BBC Couples Therapy - Borris & Jessica

[ITSJUSTBRIDGET]

I’ve been obsessed with this programme for a couple of years now. It’s absolutely fascinating.

im half way through the new season and I’m absolutely appalled by this guys behaviour towards his wife. It’s clearly he is a very abusive manipulative man. His wife is unwell with the stress and anxiety of it all and he just cannot empathise. I want to reach through the screen and give her a hug

I love that she told that couple she wasn’t the therapist for them

she clearly despises the man

Agree you don’t like each other. There’s no kids. You’re making each miserable, why bother?

It came up as a new season on Sky but when I downloaded the first episode it was the bloke with 2 partners again which I've seen so I'm confused now!

Thank you for starting this thread! I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Boris and Jessica since I watched it (it’s called series 4 on iplayer rather than series 5, they have added a bunch of new episodes to the last lot in series 4).

If you think Boris is creepy at the start of the series just wait until the end. It’s quite jaw droppingly scary. He has some serious issues. Even Orla doesn’t want to/ can’t say what she thinks.

Reddit has several threads about Boris with more background to his life and work (he’s quite notorious in his field) and what has happened to the couple since the series was made. It looks like they are now divorced, thank god!

It's the same series, series 4.
They've just added more episodes. It starts from episode 10

Thank you!!

I find Lorena's vocal fry hard to listen to.

I have a theory here and I’m probably way off the mark. But he is a published author and I think quite a quickly realised that this wasn’t going his way. He’s such a narcissist that I think he thought everyone would have so much sympathy for him

I think he’s agreed to leave and divorce if they went back on and did a face saving exercise to say that everything was now great, I’m not a monster etc

he’s now lecturing at the university of Austin Texas but Jessica remains in New York

horrible man

I agree the final return of Boris and Jessica seemed fake and done just to save (his) face. One of Orla’s professional support group suggested he found it hard when Jessica revealed he had asked him to leave, so he pretended he had already planned the ‘marriage saving’ birthday outing. I didn’t buy that story at all. It’s strange that one of the other therapists did. I am certain Orla knew what was going on. People like him are untreatable.

He’s got quite a presence online including a really strange Guardian article about his long experience of having his body shaved. It’s quite well written and strangely interesting but also very creepy as he obviously really enjoys the female hair removal therapists touching him and he gets quite (imo) quite obsessed with them.

I feel so concerned for Jessica. Even if she has managed to divorce him, they still have children together. I would want to be on a different continent to Boris.

His name is Boris Fishman.

I think I just saw the end of this featured couple. He's trying to make her party to his existential crisis bald guy?

I'm on episode 13
What's the deal with what Boris is saying about his homes? Not feeling at home or something?
Is it that he just doesn't like staying in one place and she wants to stay there?
Just not sure what it is about that point exactly

Her name is Orna Guralnik, not Orla!
As you were.

I absolutely love Alison's purple glasses

I've wanted to say that from the first post. 😂 Thank you.

I love Mondo - the guy in the gay couple who is the caretaker, people pleaser, putting up with anything. He's such a warm soul. I really could understand why his partner was like he was growing up deaf and not adequately supported at all. I liked them both. But Kyle was a very entitled and non budging partner, expecting too much from Mondo.

I think because he's deaf and has a cute boy like look and demeanour to me, I let him off behaviour that's actually really shit.

I really don't know how most these couples are surviving. How one hasn't taken a frying pan to the other. I am eternally grateful for long term chosen singledom.

It's interesting that Jessica is a psychotherapist - and ended up with this fella 😭. She is very genuine and likeable to me. Really striking to look at, I'm really drawn in looking at her.

He is very much a walking personality disorder. It's horrible how anyone, including intelligent, capable, aware women can end up in these situations.

She was clearly in an incredibly vulnerable position and therefore somewhat at the mercy of Boris for a large part of this relationship it seems.

I agree about Jessica.
If I was a patient/client of hers, I'd be rethinking whether she was the person to solve my problems!

I think it's an example of repetition compulsion, where a harmful pattern in childhood, probably from parents with issues, becomes ingrained and we seek it out and repeat it, irrespective of all the academic knowledge and training we've had which tells us it's harmful.

'It's interesting that Jessica is a psychotherapist - and ended up with this fella'

Well, psychotherapists are just messed up people like the rest of us! Stuff that looks blindingly obvious from the outside doesn't always feel that way on the inside. I felt for Jessica - she was so incredibly angry and stifled by him. She seemed like a new woman in the final episode but not surprised to hear that it didn't last. I felt for him too but my gosh he was hard work

I REALLY liked Rod and Alison. I could identify with Alison's frustration and anxiety. She really did a lot of work on herself with Orna's help

I mean I guess there's different levels/grades of psychotherapists but I would have thought they would have to go through a lot of therapy themselves to resolve any issues, before being let loose on the general public.
Maybe I'm naive or maybe the requirements to label yourself a psychotherapist in the US is lower than the UK, but it seemed fairly obvious to me that Boris needs a world of individual therapy before being in any relationship!
Having said that, I haven't watched the full series yet so maybe he improves (but I doubt it!).

This wouldn't put me off someone - one session would be all I need to say yes or no. So I'm not undermining her. I like her very much.

He displays traits indicative of someone with a personality disorder. So I'd expect a psychotherapist to be aware and spot that. That's the surprise for me. Maybe she actually did/does. Maybe she knew and because of all the ties, kids, the original vulnerability on meeting him - she tried persevere.

I don't know how these two end up yet.

So Boris and Jessica are now divorced? Is that definitely correct?

I absolutely hope this is true, for Jessica.

. Boris needs support so hopefully he has something therapeutic that helps him grow.

I'd end up buying Tesco Finest Piccolo tomatoes on his card and shoving them up his ass in the position of his wife.

Nothing to add other than to say thank you for letting me know is a new series on - love this show! 🤭😂🙌

I was far more stressed/concerned watching Alison than Boris. Maybe I need to rewatch.

If that's the lady with purple glasses, I agree. She makes you feel very on edge and stressed is the perfect word.