i think it is totally possible to have a connection with a total stranger. Like when you both observe something humorous/odd, etc., you catch each other's eye, and you both laugh or something. (I've gotten some excellent dates this way.)

With therapists...I am not sure the connection exists in the process of therapy itself. Rather it exists in your interaction with the therapists. If you share a joke. If you discover you both vacationed in Kennebunkport as kids. If you went to the same college. Etc.

I would not be surprised if some clients didn't feel a connection with their therapist and that works for them. I actually don't feel a very strong one with No. 2 - we're mostly all business (which would not be for everyone). But I think this is also the problem with blank-slate therapy: the client is desperately looking for some way to hook onto the therapist and there just isn't one.