# The Patient (2022)

> A psychotherapist held prisoner by a serial killer must treat him to curb his homicidal urges.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/112224

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 22 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: thriller, drama, crime
- Created by: Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields
- Network: Hulu
- Cast: Steve Carell, Domhnall Gleeson, Linda Emond, Laura Niemi, Andrew Leeds, David Alan Grier, Lucas Grant
- TMDB rating: 7.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15574312/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, claustrophobic, measured, unsettling, polished

## What critics say

Viewers find The Patient a polished, superbly acted slow-burn thriller whose tense two-hander dynamic between therapist and captor keeps it addictive despite its limited scope.

## Synopsis

The Patient (2022) is an American psychological thriller miniseries created by Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields for Hulu. Across ten short episodes, Steve Carell plays Alan Strauss, a reserved psychotherapist who finds himself held prisoner in a basement by Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson), a serial killer with an unusual request: he wants Alan to curb his homicidal urges. Alan's goal is simply to survive, but his professional instincts pull him into the ritual of therapy sessions, where every conversation is a negotiation and every silence carries danger. Linda Emond and Laura Niemi appear as figures in the lives both men have left behind, widening the story beyond the room. The series builds slowly, with each short episode tightening the psychological grip and letting the uneasy intimacy between captive and captor grow more unsettling. Its tone is polished, controlled and quietly harrowing, with moments of violence that land hard. Fans of Misery, Hannibal and Dexter will find resonance in its intelligent, claustrophobic cat and mouse dynamic and its focus on the mind behind the monster. The series rewards patient viewers who appreciate character-driven tension over spectacle.

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