The Patient (2022) s01e06 Episode Script
Charlie
1
I'm at my wit's end, Sam.
I know, Mom.
I almost called 911 last night.
I had the phone in my hand.
I'm sorry.
Sam.
Don't give up on therapy.
Oh, God, no!
No, no.
Hi, Charlie.
You're back.
Well, it's an emergency.
I can see that.
I'm
trying to
keep it together with him.
Sound normal.
In control.
If he sees me like this
like I really
Breathe.
Again.
Oh, you're just like Beth,
with the fucking breathing.
I can't. I can't.
We should talk about Sam.
Well, he just strangled somebody
right in front of me.
I think it's worth noting
that he chose to bring you here
to work with him.
What do I know about psychopathy?
- I wasn't trained for this.
- None of us are.
Charlie, I need a plan.
I need a plan. I'm like a second-year,
just throwing shit against the wall.
You have to find a way
to come out of this alive.
As crazy as it sounds,
I think there is a conscience in there.
Somewhere.
Little, tiny conscience.
Charlie, that's possible, isn't it?
That means there's empathy
on some level.
Focus on that.
I work with people
on empathy all the time,
but I've never started at absolute zero.
- Empty.
- Yeah.
On top of that, Sam is in charge.
I don't have clinical authority.
Blah, blah, blah.
You have to help me.
If I don't figure this out,
he's going to strangle me,
and I'm going into that grave.
Or the next one.
I know it's crazy
but I was
starting to connect with him.
I thought.
I mean, love your patients, but come on.
A sociopath?
We used to discuss not getting
too stuck in categories.
Right. It's a spectrum.
Maybe I could push him one way
on the spectrum.
Or I'm deluding myself.
How was the funeral?
It was a hard day.
Grieving is difficult.
I've never been to a Jewish funeral.
A funeral's a funeral.
This one probably had
more singing than usual.
Now I'm one of those guys who
buries people in his basement.
Thanks a lot.
Your turn.
Get up.
Over there.
Don't fucking move.
Walk.
Keep this distance.
Go ahead.
Go in at a sharper angle.
Good.
Keep going.
My whole life, I have been thinking,
thinking, trying to figure myself out
so I can help other people
understand themselves
so they can have
better relationships, and now
here I am, my son is
barely speaking to me.
I might need another couple of weeks
before getting up in front
of a room full of kids again.
- Do you mind?
- Of course not.
Tell me how you're feeling right now.
Let's see.
I'm talking to my dead therapist.
So I'm disassociating.
Other than that, Beth is dead,
Ezra hates me,
and I've been kidnapped
by a serial killer, so
Why do you keep looking at that?
I'm having a fantasy
of smashing it against his head.
Why don't you do that?
Hit him with the pitcher?
'Cause I don't want to die
any sooner than I need to.
That's very pessimistic.
You have some fight in you.
You used to wrestle in high school.
Well
while you have been
relaxing, being dead,
I've been getting older and I'm
not as strong as I used to be.
I don't know why you feel so powerless.
I don't feel powerless.
I'm doing everything I can to
fight back with what I have.
Are you?
Great.
I'm out of foot cream.
And I'm running out
of my arrhythmia pills.
If this guy doesn't murder me,
I'm gonna die of a heart attack.
Or foot fungus.
Charlie, I need a plan.
I tried pulling
his life story out of him.
I tried getting him
to recontextualize everything
as protecting his mother.
I tried flat-out diverting him.
I, I
I don't know what the hell I'm doing.
You're going to have
to address the fact that his mother is,
in part, responsible for the abuse
he suffered as a child.
If I had five or six years.
You don't.
Move up.
All right.
All right.
You can sit.
I got to mix the cement.
Sam, could you sit down for a minute?
Mm-hmm.
I'd like to discuss the possibility
of you handling this differently.
I'm not sure that you should
bury the body.
What am I supposed to do?
What you usually do.
Leave it where it can be found.
That's the most thoughtful thing
for the relatives.
I've never brought anyone
back to my house before.
They could trace him.
Uh, yeah, he was in my truck.
I understand your concern about that.
It's reasonable.
We're talking about the stuff
you see on TV?
DNA and
little pieces of carpet, right?
Yeah.
Well, I'm no expert, I'll admit.
But
let's, let's think this through.
There must have been DNA
and fibers from your clothing
on the other people.
But the police never traced
any of that back to you.
Is there any reason
your DNA or fingerprints
would be in some sort of database?
