The Patient preview: What to expect from episode 3 of the Steve Carell-starrer thriller?

The first two episodes of Steve Carell's psychological thriller The Patient arrived on Hulu on August 30, 2022. The series follows the story of a therapist (played by Carell) who gets kidnapped by a serial killer (played by Domhnall Gleeson) in need of help to contain his homicidal urges.

The 10-episode series is written and created by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg. Fields, Weisberg, Caroline Moore, and Victor Hsu also serve as executive producers, with Chris Long as the director of the first two episodes and the executive producer of the series.

The first two episodes set the context for the upcoming episodes. Episode one, titled Intake, introduces the characters. Carell plays therapist Alan Strauss, who is still in mourning for his deceased wife. Alan lives alone with hardly anyone to talk to and does all his chores by himself.

The void in Alan's life is, in a way, filled by a profession where he is required to talk to his patients regularly. One such patient is Gene Bollinger, who turns out to be the kidnapper Sam Fortner. The second episode, titled Alan Learns to Meditate, expands on Sam's past.

Steve Carell in the show (Image via IMDb)

Read on to find out more about episode 3 of The Patient.

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What to expect from episode 3 of The Patient?

The third episode is titled Issues and will be released on September 6, 2022. While there is no information around the episode, IMDb's synopsis of it reads:

"Sam's desire to find a therapeutic solution grows as his inner struggle intensifies. Dr. Strauss brings a new variable into their sessions."

The second episode ends with Sam sharing his secrets with Alan after the therapist asks him to. Alan also makes Sam promise that throughout the tenure of the therapy, the latter shall not harm either Alan or anyone else.

But after the conclusion of one of the sessions, Sam remarks that talking to Alan has not helped him and insinuates that he should rather just go and kill the person that he had been wanting to kill.

So, the next episode will reveal whether or not Sam takes the drastic step and harms anyone. While the trailer showed that Sam will harm someone in front of Alan, it is unclear as to when that juncture will arrive in the show.

Secondly, the first two episodes have been able to establish the personal turmoil that has been going on within Alan, which has to do with his wife's death and the events that precede it. According to the trailer of The Patient, Alan had quit therapy only to return to it later. It remains to be seen how much of this angle is addressed in Issues.

The third episode will also reveal the person that Alan meets at the end of the second episode. Alongside Carell and Gleeson, the show features actors Linda Emond, Laura Niemi, Andrew Leeds, David Alan Grier, and Alex Rich.

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Viewers can catch episodes of The Patient on Hulu.