The Patient is another incisive thriller from the duo behind The Americans
Steve Carell delivers a riveting performance in FX's limited series from Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg
TV Reviews Matthew Rhys
You’ve never seen Steve Carell as he is in The Patient. He anchors FX’s gripping limited series with his finest dramatic performance to date, a sublime and crushing work that sticks with you long after the credits roll in the finale. It transcends the memory of The Office’s Michael Scott and his big-screen dramatic turns in Foxcatcher and Beautiful Boy. The actor’s evocative work manages to carry The Patient when it falls into brief repetitive lapses. After the disappointing Space Force and a terribly written character on The Morning Show, it’s gratifying to watch Carell expertly spearhead a tense and engaging TV show.
He plays therapist and famed author Dr. Alan Strauss, who is kidnapped by a patient named Gene—who is quickly revealed to be Sam Fortner, a.k.a. the John Doe Killer (Domhnall Gleeson). Sam couldn’t openly share his criminal activities during regular sessions, so he abducts Alan and shackles him in his house’s tiny, minimally furnished basement. The hope is Alan can cure him of homicidal tendencies, even if it takes years and years of therapy. With one leg chained to a brick wall for the show’s duration (not counting Alan’s flashbacks and dream sequences), Carell uses the small space to his advantage, expressing fear, anxiety, grief, and loneliness while forcefully treating Sam.
The premiere wastes no time setting up Alan and Sam’s precarious circumstances, giving The Patient 10 episodes to peel back the curtain on Sam’s unpredictable psyche, why he kills, and whether Alan can ever figure it out and escape—or meet the same fate as Sam’s victims. The escalating tension from his captivity, and any subsequent attempts for freedom, are clearly the nail-biting portions of the series. But the slow-burn tension feels riveting and not dragged out, thanks to installments that are less than 30 minutes long. And that’s a real treat, alright. It’s rare for serious dramas to be a half hour apiece with tightly structured storytelling to boot. (A recent exception might be Barry, which evolved from being just a dramedy in season three). The Patient is a successful thriller because it is consciously bite-sized.
But those short episodes are just a bonus. The meat and overarching theme of The Patient is summarized in a quote from Alan: “People need meaning in their lives, probably more than anything else.” That line also recalls series co-creators and writers Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg’s former FX project, the award-winning spy thriller The Americans, which was an often heartbreaking dissection of Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings’ (Keri Russell) marriage against a Cold War backdrop.
While The Patient doesn’t have similar scope, emotional heft, or time on its hands as that series, it’s still a worthwhile dissection of Alan and Sam’s personal issues and larger conflicts. One is an unhinged psychopath craving magical redemption, while the other has suddenly got all the time in the world to contend with his sorrowful past. And the show explores how (as Alan says), despite their totally dissimilar worldviews, they both draw meaning to their lives from their respective complicated father-son relationships.
Alan is in a fragile place when he becomes a hostage. He’s mourning his recently dead wife, Beth (Laura Niemi), and has a fraught bond with his estranged son, Ezra (Andrew Leeds). The unexpected isolation in Sam’s dreary universe turns him into a hostage of his own mind as well. He finds solace in imaginary conversations with his own therapist, Charlie Addison (David Alan Grier), which mercifully take place in a less bleak setting. As Alan remains trapped in a hellish new reality, he’s forced to reckon with a biased perception of his divided-by-religion family. Alan and Beth had a tough time when Ezra became an Orthodox Jew. The Patient’s messaging here seems initially murky, but then it matures into something deeper by the finale. (And that’s all we’ll say, as discussing anything more about the last episode is under strict embargo until it airs on October 25.)
