The Patient

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.

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.

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.

The Patient 1st and 2nd episode review:

Positives: Steve Carell's show - It's always fun to watch him.

Domhnall's performance is awesome. He played a really cool foodie serial killer. 20 minutes episodes - short episodes.

Negatives: Episodes are kinda slow (1st and 2nd) - feels like a documentary. It would have been better if all 10 episodes were released on the same day.

Overall it's a good time pass show and the concept is really interesting.

I would give this show 3 stars out of 5 for now. I watched this show because of Steve but Domhnall's performance is even better. Will watch the remaining episodes.

The Patient offers an intriguing plot line. We follow the protagonist (Steve Carell), a therapist, who has been kidnapped by one of his patients with the intent of truly opening up about his thoughts, struggles, and feelings to someone like he has never before. However, we see glimpses into the protagonist's past that reveal potential character flaws, and events that he has seemingly not dealt with himself. It makes you wonder moving forward who is the true Patient, the patient or the therapist.

From a TV perspective, I believe this could've been a two part mini series, 1.5 hour for each episode or something like that. There are so many shows as of late that they are going back to the old format of 23 minutes. Ultimately, it leaves the viewer unsatisfied by not being able to immerse themselves in the story. This short format is a quick way to maximize the ad revenue. I just hope that the writers have an end in mind, I believe that this will make or break this show. With what has been seen so far, this is not meant to be a show lasting longer than a season.

I encourage a watch now if you can spare the time, or if not wait until all episodes are released.