In Treatment Season 4, Episode 3 & 4 recap: Laila & Brooke – Week 1

In Treatment Season 4, Episodes 3 and 4 introduce us to another one of Dr. Brooke Lawrence’s new patients, Laila, and her own personal session with her sponsor, Rita (Liza Colón-Zayas). Like the original three seasons, Brooke undergoes her own therapy, although hers is a little different from Dr. Paul Weston, who met with a licensed therapist. Rita isn’t a therapist, just a good friend and sponsor to Brooke.

But let’s start with the first installment where Brooke meets her new patient Laila and her controlling grandmother Rhonda (Charlayne Woodard). Laila is a Gen Z teenager with a bit of a chip on her shoulder. She’s a self-proclaimed sex addict and a lesbian, which is the primary reason Rhonda wants her to go to therapy.

Rhonda tells Brooke that Laila is already black and a woman. Does she need to make things more difficult on herself by identifying as a lesbian? Brooke makes it clear that this isn’t going to be conversion therapy. Rhonda says that’s not what she wants, to ensure that everything in her daughter’s life is under control before going to college in the fall. You get the vibe that Rhonda is a strict woman who gets what she wants and doesn’t allow anything less than excellence.

Once Rhonda leaves, and the session with Laila legitimately begins, Brooke finds out that Laila’s dad has never been part of her life. Instead of being a parental figure, he buys her stuff to appease her. She calls herself a rich girl with daddy issues, hence her sex addiction problem.

But Brooke isn’t sure she believes Laila has a genuine sex addiction. She talks about it in a clinical sense. It doesn’t sound like Laila actually enjoys the sex she’s having. Is she getting genuine pleasure from it?

Laila is similar to Colin in some ways. She constantly deflects and acts combatively toward Brooke. The only real authenticity Laila shows is when she talks about a girl she’s started seeing named Cara.

Brooke takes a different tactic to try and get through to Laila, bringing her into the kitchen to introduce her unique Easter tradition of eating candy ever since she found out the Easter bunny wasn’t real in college, “sad face.” Eventually, Laila does reveal more about Cara, admitting that she likes how Cara makes her feel like a “leader” since she looks up to her.

However, Brooke is a little concerned when she realizes the age difference between them. Laila is 18, and Cara is a freshman. Since they’re sexually active, if Cara is only 14 or 15, what they’re doing could be considered statutory rape, but Brooke doesn’t press the topic for now. She makes it clear to Laila that she’s legally an adult, so if she doesn’t want to do therapy, no one can force her to.

Rhonda arrives to pick Laila up a few minutes before their session ends, and Brooke is clearly disappointed when she runs out before wrapping up. It appears she’s disappointed at not getting a more substantial breakthrough.

In Treatment Season 4, Episode 4 recap: Brooke – Week 1

In Brooke’s episode, the focus is on her conversation with her sponsor and friend, Rita. Rita and Brooke haven’t seen each other in several weeks, as Rita has been traveling. She mentions that Brooke missed a meeting this week, and Brooke apologizes, claiming she got too busy with her new patients.

Brooke is also surprised by Rita’s arrival, as she had already made plans for Adam (Joel Kinnaman) to come over. We learn that Brooke and Adam have an on-and-off-again relationship throughout the episode, but it sounds like they were together when Brooke was battling her alcohol addiction. Rita is wary of Adam as she worries that he’ll drag Brooke down with her, but Brooke doesn’t see it that way. She likes being around Adam.

Talking to Rita also digs up intense emotional issues for Brooke, who is grieving the loss of her father. She feels incredibly alone and orphaned now that her parents have both died. Adding to her pain is the mention of her son, who her father forced her to give up when she was a teenager.

Brooke still fantasizes about motherhood and someday being reunited with her son. When she closes her eyes, that’s what she envisions. It also adds some more color to her interactions with Eladio. Rita questions her about answering that personal call to him at 2:00 a.m. and the way she’s projecting her own desire for motherhood onto him.

The first thing she mentions about him is that he’s brilliant and alone, without a mother. She doesn’t say he’s without parents, but specifically “without a mother,” and Rita notices. Brooke swears she isn’t projecting, but it definitely seems like she is, especially because she’s left a book by one of the authors Eladio recommended on the coffee table.

Eventually, Adam does arrive just as Rita is preparing to leave. Before she goes, Rita asks Brooke to be careful, and then Adam and Brooke spend the night together.

Watch the Week 2 sessions for Laila & Brooke next Monday at 9:00 p.m. on HBO.