01x04 - Company

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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01x04 - Company

Post by bunniefuu »

♪ ♪

(PANTING)

(SIGHS) Oh, dear Lord.

(GASPS)

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

(GRUNTING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(HEAVY BREATHING CONTINUES)

Is this how therapy works?

(LAUGHS)

I don't know, Sam.

(GROANS)

Did you like being married?

SAM: Yeah, I did.

What were the good parts?

When she went with me twice

to Kenny Chesney concerts.

How was that?

That's not a question
that you ever need to ask,

ever, because they are always awesome.

And she liked it, too?

I wouldn't say she was a full
member of No Shoes Nation.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

So, I told you I was a transport
supervisor in a warehouse,


but really I'm a restaurant inspector

with the Department of Public Health.

I figured if I told you the truth,

you'd write it down in your notes
and the police would find it.

ALAN: What's No Shoes Nation?

That's, uh, Kenny Chesney's
community of fans.

I've been to, uh, concerts,

and that's, that's not even a lot.

My friend Shane, he's gone to .

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

ALAN: You said it's a community.

SAM: Yeah, and a lifestyle.

It's peaceful.

Everybody's happy.

The central idea of No Shoes Nation...

...is love.

♪ ♪

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR CLOSES)

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

You said to tell you
before I did it again.

I went there last night.
I w... I was gonna...

I've never stopped myself in
the middle before once I start.

I don't bring people back here,

but you said to talk to you
first, and so I...

stopped myself and I brought him
here, and I'm talking to you.

But it is... it is so strong.

Let's sit.

So, I'm about a half a second
away from going in there

and taking that sh*t-f*ck assh*le
off the face of the earth.

(GROANS)

(SIGHS)

You and I talked about
protecting your mother

in moments like this.
Do you think that...?

That didn't work. I told you
my father f*cked me up.

- Okay, okay.
- You need to fix me, or I'm gonna...

Okay, we're going to try
something else, then.

Let's distract you from the feelings
that you're having right now.

- I can't.
- I think maybe you can.

We have to give you
some physical distance.

I want you to go to work.

Just have a regular workday.
Think about it.

You don't want to call in sick
on a day when someone has gone missing.

That could look suspicious.

Just go in, do everything normally,

and we'll see how you feel
at the end of the day.

They like me in there.
I don't want them to see me like this.

I understand, but you have
a bigger problem right now.

Just try to go to work.

Time and even small daily experiences

can alter people's states.

I can't just go to work.

You can! Y-You can.

If you're too anxious, call home

and have your mother put me
on the line for a phone session.

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR SLAMS)

(GLASS DOOR OPENS)

(GATE OPENS, CLOSES)

(QUIETLY): f*ck.

(SIGHS)

(ENGINE STARTS)

- (SIGHS)
- ELIAS (MUFFLED): Please...

Please let me go.

Please.

I haven't done anything. Where am I?

What the f*ck is going on here?

(WHISPERING): I barely know anything.

- I'm chained to this...
- Can you talk louder?

ALAN: I can't, there's someone upstairs.

- Oh, my God.
- I've been here for days.

- This f*cking lunatic...
- (DOOR OPENS)

(SHUSHES) Be quiet for a minute.

I think he feels terrible, Doctor.

He really wanted to do what you said.

I... I think you should tell me more

about what happened to him,
about his father.

I can tell you all about it,
but I don't think

it's going to give you the answer
to why he does what he does.

He was always...

just Sam.

- Hey.
- Hey, Sam.

- Hey.
- No doughnuts?

Oh, sh*t. It's my week?

Mr. Efficient forgot something?

We won't tell anyone.

ELIAS: Are you still out there?

- I'm here.
- Who was that?

Was that his mother?

Do you... Do you know these people?

I'm his therapist.

The guy who has us down here...

That was his mother, yes.

ELIAS: Who is this guy? (GROANS)

I think I may be able to
stop him from k*lling us.

I'm working on it.

It's not easy.

I don't understand.

He's not going to k*ll you, right?

If-if-if you're his therapist.

Well, he doesn't seem to fully respect

the patient-doctor relationship.

KYLE: So, Richie and Ellen, I
need you to get there at : .

They made a big fuss last year
and had trouble getting started on time.

If Gertrude's is back this year,

I would recommend
their breakfast burrito.

