The Patient
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Alan has reached a breaking point.
Two significant things happen in this episode ofThe Patient.
First, we meet Charlie, Alans old mentor and therapist.
Second, Sam actually listens to some of Alans advice and guidance in an effort to change.
These developments are connected.
Well, we kind of meet Charlie.
The real Charlie is dead.
All the best therapists have therapists.
Alan realizes hes dissociating, but hes glad to have someone to commiserate with.
Here, he gets an opportunity to just be himself and unload on a third party.
He also gains a confidant who keeps him accountable for his actions.
He says, I dont want to die any sooner than I need to.
Along with providing a sort of emergency therapy, Charlie and Alan discuss Sam and his myriad problems.
Alan knows that if he cant untangle Sams knotty psyche and fast hes going to die.
), and therefore he cannot empathize with others.
Also, kidnapping Alan.
Also … pretty much everything Sam has done up until this point.
After a few sessions with Charlie, Alan starts to shift his approach with Sam.
He tries to take the lemon of Eliass rotting corpse and turn it into therapeutic lemonade.
Its of note that Charlie and Alan arent trying to diagnose Sam.
Instead, theyre working off his behaviors alone.
And Sams behavior the morning after he kills Elias is completely atrocious.
Its clear he blames Alan for this turn of events.
In a chilling scene, Sam chains his pet therapist up to dig Eliass grave and then leaves.
Initially, Alan tries to get Sam to feel something deeper by looking directly at Eliass face.
Its a grotesque scene that activated my gag reflex hard, but Sam doesnt seem to care.
Its a swing and a miss from Alan.
Yet Alan has another trick up his sleeve.
He continues on his quest for empathy, encouraging his patient to consider Elias a whole person.
He had a family who loved him, and families need to grieve when they lose a loved one.
Miraculously, this seems to connect with Sam.
He has a lot of follow-up questions about the Jewish grieving process, and Alan handles these with aplomb.
Its a tense sequence that illustrates how Alan truly is trying to fight back with everything he has.
The conclusion of the episode sees Alan watching Sam drag Eliass body away.
Is this a moment of hope?
Or is it a foreshadowing that hell soon be reunited with his beloved in the afterlife?
Thats all the time we have for today, but Ill see you at our next session.
She comes out and chastises her son, saying shes at her wits end with his behavior.
A+ acting job from Alex Rich as dead Elias.
It cant be easy playing a manhandled dead body, but this guy pulls it off.
The comedic-actor-to-serious-actor pipeline is often underutilized but always a delight to see in action.
Decades-old carpet fibers wont take Sam down, but maybe his credit-card statement will?
