want me.
The risk of being happy.

No, thanks.

The truth is, you know,
I'm still fucking angry.

After all these years... I...

I thought I was... I thought I was coming
to find out about... your deposition.

Why did you come here?

I need some clarity... in my life, Gina.

I, I need you to explain how I let this...

wh-whatever you call it...

"love" for Laura, blind me
to the needs of my patient.

Alex used Laura to get me.
By the time he was finished in therapy,

I hated him, I really hated him.

- I let my feelings for this --
- Your love.

All right, my love, f-for Laura, which, by the way,

I never got to express physically or...

- My love for this --
- Beautiful.

Yes, she was beautiful.

- Stop, stop putting words in my mouth.
- I'm sorry.

When you called, you asked if we could
talk, and this is how friends talk.

I don't think I have any friends.

No, it's too bad you don't have a dog.
You could mess that up, too.

God. Would you stop?

What do you want me to do, Paul?

I want you to tell me what to do.

I want to know...

what to feel...

about all this.

- About all what?
- Everything.

Everything in my... life.

You don't know how you feel?

No.

- I, I don't know how I feel.
- And that's why you're here?

I need your help, Gina.

Okay... okay.

- So, when you stopped Alex's therapy --
- No, he stopped it.

He showed up at my door in a uniform.
He'd already made a decision.

Okay, when he stopped therapy,

did you feel that the therapy had failed?

- No.
- Good.

He, he came to me because he was afraid to fly.

And... he stopped therapy because
he felt that he was ready go back.

- So you met his goals for the treatment.
- Yes.

And did you have different goals
for his treatment?

- Yes, I did.
- And what were your goals?

Well, you know, I hoped that...

I hoped that he'd be able
to forgive himself for...

- For what?
- For what he did!

- He dropped a bomb on a school!
- Right.

And was he able to forgive himself?

I don't know. Do people
ever forgive themselves really?

I know, we talk about it all the time,
but, but do people ever really do it?

Sometimes.

Sometimes, yeah.

How long does it take?

Are you... uh...

talking about something you're,
you're not able to forgive yourself for?

What, like breaking up my marriage,
destroying my kids' lives,

wrecking my career,
not being able to save my, my mother

and not paying attention to my father?

That would about cover it.

Are you laughing at me?

Why not? We should both laugh.

But I can't.

So you... go ahead...

laugh at my... mess of a life.

Would you like a drink?

Sure. Why not?

It's fun not having therapy, isn't it?

- Is vodka okay?
- Yeah, that'd be great.

- Oh, I only have soda.
- That's fine.

Okay. To, uh... to old friends.

And to, uh, to Tammy Kent.

To Tammy Kent.

Tell me about Tammy.

I think I can say that I would never
have survived my adolescence

if it hadn't been for her. She was, uh...

- She was my first love.
- Was she?

And... even before that, she was...
the only one who knew that...

- Who knew?
- Her family...

lived down the hallway from us, and, uh...

And the night my mother was...

she went to the hospital, uh...

Anyway.

Let's not talk about Tammy Kent.

Besides, she is...

she's, uh, she's your patient.

So... can we go back to the lawsuit?

After Alex's funeral, nothing more happened

- between you and Laura?
- No, I couldn't even,

I couldn't even think about Laura
without blaming myself for his death.

If I hadn't been in love with her,
if I hadn't been jealous of him,

if I hadn't... been competing
with him for her love and...

You could have saved him.
Is that what you think?

- Yeah, I guess so.
- You guess so?

Well, isn't that what we all
want to do, save our patients?

Is that what you want?

This is beginning to seem like therapy.

Well... we're friends talking about work.

Okay... then let's, uh...

Let's talk about... the, uh, work.

Okay, I have a new patient.

Her name is April.

She's just learned that... she's got lymphoma.

Yeah. She's terrified and... she's in denial.
She hasn't told anybody.

Not her family, not her friends,
nobody except me.

Why not?

She says she doesn't want
to have the chemo.

I think she probably has
an unconscious fantasy that if...

if, uh, she doesn't have the treatment,
she doesn't have the cancer, you know.

- You haven't said that to her yet?
- I don't think she's ready to hear it yet.

And I don't have the time... to get her there.

I mean, with the particular cancer that
she has, if she starts treatment now,

her, her chances of recovery are, are
pretty good, but if she, if she doesn't...

Look, if it was my daughter, I would just,
I would just take her by the arm

and I would, I would drag her to the hospital.

Of course you would.
That's what you do for your family.

But not for your patients?

This is the question.

Wh-What does a good therapist do
when the patient needs...

more than just...

talk?

Do you, do you just sit there and listen
until, u-u-until she dies on the couch?

No, you can only be responsible for what
happens in treatment, Paul. You know that.

So, are you saying that you,
you wouldn't take her to chemo?

No, I would do everything I could
to get her to go.

And if she still refused?

I mean, I, I'm just afraid
that this girl is going to die.

And, and -- I can't get involved
because I'm afraid of another lawsuit.

Okay, then stop being her therapist
and become her nurse.

It's not that simple. Don't, don't simplify it.

I mean... are you saying
that you wouldn't help her?

I thought that's what we were
on the earth for, to help each other...

and... step up to the plate
when somebody needs us.

How long have you been treating her?

Oh... a week.

You've seen her only once
and she's made you feel this --

I'm just afraid that she's going to die,

and I'm angry that she won't let me help her.

Isn't this the same anger
that you felt towards Alex,

- because he wouldn't let you save him?
- This, this isn't about Alex, Gina,

this is about April.

I don't think this is
about your patients at all.

I know you don't.

You had this anger before these patients
walked into your office.

You, you -- you're not gonna drag me
down that path again.

- I'm not dragging you down any path.
- You think this is about my mother.

Yes, I think this is about your mother.

I don't want to go into therapy.

- Okay.
- Okay.

How did you leave things with her?

I made her promise to call me, and, uh...

I called her a couple of times yesterday,
I called her three times today,

she still hasn't called back.

I just, I...

You know, I have to help this girl.

Paul, we're not gods. We can't save anybody.

You really care about your patients.

But I have to say, you're no good to anybody

as long as you are living
with all this fear and anger.

What, fear that I, that, that I can't
save them, fear that they're all gonna die?

- They won't all die.
- Yeah, but my mother died.

No, you can say it. Go on, go ahead.

Yes. In spite of everything you could do...

your mother died.

And if your mother could die,

the one who promised you
she would always be there --

She didn't, she didn't promise me that.

- But you thought she did.
- Yeah, I thought she did,

because she brought me into the world,
she was gonna stay with me, as a kid...

I thought that.

She was sick, Paul.

She was too sick for you to save her.

Yeah, I wish you could tell
that to my unconscious.

It was devastating.

If you could have saved her, you would have.

Do you know... do you know
what you're feeling now?

Look...

What if I... what if I wanted to,
to come back to you for...

for therapy?
No supervision, no blurred lines, just...

plain, old therapy?

You think you can trust me?

You're the only one I can trust.

Besides, I'd feel really stupid
if I had to start all over again,

lying to somebody for a year.
I don't wanna feel stupid.

What do you wanna feel?

I just wanna feel.

Of course I'll see you.

Are you sure?

Hm-hmm. I'm sure.

Is this time good?

Yes, it is.