WATTS HAPPENING

‘Gypsy’ star shines light on troubled therapist in Netflix drama

JEAN Holloway y (Naomi Watts) needs a life.

A Manhattan therapist with all the trappings of a happy home life in Connecticut, Jean is driven to strange behavior in “Gypsy,” a new 10-episode series premiering Friday.

Mainly, Jean manifests some serious boundary issues that call into question her professional ethics. She makes Harlem house calls to one patient with addiction issues and an abusive boyfriend. When another patient named Sam (Karl Glusman) seeks counsel regarding a breakup from his girlfriend, Sidney (Sophie Cookson), Jean begins to stalk her — creating a fake persona, “Diane,” who encourages Sidney’s romantic overtures while telling her ex to avoid future contact with her. With another patient, an overbearing woman (Brenda Vaccaro) estranged from her daughter, “Diane” visits the salon where the daughter has her hairh cut and convinces her to take her mother’s calls. Jean and “Diane” are working at cross purposes, obviously, and are meant to reflect two sides of one divided personality. Diane gets her kicks playing head games with the ex-lovers, but why would Jean risk her reputation? As portrayed in “Gypsy,” her motivation seems to stem from having a troubled relationship with her own mother (Blythe Danner, who comes across as completely innocuous here) and living in a bland Connecticut suburb with her lawyer husband, Michael (Billy Crudup). He’s so dull that you wonder why these two are married to each other. The writers do themselves no favors by making Jean and Michael’s only child (Maren Heary), a girl in grade school, have transgender issues. Trendy!

In one of “Gypsy’s” several unintentionally amusing aspects, Jean’s double life has her clocking a lot of mileage as “Diane” travels to such far-flung places as Fort Greene and — oh my God! — Bushwick, for liaisons with Sidney, and then back to Connecticut in a single night. Michael is eternally understanding each time Jean cites a “work emergency” as the reason she’s rolling in after midnight, but Jean is instantly jealous when he has to work late alongside his voluptuous assistant.

Credibility and motivation are not the only problems with “Gypsy.” The glacial pacing prevents any intrigue from building. Despite these drawbacks, the lovely Naomi Watts is able to bring subtle shading (and a great American accent) to the role as Jean’s professionalism is compromised by unconscious motives. It’s too bad the writers haven’t given her better material.

Netflix may pride itself on being synonymous with binge watching, but a few episodes of “Gypsy” may be all you really need to see.