Staring the incomparable Steve Carell along side Domhnall Gleason, The Patient (2023) is a suspenseful thriller series which engulfs us into Alan Strauss’ (Carell) life as a therapist. Sadly, Alan unassumingly encourages one of his more extreme patients which results in him getting kidnapped and forced to listen whilst the patient offloads his troubles and confessed to being a murderer. When Alan starts to learn more about Sam (Gleason) and why he has the impulses he does, Alan is forced to look back at his own past and analyse some of his own decisions from the past. His flashbacks and moments of reflection add depth to his character and open a new layer in the plot but overall, these moments didn’t add enough thrill or mystery to warrant enjoying the whole series.
This Disney plus series is described as a ‘thriller’ but it begins and continues to be far too slow, this is a drama, a slow burning, gradual drama which will often loose your attention with drawn out scenes of nothingness. The series is well written, the dialogue and ‘session’ scenes between the two leads is dynamic, realistic and intriguing but sadly the show is filled with very little thrill or excitement. Up until episode four very little happened and I found my interest drifting, it was drawn back as the patient brings a new guest to his holding cell which helps the pace of the series but sadly, the addition of a new character didn’t help this series enough. I still found the overall story arc to be tedious and uneventful. Film probe vows this as an unessential watch, if you’re a fan of slow burning dramas with undemanding character development and somewhat boring execution, it might be your kind of thing. Sadly, I expected a lot more from the two leads and the trailer set up an entirely different style and pace.
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