The Patient Release Date, Cast, Plot, and More

Not everyone wants to watch a show, where everything is happening all at once, and there’s more than enough drama to keep you on your toes. If you don’t mind sitting in a room with two characters having life-changing and soul-searching conversations for twenty-five minutes in each episode, the new Hulu miniseries, The Patient, might be the show for you. Here is everything you need to know about The Patient, with no major spoilers from us.

The Patient is a psychological thriller written and created by Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields for FX on Hulu Network. They are both executive producers on the show, alongside Chris Long, Caroline Moore, Victor Hsu, and main actor, Steve Carell. Chris Long also directed the first two episodes of The Patient and is expected to direct episodes 8 and 9 as well. The Patient episodes 3, 4, and 5 were directed by Kevin Bray while episodes 6 and 7 will be directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton.

The production companies on this show are The JS Scallie Filmworks and Inc FXP. The Patient is distributed by the Disney Platform Distribution. It started filming in mid-January, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

The Patient Plot

The Patient Plot
The Patient Plot

The Patient is about a therapist named Alan Strauss, who just suffered the loss of his wife, Beth, and is estranged from his son, Ezra. Before the camera starts rolling for the actual first scene, Alan takes on a new patient named Gene. For the first few months, Gene is tight-lipped about the baggage he needs to unpack. This pushes Alan, who is also struggling with his own past, to decide he can’t help Gene.

After he breaks this news to Gene, Alan is kidnapped, which is what the first scene of Episode 1 shows. His kidnapper is quickly revealed as Gene, whose real name is Sam Fortner. Sam is a wanted serial killer, who is aware that he is a psychopath. He went into therapy with Alan to figure out how to control his urge to kill people. Now that his life and that of Sam’s other victims depends on it, Alan is forced to cooperate with Sam, and have therapy sessions with the deceivingly quiet killer while tied down in a little room. Most of the series so far has been set in this cliche room in the basement.

During their therapy sessions, Alan recalls moments from his journey with another therapist, which helps him decide how to help Sam. The five episodes of the show, which have already been released, feature therapy sessions between Alan and Sam, flashbacks of their pasts, and the process they both go through to heal. Maybe. We don’t know yet, if therapy actually ends up working for Sam, or if Alan is able to deal with his own pain. Hopefully, things will be a lot clearer as we near the season finale of The Patient Season 1.

The Patient Cast

The Patient Cast
The Patient Cast

Hulu’s The Patient has a very small cast of seven actors. American actor and comedian, Steve Carell (popularly known for playing Michael Scott in The Office) play the role of psychotherapist, Alan Strauss. Sam Fortner, the serial killer who kidnaps Alan, is played by Domhnall Gleeson. You might have seen Domhnall Gleeson in the Harry Potter movies, where he plays the eldest of the Weasley brothers, Billy Weasley. If not, you might know him from Peter Rabbit, Run, About Time, and any of the minor roles he has played alongside his father, Brendan Gleeson and Tom Cruise. Steve and Domhnall are the main characters in this show.

Alan’s dead wife, Beth, is played by Laura Niemi, who is best known for her role as Marilyn Pearson in This is Us (an NBC series). Bones, and Cristela actor, Andrew Leeds plays Ezra, the therapist’s estranged son. Three-time Tony Award nominee, Linda Edmond was cast as Candace, the patient’s mom. The other two characters, Charlie and Elias, are played by David Alan Grier and Alex Rich respectively. You might know David Alan Grier as Joe Carmichael from the popular Carmichael Show, and Alex Rich from the anthology series, Genius.

The Patient Release Date

The Patient Release Date
The Patient Release Date

The Patient Episode 1, and Episode 2 premiered at the same time, on August 30, 2022. Out of ten episodes that have been planned for the thriller series, only five have been released. New episodes of The Patient are released seven days apart. The Patient Season 1 Episode 5 titled Pastitsio, is the most recent episode, which was released on September 20, 2022. Watch out for The Patient Episode 6, which is scheduled to be released on September 27, 2022. The Patient will wrap up with its season finale on October 25, 2022.

The Patient Season 1 Ratings

The Patient Season 1 Ratings
The Patient Season 1 Ratings

For a show several reviews describe as tedious and unspectacular, The Patient has good ratings and reviews that recommend it. The miniseries is rated 7.3/10 on IMDb, 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 74/100 on Metacritic. 89% of Google users have also given the show a thumbs-up. Although, most of the good reviews are because of the cast, especially Steve Carell, who is well loved by viewers of all ages. Steve gives an excellent performance that keeps many people asking for more of the show. We suppose the cast is doing exactly what it was targeted to do for a show that might have fallen into the void of tedious or cancelled series otherwise.

Where to Watch The Patient?

The Patient streams exclusively on Hulu and is not available on Netflix.

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