01x02 - Alan Learns to Meditate

Episode transcripts for the TV show "The Patient". Aired: August 30, 2022 - present.*
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A psychotherapist who recently lost his wife, finds himself held prisoner by a serial k*ller with an unusual request to curb his homicidal urges.
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01x02 - Alan Learns to Meditate

Post by bunniefuu »

(INSECTS CHIRRING)

(VEHICLE APPROACHING, MUSIC PLAYING)

♪ Drivin' circles around this town ♪

♪ So many times I
thought about leavin' ♪

♪ Got my ass kicked tryin' to com... ♪

(METALLIC CREAK)

Good luck not eating this.

Pork buns

from Qian's.

(SIGHS)

(ALAN SIGHS)

What, are you giving
me the silent treatment?

Doesn't seem very
sophisticated for a therapist.

I'm not your therapist
anymore. I'm your prisoner.

I understand why you
would think that, but...

... you have to...

Don't worry. It's not
a head or anything.

Oh, that's a relief.

You ever heard of the John Doe k*ller?

I think so.

The whole idea was to make
it look like robberies.

So the police didn't get one
of those task forces going.

So, you know, I took... I took all this.

And...

next think I know, they're
calling me the John Doe k*ller

'cause sometimes it took 'em a few days

to figure out who these people were

without their IDs and stuff.

And... now I'm kind of stuck with it.

You believe me now?

You don't think I believed you?

I get why it's easier for you to think

that maybe I'm not telling the truth.

I believed you.

Would you like a watch?

No, thanks.

Keep track of time for yourself.

I mean, they still work.

Most of 'em.





BETH: It's hard at first for everyone,

but especially someone like you.

Someone like me?

So in your head.

That's where everything takes
place, including meditation.

Like I said, it's hard
for someone like you.

(MUTTERS MOCKINGLY)

(LAUGHS)

(DOOR OPENS)

I'll be home by : .

(METALLIC CREAK)

(CHAINS DRAGGING ON FLOOR)

(TRUCK ENGINE STARTS)

(SIGHS)

(GROANS SOFTLY)

(SOFT CLICKING)

(SOFTLY): Oh, come on.

(GRUNTS)

(RATTLING)

sh*t.

(GROANS)

- (GRUNTS)
- (RATTLING)

Oh, f*ck.

(GROANS)

(GRUNTING)

(GROANS)

(SIGHS)

Ah.

Okay.

(PANTING)

(RATTLING UPSTAIRS)

(SCRAPING AND THUDDING UPSTAIRS)

Thai food tonight.

I got us Kaeng tai pla.

This place makes their own sauce
using fermented fish entrails,

which I know sounds gross, but
it gives it a lot of flavor.

And then, Khanom moa g*ng. They use

taro and duck eggs. That's dessert.

You usually can't find it this way.

(GRUNTING)

I don't think you can open
that with a plastic fork.

After I do it,

I'm... just...

I bet most people couldn't...

feel like that.

It's not a normal feeling.

It's more like... dead.

I need to get better.

Isn't that what you... enjoy doing?

Isn't healing people?

I brought you here so
we could work together.

I know you hate it, but...

if you're not going to
be a part of the process,

where is that gonna leave us?



(CHAINS JINGLING)

(CHAINS JINGLING)

Successful therapy
requires a safe environment.

The patient and the
therapist have to be able

to dig into... complicated
emotional territory

without anything like fear

hanging over every session.

I don't know what to do about that.

At least I want you...

to make me a promise that while
we are in therapy together,

that you will not commit
any acts of physical v*olence

against me or anyone else

unless you talk to me first.

You mean you want me to
talk to you before I... ?

Yes.

- So you can talk me out of it?
- So I can try to help you...

get out of it.

So together, we can try to understand

where this terrible need is
coming from, and to address it.

You have no idea what it's like.

- I understand.
- These f*cking people...

I work with a lot of
people with very serious,

almost impossible-to-resist compulsions.

Making this kind of commitment
is key to the process.

- I don't think it's the same.
- I'm not saying it's the same.

I'll do my best.

(SIGHS)

(CLATTERING UPSTAIRS)

(SOFT CLATTERING CONTINUES)

(BIRDS SINGING)

(SIGHS)

(INHALES, EXHALES)

And actually, it was my wife's idea.