You've never been arrested, have you?
No, but, like
like, uh, carpet fibers
from the carpet, they could
trace that back to this house.
Well, that's highly unlikely.
It's what, 20, 30 years old?
I don't know.
Sam you want to get better.
I can't pull this out of you.
Therapy is not an exorcism.
Mm-hmm.
You want to change.
A good next step is
to think of Elias's family.
To truly understand
what might be of service to them
emotionally as fellow human beings.
Given the givens here.
Sam
come here.
Why?
Trust me.
Take off the blindfold.
We need to see his face.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
Why did you want me to do this?
You have all your feelings, right?
He was a person
who had feelings of his own
to struggle with.
I want you to see
that he was not just some guy
who offended you.
Elias was a human being.
He had a mother and a father
who care about him just like
your mother cares about you.
And they are going to miss him.
You know people have techniques
to help them grieve.
For Jews, it's all laid out.
There's the burial,
which is why it's so important
to have a body.
And there's a special week called shiva,
where we focus just on mourning
and memory.
I always tried to get out of it
a little bit early.
My wife wouldn't let me,
and she was right.
There is a prayer
you say every night for the first year
after someone dies
and then once a year afterward forever.
It's called the kaddish.
Should I say it?
What, the kaddish?
Mm-hmm.
I
L-Let me think about that.
I think the important thing
is less the ritual
and more that you consider
Elias and his family
and what they need.
That would be something new for you.
And very, very good.
We need to develop
your skills at empathy,
which means putting yourself
in someone else's shoes.
And the truth is
most people need to work on this.
But you, in particular,
can benefit from growing in this regard.
Yeah, that sounds good.
Yeah.
I'll, uh, I'll leave the body
where it can be found.
For the family.
You're gonna have to help me
fill in that hole.
Oh, shoot.
Oh, no.
Is something going on with you?
It's been a lot, Sam.
Thank you for asking.
I really appreciate it.
Yeah.
Here we go ♪
Tears may fall ♪
But we'll hear them call ♪
And another song will rise ♪
Another song will rise ♪
Another song ♪
Will rise ♪
Not by might ♪
And not by power ♪
But by spirit alone ♪
Shall we all live in peace ♪
Not by might ♪
And not by power ♪
Shalom! ♪
I'm at my wit's end, Sam.
I know, Mom.
I almost called 911 last night.
I had the phone in my hand.
I'm sorry.
Sam.
Don't give up on therapy.
Oh, God, no!
No, no.
Hi, Charlie.
You're back.
Well, it's an emergency.
I can see that.
I'm
trying to
keep it together with him.
Sound normal.
In control.
If he sees me like this
like I really
Breathe.
Again.
Oh, you're just like Beth,
with the fucking breathing.
I can't. I can't.
We should talk about Sam.
Well, he just strangled somebody
right in front of me.
I think it's worth noting
that he chose to bring you here
to work with him.
What do I know about psychopathy?
- I wasn't trained for this.
- None of us are.
Charlie, I need a plan.
I need a plan. I'm like a second-year,
just throwing shit against the wall.
You have to find a way
to come out of this alive.
As crazy as it sounds,
I think there is a conscience in there.
Somewhere.
Little, tiny conscience.
Charlie, that's possible, isn't it?
That means there's empathy
on some level.
Focus on that.
I work with people
on empathy all the time,
but I've never started at absolute zero.
- Empty.
- Yeah.
On top of that, Sam is in charge.
I don't have clinical authority.
Blah, blah, blah.
You have to help me.
If I don't figure this out,
he's going to strangle me,
and I'm going into that grave.
Or the next one.
I know it's crazy
but I was
starting to connect with him.
I thought.
I mean, love your patients, but come on.
A sociopath?
We used to discuss not getting
too stuck in categories.
Right. It's a spectrum.
Maybe I could push him one way
on the spectrum.
Or I'm deluding myself.
How was the funeral?
It was a hard day.
Grieving is difficult.
I've never been to a Jewish funeral.
A funeral's a funeral.
This one probably had
more singing than usual.
Now I'm one of those guys who
buries people in his basement.
Thanks a lot.
Your turn.
Get up.
Over there.
Don't fucking move.
Walk.
Keep this distance.
Go ahead.
Go in at a sharper angle.
Good.
Keep going.
My whole life, I have been thinking,
thinking, trying to figure myself out
so I can help other people
understand themselves
so they can have
better relationships, and now
here I am, my son is
barely speaking to me.
