Review: ‘In Treatment’

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HBO’s critically acclaimed and viewership-challenged psychiatric drama, returns Sunday for a second season determined to maintain the acclaim and resolve the challenges.

While the basic premise remains the same -- five weekly episodes will depict sessions with psychiatrist Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) -- changes have been made, in cast, characters and configuration (not to mention Paul’s rather severe new haircut.)

Last season, each of the five half-hour episodes aired on a different day, approximating Paul’s schedule; this season they are bundled, with two appearing on Sundays and three on Mondays, offering a more immersive experience that makes good dramatic sense.

While the patient du jour formula may have worked in the original Israeli version, it was no doubt a bit jarring for American viewers, unused to making a daily commitment to a single half-hour show.

Mercifully, form definitely follows function here and the stories that fill each episode, however you watch them, are even better than they were last season and that’s saying something.

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