The only drawback to The Patient is that it doesn’t give Sam the same cognizant character development as it does to Alan. He gets off-kilter traits like an obsession with food—he brings home fancy meals from different cuisines each night—and an undying adulation for singer-songwriter Kenny Chesney, but Sam doesn’t feel as fleshed out as his co-lead. There’s a strong attempt to examine his upbringing that comes a little too late, so the middle episodes feel repetitive (but never dull). Gleeson does justice to the dead-eyed Sam, spouting off lines like “I’m just kidding; I’m not going to fuck his skull,” but it’s still a one-dimensional take on a serial killer, one that pales in comparison to exceptional performances like Paul Walter Hauser in Black Bird and Cameron Britton in Mindhunter.
Speaking of those dramas, The Patient has a similar vibe of two people engaging in absorbing, creepy exchanges in suffocating surroundings. (Kudos to production designer Patricio M. Farrell for acing the look of Alan’s bare-boned new environment.) Carell also deserves props for using his comedic chops to bring subtle levity to his reactions and line deliveries, which complements his masterful performance, and the show’s razor-sharp writing and direction. While The Patient won’t make up for The Americans’ absence (nothing can fill that void, people), it’s nevertheless an astute and compelling follow-up from Fields and Weisberg, with a knockout lead performance.
[Note: An earlier version misspelled the creator’s name. We have updated it correctly]
48 Comments
It shouldn’t be a shock at this point that Steve Carell is a pretty good actor. Maybe it’s overlooked or not really examined at all, but dude kind of crushes it in the The Morning Show. I never really followed the general discussion about the show, but what I kind of took away was people shittin on Apple tv when it premiered, and then others just kind of parroting “Apple bad” nonsense after the fact. The Morning Show has an ensemble cast that knocks it out of the park. Even if you don’t appreciate the story, the actors frickin bring it.
Agreed. His dramatic chops are strong. He’s my choice for prof x
Agreed. It’s all schlocky high-concept soap opera, but my wife and I ate up every episode of the first two seasons. One of those rare instances where I watch a show on my own, recommend it to my wife, she actually listens and watches it too, likes it just as much, and then we watch it together.
If I could only do the same with The Americans and the Vince Gilligan Duology.
I’m curious as to why the poster feels that Carrell’s Morning Show character is terribly written. I’m open to the criticism, but nothing about his writing stood out to me as “terrible”. Maybe the way his arc finishes? Maybe people don’t want to see those guilty of sexual assault as having any chance at redemption, small scale or otherwise. That there’s no possible way they could go from feeling like a victim to realizing they were, in fact, the victimizer and feeling remorse and honestly trying to change beyond the soundbite bullshit apologies and “working on myself” vagaries. I mean, I have yet to see it go down that way in real life, but who knows.
It’s interesting, for sure. Steve Carell’s character being relatable seems to be a problem with people. I thought it did a good job of showing that people aren’t just all good or bad. Like you can do a shitty thing, but you’re not just this malevolent asshole.
His character is probably the best-written character in that show, honestly. Far and away.
The Morning Show is deeply flawed, but better and more interesting than it’s given credit for. That ridiculous Italian filmmaker aside, I liked Carrell’s storyline, especially the way at various points he seemed on the verge of grokking why what he did was so bad before swinging back to self-pity.
He played a great prick in The Way Way Back.
He was so good as an awful person.
And The Big Short
It shouldn’t be a shock at this point that Steve Carell is a pretty good actor.Fact is that a lot of comedic actors are far more successful crossing over to dramatic fare than vice versa. Doing comedy well is hard. It takes timing and skills that usually aren’t strictly necessary for drama, but which can make substantial improvements to the way drama is performed when available. And a lot of them were trained in acting in general before realizing they had a skill for comedic arts. (Robin Williams and Alan Tudyk, both of whom were known more for their comedic roles early on, were enrolled at Juilliard.)There is an actor who often works at my theatre company who has a lot of training in commedia dell’arte (AKA super old school clowning and physical comedy) and other physical comedy. He’s fucking great in comedies, but I think he’s even better when he does drama because he brings a physical specificity to the role that a lot of other actors don’t.
