09/07/2025
Just finished watching The Patient on Hulu — and it stirred up so many different emotions in me.
It’s the story of a serial killer who wants to stop killing. He knows something is wrong with him. He’s afraid of himself. So he kidnaps a psychotherapist and keeps him locked in a basement, hoping he can “fix” him.
Sounds like a thriller, but in reality — it’s a deep psychological drama, almost entirely set in a single room.
In this tight, almost theatrical space, an incredible depth unfolds: two broken men, each in his own way longing to change his life.
The therapist, trapped in captivity, is forced to confront his own inner wounds — the grief over his wife, the pain of estrangement from his son, and a lingering guilt buried deep inside.
And at one point, he says something haunting:
“I think I feel more compassion for the serial killer than I do for my own son…”
I think this hits home for many of us — how hard it can be to stay close to those we love. How easy it is to feel empathy for strangers — and how hard it is to stay in contact with our own pain.
Most people want to change. But between the desire and actual transformation, there’s a vast gap. And crossing it takes more than just “trying harder”. It takes support, a safe environment, honesty with oneself, and the courage to face uncomfortable, shameful, terrifying emotions.
Many people break along the way.
Some become victims.
Some — executioners.
And some stay stuck in the loop: I want to change, but I keep hurting myself and others again and again.
The Patient is a series with no excess. Minimal in form, but overflowing with meaning. It’s about monsters who want to stop being monsters. About people who were never shown how to change.
And about how hard that is — even for a professional therapist.
