Watch “The Patient” so you won’t be discovered as a steadfast candidate for a cult series

It is important to anticipate the phenomenon of the viewer’s profile: the one who prefers to be recommended rather than recommended, to discover soap operas before they are discovered and to join the cult of that novel that perhaps does not gain the fame or popularity it deserves as soon as possible. And whoever’s looking for a cult title, here’s a solid candidate: the patient, which arrived on Disney+ on Wednesday with one of the most eye-catching spots of recent months. This is madness.

Psychiatrist Alan Strauss (Steve Carell) wakes up in an unknown basement. He is lying on a bed and when he tries to get up, he realizes he is chained to the floor. He can move but he cannot reach the stairs or the windows that lead outside which show him that unfortunately no one will see him because he is in the middle of the woods. He can’t even go to the bathroom. To wash and relieve himself, he has jugs and tubs of water. He soon discovers why he is there. Sam Fortner (Domnall Gleason), a mysterious patient of his, wants intensive treatment and without having to silence the truth: he’s a serial killer and he wants Alan to help him stop killing those who despise him.

A psychiatrist wakes up in an unknown basement: a patient who turns out to be a serial psychopath, wants intensive therapy to stop the killing.

In times of crime obsession, it can be unsettling the patient Choose a cult series title rather than a popular product to go along with it Dahmer, a phenomenon of the general public. It’s the wrong platform to start with: Disney may have a high domestic market penetration rate, but when it comes to taking care of their content on a promotional level, adult titles often get annoying. They may be building a very strong backlog on Star, the adult section of the platform where notable products from FX and Hulu end up, but it’s falling under the radar compared to the donut series from Marvel and Star Wars.

Plus, the creators are Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, who master what it means to have a series “loved by critics but ignored by the casual viewer” after signing on. The AmericansIt is one of the obsessions of American critics that allowed them to win the Emmy Award for best screenplay last season. Here they repeat the strategy. yes The Americans It was a spy series that was compared to building characters with subtle emotional developments and far from the thrills of the genre, as if inspired by human factor by Graham Greene, n.d the patient The resources of thriller and horror are abandoned to treat the relationship between Alan and Sam (and their individual character arcs) in a rational and intimate manner, avoiding any instinct for predictable suspense.

This resolution is noticeable in a particular scene. Sam appears in the cellar with a box, and to Alan’s suspicious look, before opening it, he makes it clear that he won’t get a head out of there. In the same way that Sam seeks his victim’s trust, Weisberg and Fields want to show audiences that they’re in for a cerebral journey and character arcs that don’t rely on fear and suspense. This has its advantages and disadvantages.

Appreciated, for example, is the ability to delve into the issues raised by the series without worrying about surprises: it talks about the scars left by relationships between fathers and children (Alan is forced to settle in that cellar with his stakes of unresolved conflicts). Providing a close representation of the monster and the hypothesis of whether a psychopath can reform with appropriate help. Each episode also shows how well Weisberg and Fields had planned the season: from developing some trust (or mistrust) between Alan and Sam to putting in twists so the imagination wouldn’t stagnate in in therapy Revolution. However, at certain times you miss that they abandon this very cerebral approach to allow themselves to get away from the impulses of excitement. Wouldn’t it also be consistent with the content of the proposal?

‘Patient’ is a well-tuned psychological exercise for those who want to see a ‘high-concept’ premise handled coolly, with substance and a good solution, that will irk those who prefer severed heads.

With ten looping episodes in length (there are 25 minutes and others close to 40 or more), the patient It is a fine psychological exercise for those who want to see a hypothesis higher principles Taken softly, with good substance and resolve, it will enrage those who’d rather have a severed head in the box after becoming accustomed to Jeffrey Dahmer’s over-the-top horror. But it is not that series and herein lies the main reason why it is so interesting.