Critic Reviews

It’s every bit as good as the first season, which means Couples Therapy is still far and away one of the best docuseries on television. ... It is a moving, poignant illustration of what can happen when people sit down and really examine themselves, and a lovely portrait of the hope that can come with mutual trust and a good faith effort. And, for good measure, Couples Therapy is also totally absorbing television.

I always feel smarter about the human condition after watching the show. ... These couples are willing to be vulnerable for our viewing pleasure. Maybe you’ll judge them. Maybe you’ll be glad your relationships are nothing like theirs. And maybe you’ll walk away with a better understanding of how people tick.

The success of “Couples Therapy” as a viewing experience rests entirely on Guralnik’s shoulders. A clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, there’s something reassuring about her presence. She has a soft vocal timbre, but she’s very intentional about the way she speaks and the words she chooses and the way she navigates each session.

There’s tremendous beauty and power in these therapy-adjacent works, but there is of course also an almost lurid sense of voyeurism. True reality is rare on television. Candor and honesty are rare in life. And thus there are moments on “Couples Therapy” that are frankly uncomfortable because even though I know that a patient recounting her worst experiences to her therapist isn’t being done for my entertainment … it kind of is.

While a show like this smacks of voyeurism, its view into the therapy processes of couples in counseling with Dr. Orna Guralnik over six months is instructive as opposed to exploitative. The couples are genuinely interesting and working their way through problems anybody in a relationship is likely to recognize. ... It’s not about the misery of others but our own willingness to commiserate.