The Patient

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🎙️ EPISODE 658: 03.06.23 Part of 2022 Week! This is a TV show. Let's get that out of the way, straight-off. But the thing is that it absolutely did not have to be a TV show. In FX on Hulu Presented by FXX's exclusive prestige limited series The Patient we find the perfect example of "this is a movie which has been repackaged as a TV show because movies of this ilk are dead." Many of the 10 episodes are under 30 minutes long and the shortest is only 21 (which is less than a network sitcom sans commercial). This was a two-hour film cut up into a "TV show" because that is where the entertainment is trending. And let me just say that I don't fault the creators here one bit. If this is how you gotta get your shit made, then so be it. But it's definitely to the detriment of the end product in this case. So much of this felt thin, felt like filler.

Padding out a collective run-time to justify the medium. And it's a simple explanation: an episodic vehicle means more ads, a LOT more ads. The End. And that's a shame, because this would have been a lot better if it was a paired-down, more focused affair (even if the setup/story is completely ridiculous). The best part about this is Steve Carell's performance, who deserves to get more purely dramatic parts. He's a very good actor. Domhnall Gleeson does his best with a really under-baked character (the first serial killer in history whose only motivation is "people are rude to me") and I wish I could say the same about the other auxiliary ones. Even at a half-hour, most of these episodes felt like a slog. Without Carell this would have been completely unwatchable. Honestly, it barely is WITH him.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 657 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 658B ⫸

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The Patient is an American psychological thriller limited series created and written by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Chris Long, Caroline Moore, Victor Hsu, and Steve Carell. It premiered on FX, consisting of ten episodes. The series stars Carell, Domhnall Gleeson, and Linda Emond. It was released on August 30, 2022.