I wish someone wrote a letter
like that about me.

- (SCATTERED LAUGHTER)
- What?

The letter that
Gertrude's wrote about you.

How do you know about that?

MAN: Kyle reads it to
us every time we f*ck up.

JEANETTE: Right? Let's hear it.

- Come on.
- Come on, let's hear it.

All right.

"Dear Mr. Donohue,

"I am writing to commend your employee

"Sam Fortner for his outstanding work

"helping expedite the approvals
of Gertrude's Burrito Hut

to participate in
this year's Sip and Savor."

ELIAS: Hello out there?

I'm here.

(CRYING): I'm scared.

I know. Me, too.

My parents... If I don't come back...

if I just disappear...

(SIGHS) My poor parents.

I can't see.

My face is covered, and I-I can't move

a f*cking inch.

(QUIETLY): Oh, God.

- That sounds horrible.
- Are you blindfolded?

No.

You can walk around out there?

I'm chained to the floor,
but I can move around a little bit, yes.

- What's it like?
- Uh...

There's a big sliding glass door.

A yard.

No other houses around.

Are your hands cuffed?

No.

God, he really trusts you.

Can't you knock him out or something?

I'm not young, and this guy...

I-I can't just knock him out, no.

I'm sure the police are out
looking for me.

And now with you missing...

My-my parents, they're,
they're calling the police,

that's definite.

My kids, well, my daughter at least,

would have figured out
that I was missing

within a day or two.

(ELIAS GRUNTS)

ELIAS: How many kids have you got?

One daughter, one son.

Shoshana and Ezra.

- Interesting names.
- Jewish.

My wife's a cantor... was.

We have five grandchildren.

What's a cantor?

They sing the prayers at a synagogue.

She d*ed, Beth,

a few months ago, cancer.

ELIAS: My mom had cancer.

That's why I came back home.

Hmm.

My son... he wasn't so dutiful.

It was complicated
between he and his mother.

They were so enmeshed when he was a kid,

and then he became Orthodox.

Like an extreme Jew, very religious.

- I don't believe in God.
- Yeah.

- Well, at the moment...
- (DOOR OPENS)

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

CANDACE: He wants to talk to you.

- (PHONE BEEPS)
- SAM: Hello?

- AUTOMATED VOICE: Please charge phone.
- CANDACE: Sorry.

The battery's low.
I forgot to put it on the charger.

- ALAN: Okay, what's...?
- SAM: I can't do this. I tried.

- I-I think if you just...
- I'm coming back.

- I have to do it now.
- Slow down, slow down.

I think that you have some choices
that you're not seeing right now.

Yeah, I've told you
that you have choices.

Mom, I don't have a choice.
Why don't you understand?


I understand. I'm not saying it's easy.

- I'm saying that it's possible.
- AUTOMATED VOICE: Please charge phone.

Tell me what you have been doing
at work today.

SAM: I just finished a staff meeting.

I'm supposed to be filing
my assignments.


But I'm just sitting here,
staring at the f*cking paperwork,


'cause every time I look at
Kyle, it gets worse and worse.


That's your supervisor?

He's the, he's the one who
sent me back to that restaurant.


AUTOMATED VOICE: Please charge phone.

It is not surprising
that this is difficult.

Everything you're experiencing
makes sense.

This is exactly the point
that I want you to try

to push through, and I know

- that it may not seem this way.
- (PHONE BEEPS)

- But you are doing very, very well.
- Please charge phone.

Just the fact that you are
staring at that paperwork

is progress, even if it is painful.

Listen to the doctor.

Can you try to meet this challenge,

- as difficult as it is?
- SAM: I don't know.

I want you to stay at work
until the end of the day.

- AUTOMATED VOICE: Please charge phone.
- Okay?

- SAM: I'll try.
- Good.

And then, after work,

can you go to one of your concerts?

Uh, the No Shoes Nation concert?

You go to them, right?

He's in f*cking California right now.

I'm not going to California.

I have tickets for Chicago
and Kansas City.


- (PHONE BEEPS)
- I got to go. Ha, ha.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Please charge phone.

(GRUNTS, SIGHS)

(DOOR CLOSES)

ELIAS: What was that?

What happened?
I-I couldn't really hear it.

He was calling me from work.

