This article is a preview for The Patient season 1, episode 5, “Pastitsio”, and may contain spoilers for previous episodes.
The Patient is the latest FX series created for Hulu by the team behind the highly-regarded The Americans. It stars an extremely against-type Steve Carell as Dr. Alan Strauss, a therapist who is taken captive by one of his patients, Sam (Domnhall Gleeson), a serial killer who wants Alan’s help in curing him.
What follows is a taut chamber piece as Alan and Sam get to know one another under the most perilous of circumstances. Can Alan prevent Sam from killing again? Will Sam direct his ire towards Alan? These are the essential questions we’ll be tuning in for answers to over the next few weeks.
The Patient episode 4 recap
The fourth episode pushed Sam to the limits of his impulse control while Alan tried to communicate with a captive Elias. Here’s what happened, in summary:
- Alan tried to buy time for Elias by pushing Sam to go to work and act as normal. While he was there we got to see a few glimpses of how he interacts in his daily life.
- Alan bonded a little with Elias and through their conversations, we learned that Alan recently lost his wife to cancer and that his son is a particularly orthodox Jew.
- After resolving to kill Elias, Sam was convinced by Alan to go and see his ex-wife in the hopes that the emotional jolt would lead him into a new headspace.
The Patient season 1, episode 5 release date
“Pastitsio” is slated for release on Tuesday, September 20.
Where to watch The Patient online
Since The Patient is an FX production created exclusively for Hulu, it is only available on the platform and requires a subscription.
Preview and predictions for “Pastitsio”:
Here’s the official synopsis per IMDb:
Sam reaches out to a woman from his past. Trials loom for Dr. Strauss, Sam, and Elias.
- From the synopsis, we can glean that Sam does indeed go to visit his wife, and I expect we’ll see that. Before, I wasn’t convinced that the camera would ever leave the room, but the fact we saw some glimpses of Sam at work suggests we’ll also get to see his ex-wife.
- The title, “Pastitsio”, refers to a Greek baked pasta dish that Elias referenced in the previous episode. So, we can assume that Elias will survive most of the next episode.
- I think we can expect a little more explication about Alan’s past, and especially his relationship with his mean-mugging son after the latest flashbacks.
