El paciente

The patient is about a killer who wants to get rid of his urges, by kidnapping a therapist and locking him in his basement, for private therapy. Which results in a unique relationship.

Not only is Gleeson incredibly convincing as a troubled serial killer, but his chemistry with Carrell as his therapist is palpable. The story itself is not particularly impressive, new or surprising, but the character building and the continuous tension keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Some people may complain about the ending, but I respectfully disagree. The fact that the ending is not cliche, and very un-Hollywood is enough for me to enjoy it more than the current average series.

Clever concept; interesting characters; well acted and the story moves in a very steady (if often plodding) pace.

Unfortunately it ultimately takes you nowhere and when it ends it leaves you in that empty space. The series is not unlike a train ride to a vacant lot. All the promise that travel brings and a terminus of less than no interest.

What may have been intended as clever or to give a sense of openness to speculate on the "what next" it reflect on lessons learned, or not learned; really just ends in unsatisfactory creative conceit. Too bad really as it could have been quite memorable. Oh well.

If you look through the offerings that most streaming services have to choose from, it is ... disappointing ... to say the least. Boring. Repetitive, almost. By the third row of these 'pickings', every one of the shows being pushed, look and read the same. IN FACT (true story), I held off from suggesting this as a watch to my husband because I thought it was the doctor/patient series 'The Shrink Next Door' (title which I just now had to look up by remembering that Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell were in it), and which did not interest me. In any case, we passed this up a few times until hubby mentioned Steve Carell was in it, after which we looked it up and began watching. We're now 5 episodes in, and we are both surprised and pleased.

The Patient is not perfect. Then again, very few - if any - TV shows are. It has LESS imperfections, however, than do others. The reason, I think, is because the premise is very simple. Patient abducts psychiatrist (in Synopsis and NOT a spoiler). It is the nuanced performances from everyone involved (yes, including Carell), which elevates it to not only watchable, but interesting.

Also worth mentioning AND DESPITE HOW OTHERS VIEW IT, one of the POSITIVES for me, is that the episodes are very short (30 minutes long) and so, what is a story that could become easily bogged down with filler in order to fulfill certain time or advertising constrictions, moves along fairly well and quickly, with mostly "meat" and few potatoes. Now, that meat is not necessarily the best cut each and every bite, but it IS a satisfying dish - if you give it the patience that a MERE 30 minutes entail.

Imagine if Dexter went for psychotherapy and that's enough info to describe the premise of this show without giving away too much. Solid acting from Steve Carell and I'm looking forward to seeing this evolve as the show moves forward. Make sure you watch it with little background noise or distraction as it's pure character discussion and nuanced details.

However, I recommend you save up episodes to watch as each episode is only 20 or so minutes long and this was a little frustrating and caused me to lose the feeling of atmosphere and investment in the story. No need to spoil the storyline by telling you anything here as it's a 'watch it for yourself' show. I went into it with little pre knowledge and feel that's a better way to watch most new shows.

Hope you enjoy as I have so far.

I saw all the low star ratings, and was confused why this brilliant, thought provoking, cerebral, well-acted, well-executed, thrilling psychodrama was receiving such low ratings. The reason is rather ridiculous.

If your main problem with this show is with the length of episodes and/or the fact that you can't watch the entire thing at once, then you don't have a problem with the show, you have a problem with Hulu or FX's distribution of it. How about we review the actual content of the show, and not act like anything that requires even the most minimal amount of patience is unacceptable.

I personally like the distribution and length of episodes You know that hour after dinner and after work when it's real easy to fall asleep even during snows you like? This is a show that keeps me wide awake every week and I really look forward to it.