Culture Crash: A Review of “The Patient”

Are you a fan of Stephen King’s Misery? FX on Hulu’s new series The Patient brings the Misery vibes for a new era. The show, developed by Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, the duo behind the hit drama series The Americans, stars Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson.

Carell plays a renowned therapist who gets kidnapped and chained to the basement of a serial killer, played by Gleeson, who is hoping Carell can help him get his murderous impulses under control. The psychological thriller follows a long and storied history of taking inspiration from familiar Stephen King premises, but this adaptation is much more adult and psychological than say, Stranger Things.

Anyone familiar with The Americans can tell you that Weisberg and Fields, though, have the ability to take the most out-there premise and ground it in real, emotional situations. The Patient is largely a show about two men talking in a basement, yes, but the sharp writing and phenomenal acting make the show consistently engaging. Weisberg is a former CIA agent, and his work with Fields has always been slow, deliberate, and chalk full of anxiety.

The Patient is a 10-episode limited series, with the finale scheduled to air just days before Halloween night so I am definitely expecting this to be a show that continues to ratchet up the tension and deliver a huge payoff of an ending. While we don’t know that for certain yet, what we do know is that this is a series worth checking out.

The Patient is streaming on Hulu.