Uh, she's known Chava's
mother her whole life.

So, if we have anyone to
thank, it's the rebbetzin.

Chava can keep up with your son

in-in both the intellectual
area and with humor.

Oh.

I'm so sorry.

I should have brought a real Kn*fe.

- Oh, no, no.
- No.

It's fine.

(EXHALES)

- I was going to eat that.
- This isn't funny.

ALAN: I'm upset, too,
but we need to let him be.

Oh, please don't tell
me you don't hate this

just as much as I do.

He's rebelling, Beth.

Everyone does it.

(EXHALES)

(CHAINS JINGLING)

(SIGHS)

So, should I tell you
more about my life?

Sure.

(SIGHS)

There's this guy,

uh, and I can't stop thinking about him.

I wish you knew what
this feels like. Uh...

I did an inspection a while ago

at a... a Greek restaurant in Garten.

Greek, but a-a modern take.

They do these moussaka-filled gyozas

that just... dissolve in your mouth.

I actually used to
go there with my wife,

even before I inspected it.

You're married?

I was.

That was one of those
things I didn't, uh, tell you

'cause I couldn't be fully truthful.

Anyway, uh, there were
items in the prep cooler

that weren't dated,

and the refrigerator door
seal needed to be replaced.

And these aren't uncommon things,

but they need to be addressed,

and they affect a restaurant's rating.

I explained it all to the
guy who runs the place,

the owners' son, and...

he didn't think it was a big deal.

I told him it was.

He said I should come back in a week,

and everything would be fixed.

I said the current wait
time for reinspection

in Lincoln County is seven months.

He thought I was trying to get a bribe.

And he starts talking to me

in this funny way, like...

... he knows how things really work,

and I don't,

and I'm just some piece of sh*t.

And when people talk to me like that...

Anyway, I just left,

which is what I do in those situations.

Then a couple weeks
later, my supervisor,

Kyle, tells me to go back right away

and redo the inspection,
no reason given.

And when I went there,
everything is fixed,

and the guy barely looks at me.

Smug.

When was this?

(SMACKS LIPS) I don't know.

About four months ago.

And I haven't stopped...

thinking about him.

Every single day.

I'm trying not to...

I-I usually can't stop, but...

I don't know if other people have this.

Do other people have this?

People get obsessed with
interactions they've had, yes.

I-I went back to the restaurant...

... the same night, and
I parked across the street,

and I waited until they closed.

I've never done anything that
they could trace back to me,

but that night, I... I was like...

I didn't do it.

How do you think you managed that?

I don't know.

I didn't want to get
caught. I guess that helped.

And you said this was
about four months ago?

Yeah.

Just before you came to talk to me.

And you thought I could
help you not hurt him.

Mm-hmm.

I need a pen and paper for notes.

I really thought through all the things

that you were going to need here.

I'm going to need a pen and paper.

I'm not going to att*ck you
with a piece of paper. (LAUGHS)

And you can find a pen
that doesn't worry you.

The restaurant guy.

The more time that passes,

the less anyone would
connect me with that place.

I think it's important to
note that you did not hurt him.

But I want to.

I want to right now.

You asked me to talk to you first.

I am talking to you.

It's not really helping.

You've been holding this
in for four months, Sam.

I get why it's hard.

(INHALES SHARPLY)

(EXHALES)

(MUFFLED URINATING)

(URINATING CONTINUES)

(URINATING STOPS)

(URINATING RESUMES)

(QUIETLY): Jesus.

(BIRDS SINGING)

(DOOR OPENS)

I'm late for work.

Let's have a session after dinner.

(METALLIC CREAK)

(TRUCK ENGINE STARTS)

(TRUCK DEPARTING)

(SIGHS)

(THUDDING UPSTAIRS)

(FOOTSTEPS, FLOORBOARDS CREAKING)

(LOUDLY): Hello?

Hello?

(CHAINS JINGLING)

(LOUDLY): Can you hear me up there?

I can hear you!

Are you okay?

Can you talk?

(DOORS OPENING)

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

(SNIFFLES)

(CHAINS JINGLING)

Hello.
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