I’ve been saying that for years. Comedic actors generally have a little more in the tool box to work with than strictly dramatic actors do. Another thing I’ve noticed is that Shakespearean actors tend to have comedic chops that sometimes go unnoticed. The general public tends to think of Shakespeare’s tragedies first, but the comedies are hilarious and require very good timing to pull off. For example, Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi and Patrick Stewart are absolutely hilarious when they play comic roles.
Been waiting for the Js next show since the Americans ended. This reads like it’s another hit.Also Carrell for prof x!
Misspelling show creators’ names is…unweis.
Holy shit, you had me at David Alan Grier.
Team DAG!
Er…
Don ‘No Soul’ Simmons does it again!
“[Note: An earlier version misspelled one of the creators’ names. We have updated it correctly]”
Fixed.
I’m not sure why this comes as a surprise-he’s been really good in a variety of different parts-The Way Way Back/Little Miss Sunshine/Date Night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him be bad.
Missed “Irresistible”? Lucky you.
Though that wasn’t really his acting’s fault, it was the script and the movie as a whole really. I’m getting annoyed just thinking about it.
I wouldn’t say he’s bad at all, but he turned me off for a long time after he was in a lot of maudlin “sad clown” roles that just looked unwatchable. Same thing kind of happened with Robin Williams.
He was sad in Little Miss Sunshine, but not really a sad clown. Not a clown at at all in The Way Way Back-just an huge asshole.
I wasn’t interested in this until I heard it was from the same people who did The Americans!
Americans is truly one of the best shows of this century.
History will remember it as the best drama of the 2010s and not Game of Bros.
Ooo interesting – I was already semi on-board because I like the leads, but if this is by the The Americans guys – I’m sold!
Why doesn’t Steve Carell want to make us laugh anymore?
Because we don’t deserve it?
Wish this was going to be on FX. I’m not payin for another streaming service.
Dexter is back.. In Treatment.
How bad is Domhnall’s american accent? I’m Irish and all I’m hearing is someone failing to sound not Irish.
It’s actually pretty solid from an American perspective (so far)
thanks to installments that are less than 30 minutes long
Yes!
I know there are various reasons for wanting 45-60 minute episodes, but it seems to me most shows would benefit from telling their story in 30 minute episodes.
42 minutes is the perfect length for a tv drama and I’ll never understand why it gets ignored when two of the greatest tv shows of all time had that run time (BB and MM).
Because fair to say most writers aren’t as good as those from the greatest shows of all time.
uh…. What About Bob? 🙂
No Hulu in Canada* but apparently it will be landing on Disney+ there.* yes I know “there are ways around those restrictions”
Dammit, got me again.Read the headline. Got all excited. Searched YouTubeTV for it and got nothing.Cause it’s not an FX show. It’s a Hulu show. Now I’m sad.
looking forward to this!
Man, Space Force was a disappointment. Season 1 felt like a major chore to get through and I couldn’t finish Season 2. Carell and Greg Daniels just couldn’t recapture that Office magic, could they?
so if I watch the first 9 episodes in the next week or two, I’d have to wait nearly 2 months to watch the last? seems almost sadistic to me LOL.
Wait, where are the first 9 episodes already available? I thought it was a regularly weekly release
it premieres today; I forgot reviewers get to see the series they are reviewing before everyone else.
Ah, got it. Yes, I watched the first 2 already and it’s going to be rough to wait a week in between episodes, especially since they’re so short.
Just came back from watching episode 3 to let everyone know that this show blows ass. None of it is believable, and the pacing is weird, and it’s way pulpier than I thought it would be. This is a stinker, I’m not sure what they were going for here.
Yes. You will probably never see this, but I agree. I very rarely watch long-form TV. Not sure why I started this? Serial killers, I guess. But by ep. 3 I have no real idea what or even who the show is about. 20 mins per episode is pretty pathetic. This should have been a movie.
I’m enjoying it, but with the eps only 20 minutes long, why not just make it a movie? Not sure I understand why certain things these days get the miniseries treatment while others become movies.
just finished it – they lost me at the ending, i didn’t believe the character would make that choice.