Is he going to k*ll me?

(VOICE BREAKING): It
sounded like he's going to k*ll me.

(SIGHS) Okay.

Will you give my-my family a message,

if it happens?

Uh, yes. Yes, of course.

They're at Taverna Petraki.

That's the, uh, the place
with the pastitsio

- and the udon noodles.
- (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

Yeah, that's one of
my dishes I came up with

after I got back from Asia.

- You came up with that?
- (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

I was working with all
these different ingredients

while I was traveling.

I just kind of put some of it
together when I... got back.

I was working in the restaurant
late one night.

And my mom, she was... at home,

so f*cking sick.

And I was like,

what can I make her to get her to smile?

- (SIGHS)
- So, okay...

Mom and Dad...

um...

I love you.

I-Is that okay?

(SOBBING SOFTLY)

(VOICE BREAKING): I think...

I think that's the main point.

(ELIAS EXHALES)

(OVERLAPPING CHATTER)

You know what? You know what?

- (LAUGHS)
- See, your story never gets old.

- It never gets old.
- (OVERLAPPING CHATTER CONTINUES)

Okay, here we go.

Thank you, Grandma.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome. Let me take this.

- Thank you, Grandma.
- Thank you.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER)

♪ ♪

ELIAS: Hey, is that him?

Is he coming back?

Keep quiet.

Okay. Okay.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

♪ ♪

(KEYS JINGLING)

(UNLOCKS DOOR)

(WHITE NOISE PLAYING)

(LOCK CLICKS)

(TAKES DEEP BREATH)

Nothing's working.

I'm not so sure about that.

After all, you haven't done
anything yet.

Let's keep trying.

You're just gonna tell me
to go into work every day?

It's a dumb idea.
All I did was think about it

all day long, which I knew would happen.

You controlled yourself all day.

'Cause I didn't want anyone to see.

This is uncharted territory
for both of us.

That means we are going to have to...

- It's time.
- Wait, wait. Sit down.

This is a good time to keep talking,
when things are so raw.

Did he see you when you took him?

- I know I didn't see you.
- No.

Maybe on some level
that was intentional.

You gave yourself the option
to let him go

- as we work through this.
- This...

This one deserves it.

You have resisted this impulse with him

for a long time.

Months, four months. That's incredible.

That shows a real capacity
to control yourself.

When I was smoking, even going a week...

That's... that's a terrible analogy.

I can't. I'm just... I'm gonna...
I have to do it now.

Stop, stop. Stop.

Go see your ex-wife.

Does she live around here?

Go see her right now.

That sounds strange,

but it might give you
the emotional shock

that moves you into a different space.

I-I don't understand.

You had a genuinely
emotional relationship

with her, yes?

Seeing her might shift you
out of your current state.

And anything that you can do
to put this off

gets you further away
from your impulse to do it.

You brought me here
because I am an expert,

and I can help you.

Trust me.

♪ ♪

(DOOR CLOSES)

(URINATING)

(URINATING STOPS)

(TOILET FLUSHES)

Could you turn off
the noise machine, please?

♪ ♪

(GLASS DOOR OPENS)

(GATE OPENS, CLOSES)

(TRUCK DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

(ENGINE STARTS)

(SIGHS)

(TRUCK DEPARTS)

ELIAS: Is he gone?

- Yes.
- (WHIMPERS)

ELIAS: I'm not doing so good here.

(EXHALES)

- (GROANS)
- I know.

(STRAINING): I'm... I'm
really not doing so good.

(GROANING)

(SOBBING)

ALAN: ♪ Almost heaven ♪

♪ West Virginia ♪

♪ Blue Ridge Mountains ♪

♪ Shenandoah River ♪

♪ Life is old there ♪

- (ELIAS WHIMPERING)
- ♪ Older than the trees ♪

♪ Younger than the mountains,
growing like a breeze ♪


- ♪ Country roads, take me home ♪♪
- ELIAS: ♪ Take me home ♪

BOTH: ♪ To the place ♪

♪ I belong ♪

♪ West Virginia ♪

♪ Mountain mama ♪

♪ Take me home ♪

♪ Country roads ♪

♪ Take me home ♪

♪ Country roads ♪

My name is Elias.

Elias Petraki.

I'm Alan.

Strauss.
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