A friend recently recommended that I watch Web Therapy, an improvised comedy web series starring Lisa Kudrow. Kudrow plays Dr. Fiona Wallice, a narcissistic therapist who has created a new form of online therapy (web therapy) that consists of 3-minute online sessions. Her philosophy is that the traditional 50-minute sessions are unnecessary, since they allow people to explore too many irrelevant experiences and feelings. She believes 3 minutes is sufficient for breakthroughs. Fiona also strives to build her own franchise and tapes the sessions in hopes of attracting investors.
After my friend explained the premise of the series to me, I knew I had to watch it. So far I’ve seen three episodes, and I have not been disappointed. Though the episodes are lighthearted and ridiculous, they are also surprisingly insightful. Through dark comedy, the satirical web series touches on a variety of topics such as self-absorbed culture, the negative ramifications of technology, and marital/family issues. Essentially, the series is about failed human interaction and comically explores how technology contributes to this.
In the very first scene of the series, Fiona is showing her husband Kip what a typical web therapy session would entail by giving him a session. Kip is clearly unhappy with Fiona, as she moved some of his personal belongings to decorate the room she conducts sessions in. The entire series is shot from the perspective of Fiona’s computer screen, so all we see are Fiona and Kip in individual video chat boxes. They are visually separated from each other and contained within the virtual bounds of the iChat boxes. As the scene progresses and Fiona starts to roleplay a therapy session with Kip, Kip tries to look over at Fiona when answering her questions (since they are sitting in the same room). However, Fiona scolds Kip when he tries to do so and forces him to look at her through the webcam. The rest of the scene consists of Kip and Fiona bringing up issues they have with each other, revealing how bad their marriage is. This illustrates the lack of intimacy between Fiona and Kip, while conveying that technology may be acting as a barrier and fostering this decrease in human connection.
In episode 3, a similar failure in human connection is demonstrated by Fiona’s poor relationship with her mother. Fiona talks to her mother via video chat – a technological barrier once again – and it is clear that they have not talked to each other for a while. Fiona’s mother is cold, and the two’s interaction reveals that the mother wants Fiona to pay her back tuition money (even though she is clearly very wealthy and is just greedy). The mother is self-absorbed, a common theme within the series as Fiona is also a narcissist. This raises the question of how modern culture fosters narcissism. The series addresses how self-promotion is becoming more prominent within today’s society, given the Internet and social media. Through Fiona’s relationship with her mother, the series also shows how this self-absorption hinders human relationships and ultimately leads to isolation.
Episode 2 explores the extent of Fiona’s narcissism. From looking at herself in the video chat instead of her clients, to using her clients for the purpose of furthering her own business, Fiona is the epitome of how self-promotion and self-obsession leads to loss of humanity. For instance, in episode 2 Fiona holds a session with a couple who are having relationship issues. During the session, the couple get into a heated argument and start talking about their feelings towards each other. Fiona, clearly annoyed that the two are getting “bogged down” by discussing feelings, stops the conversation. She then asks whether the man received the release to record the sessions so that she can show investors. It’s a hilarious scene, but also has serious implications. Fiona exemplifies how self-interest prevents effective communication with others and hinders human connection. Since all of Fiona’s energy is going towards ensuring her personal success, she is unable to listen to others and be empathetic.
Web Therapy is a very ironic series. Therapy is essentially about human connection; however, the series repeatedly portrays failed human relationships. This is because Fiona strips the most essential part of therapy sessions (time) in hopes of increasing efficiency. This addresses a growing issue in our industrialized society: choosing quantity over quality. Though cutting down duration of therapy sessions from 50 minutes to 3 minutes may be efficient in terms of saving time, the quality of the sessions is clearly lost. The series does a great job of comically highlighting how our technological society encourages self-interest and discourages intimate human connection, which ultimately leads to the loss of quality relationships.
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