I might need another couple of weeks
before getting up in front
of a room full of kids again.
- Do you mind?
- Of course not.
Tell me how you're feeling right now.
Let's see.
I'm talking to my dead therapist.
So I'm disassociating.
Other than that, Beth is dead,
Ezra hates me,
and I've been kidnapped
by a serial killer, so
Why do you keep looking at that?
I'm having a fantasy
of smashing it against his head.
Why don't you do that?
Hit him with the pitcher?
'Cause I don't want to die
any sooner than I need to.
That's very pessimistic.
You have some fight in you.
You used to wrestle in high school.
Well
while you have been
relaxing, being dead,
I've been getting older and I'm
not as strong as I used to be.
I don't know why you feel so powerless.
I don't feel powerless.
I'm doing everything I can to
fight back with what I have.
Are you?
Great.
I'm out of foot cream.
And I'm running out
of my arrhythmia pills.
If this guy doesn't murder me,
I'm gonna die of a heart attack.
Or foot fungus.
Charlie, I need a plan.
I tried pulling
his life story out of him.
I tried getting him
to recontextualize everything
as protecting his mother.
I tried flat-out diverting him.
I, I
I don't know what the hell I'm doing.
You're going to have
to address the fact that his mother is,
in part, responsible for the abuse
he suffered as a child.
If I had five or six years.
You don't.
Move up.
All right.
All right.
You can sit.
I got to mix the cement.
Sam, could you sit down for a minute?
Mm-hmm.
I'd like to discuss the possibility
of you handling this differently.
I'm not sure that you should
bury the body.
What am I supposed to do?
What you usually do.
Leave it where it can be found.
That's the most thoughtful thing
for the relatives.
I've never brought anyone
back to my house before.
They could trace him.
Uh, yeah, he was in my truck.
I understand your concern about that.
It's reasonable.
We're talking about the stuff
you see on TV?
DNA and
little pieces of carpet, right?
Yeah.
Well, I'm no expert, I'll admit.
But
let's, let's think this through.
There must have been DNA
and fibers from your clothing
on the other people.
But the police never traced
any of that back to you.
Is there any reason
your DNA or fingerprints
would be in some sort of database?
You've never been arrested, have you?
No, but, like
like, uh, carpet fibers
from the carpet, they could
trace that back to this house.
Well, that's highly unlikely.
It's what, 20, 30 years old?
I don't know.
Sam you want to get better.
I can't pull this out of you.
Therapy is not an exorcism.
Mm-hmm.
You want to change.
A good next step is
to think of Elias's family.
To truly understand
what might be of service to them
emotionally as fellow human beings.
Given the givens here.
Sam
come here.
Why?
Trust me.
Take off the blindfold.
We need to see his face.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
Why did you want me to do this?
You have all your feelings, right?
He was a person
who had feelings of his own
to struggle with.
I want you to see
that he was not just some guy
who offended you.
Elias was a human being.
He had a mother and a father
who care about him just like
your mother cares about you.
And they are going to miss him.
You know people have techniques
to help them grieve.
For Jews, it's all laid out.
There's the burial,
which is why it's so important
to have a body.
And there's a special week called shiva,
where we focus just on mourning
and memory.
I always tried to get out of it
a little bit early.
My wife wouldn't let me,
and she was right.
There is a prayer
you say every night for the first year
after someone dies
and then once a year afterward forever.
It's called the kaddish.
Should I say it?
What, the kaddish?
Mm-hmm.
I
L-Let me think about that.
I think the important thing
is less the ritual
and more that you consider
Elias and his family
and what they need.
That would be something new for you.
And very, very good.
We need to develop
your skills at empathy,
which means putting yourself
in someone else's shoes.
And the truth is
most people need to work on this.
But you, in particular,
can benefit from growing in this regard.
Yeah, that sounds good.
Yeah.
I'll, uh, I'll leave the body
where it can be found.
For the family.
You're gonna have to help me
fill in that hole.
Oh, shoot.
Oh, no.
Is something going on with you?
It's been a lot, Sam.
Thank you for asking.
I really appreciate it.
Yeah.
Here we go ♪
Tears may fall ♪
But we'll hear them call ♪
And another song will rise ♪
Another song will rise ♪
Another song ♪
Will rise ♪
Not by might ♪
And not by power ♪
But by spirit alone ♪
Shall we all live in peace ♪
Not by might ♪
And not by power ♪
Shalom! ♪