Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs paved the way for many thrillers since its 1991 release. However, one overlooked TV gem that shares a bit in common with Demme’s Academy Award-winning thriller is Hulu’s The Patient.
Although the 10-episode psychological thriller was one of 2022’s top-streamed shows on Hulu and earned an impressive 89% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, it flew under the radar. However, it deserves so much more love, especially from fans of The Silence of the Lambs.
The Patient Transports the Audience into the Mind of a Serial Killer
Like The Silence of the Lambs, Hulu’s miniseries The Patient puts a more intricate focus on the emotional patterns and everyday actions of a serial killer, not just the brutality of the murders. The story follows Dr. Alan Strauss, played by Carell, who, while grieving his wife’s death, decides to take on a new patient named Sam Fortner.
What Alan doesn’t know is that Sam is a serial killer who wants to stop his crimes, and tasks Strauss with curing his psychosis. Sam kidnaps Strauss and forces them to have therapeutic sessions, and if Alan isn’t able to cure Sam, he feels he has no choice but to kill Alan as well.
Much like Hannibal Lecter helping Clarice Starling enter Buffalo Bill’s mind in The Silence of the Lambs, Alan tries to unravel Sam’s abusive past and confused present to help him move forward after these unspeakable actions. Both The Patient and The Silence of the Lambs give a rare, realistic glimpse into the mind of a vicious killer.
As the days go by, Alan must maneuver between figuring out ways to escape his captor, while calming the quickly blooming storm of Sam’s urge to kill. Sam’s frustrations come to a boil, and Alan becomes increasingly desperate to dig into the depths of his mental health understanding skills and quell Sam’s urges, or face the consequences that Sam feels he deserves.
The Patient Features Incredible Performances
Although The Patient doesn’t offer a lot of action-packed scenes, it’s thrilling in a slow-burning, terrifying, psychological way, much in the same vein as David Fincher’s Zodiac. This is in no small part due to the amazing performances by Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson. Gleeson was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as the murderous Sam.
Gleeson typically plays more serious roles, like in Ex Machina and Black Mirror, but his recent run in The Office spinoff The Paper shows his range, and seeing him in that and then going to The Patient is especially jarring.
Conversely, Steve Carell is most known for his hilarious and intentionally cringeworthy performance as Michael Scott in The Office. Granted, he’s moved out of doing straight comedy more recently in his career, but even his performances in projects like The Morning Show and Mountainhead have a dark comedy aspect to them.
Carell’s performance in The Patient is much closer to his role in 2014’s Foxcatcher, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. The Patient hinges on these gripping performances to build suspense, much like Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs.
The biggest difference is that The Patient gives the audience 10 hours to become completely entranced by the acting, rather than a two-hour film. The Patient is currently available to stream on Hulu.
