"The Patient" Hulu Series Review (first two episodes)

 2022 has been a decent year for film and television. Plenty of movies are already considered all-timers, such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Television has been on a streak with audiences lately. In 2022, we were treated to new seasons of “Only Murders in the Building” and “Hacks”, Disney Plus’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and a Nathan Fielder masterpiece dubbed “The Rehearsal”. However, a new show that has the potential to top “The Rehearsal” is by FX/Hulu and is called “The Patient.” Two episodes are out at the moment and both are (mostly) masterfully put together. This review contains no spoilers.

“The Patient” stars Steve Carrell in a dramatic role as Alan Straus, a therapist, and Domhnall Gleeson, who audiences may know from the films “Ex Machina” and “The Revenant.” Gleeson plays Sam “Gene” Frotner, a troubled teen who has kidnapped Straus in an attempt to get help for himself. Sam thinks that by kidnapping Alan, Alan would have no choice but to help Sam get over some of his more disturbing “urges.” The show is melancholic in tone and is very successful at being both gritty and engaging.

Audiences familiar with Carrell’s role in the film “Foxcatcher '' may not be caught too off guard by his performance in a show as dark as this one. However, those who are only familiar with the Michael Scott version of Carrell on TV and the kid-friendly version of him as Gru in the “Despicable Me” franchise should be warned that this is a very different version of him. There is no humor in the series and the show is exceptional at making the viewer feel scared at some points.

“The Patient” is presented in a style similar to the films “My Dinner with Andre” and “Mass.” Most of it is made up of conversational scenes between Carrell and Gleeson. I’ve always thought that that type of media is the most impressive. If a director can pull something like that off, that means that the dialogue is amazing and the cinematography is interesting. Well, both things are true in regard to “The Patient”. While the cinematography may not be as interesting as something like Bo Burnham’s comedy special “Inside” from last year, it was compelling enough to keep me from looking at my phone during the runtime of the two available episodes. It was the writing that truly made me come back for episode two. It was very realistic in the way characters talked to each other. Carrell and Gleeson are amazing together and have great chemistry.

The show, at least the first two episodes, has a consistent 22ish minute runtime. With a show like that, the plot has to move quickly, and it does. It is briskly paced and there is no filler. Beat after beat, the series is constantly moving forward and does not feel rushed. 

My main gripe with the series is the music. To put it bluntly, it is distracting. Sometimes it will overshadow the events on screen. A scene in which Carrell is attempting to pick a lock in episode two comes to mind, I feel it would’ve been more effective without music entirely. Despite that one criticism though, it is a wonderful show that has infinite amounts of potential.

I give the first two episodes of Hulu’s “The Patient” a thumbs up and I highly recommend it. I might revisit it here once every episode is released.