The Patient (2022): Season 1, Episode 5 - Pastitsio - full transcript

♪ Get along on down the road ♪

♪ We've got
a long, long way to go ♪

♪ Scared to live,
scared to die ♪

♪ We ain't perfect but we try ♪

♪ Get along while we can ♪

♪ Always give love
the upper hand ♪

♪ Paint a wall, learn to dance ♪

♪ Call your mom,
can't we all get along? ♪

My God.

Sam.

This is a surprise.



Yeah.
I guess I should've called.

Are you okay?

Yeah. I j... I...

I'm in therapy,

and my therapist said
that I should...

come and talk to you.

You're in therapy?

Mm-hmm.

H-How's Hara doing?

She just turned 12 last month.

Mm.

Her reading's getting better.

It turns out she's pretty fast.

She likes running races
against the boys.



Have you heard
of panta bhat and fuchka?

No.

That's what she eats.

Her favorites.

I'm surprised
you haven't heard of those,

with all the...

places you eat.

Did you tell her about us?

That's against the rules.

You don't tell them
about divorce or anything...

upsetting in your family.

Mm. Right.

I actually have
another one now, too.

Muntaha.

Wow.

Do you want to see a picture?

Sure.

Wow.

She's cute.

Yeah, and she also likes
panta bhat and fuchka.

Alan, can you
come closer to the door?

I'm here.

Listen.

Your hands are free, right?

Yeah.

And you said you have...

like, meetings with him.

Appointments?

- Sessions.
- Sessions.

Do you think you could have one
with him here now?

We... actually do.

We do have them here.

Great.

That's weird. Right?

Yeah, it's weird.

I don't really have a choice.

We're both prob-probably going
to be dead soon.

I say we go down swinging.

Next time you have
one of your sessions,

I want you to convince him
to bring me in.

Make up some...
good therapy reason.

And once I'm there,

you jump him.

And I'll, like...

throw my body on him, too.

Did you see Kenny last summer?

Mm-hmm. Twice.

Raleigh and Chicago.

Chicago was...

What did your therapist
want you to talk to me about?

I don't know. He just said
I should come talk to you.

So...

You never picked up
your La-Z-Boy.

Do you still want it?

Okay.

- All right?
- Mm-hmm.

All right.

Okay, just try and get it in.

All right, go. One, two, three.

- That's...
- No? Okay.

- No.
- All right.

Okay.

Go.

Thanks.

Elias?

Yeah.

You gave me a message
for your family.

But you may be the one
who gets out of here. So...

I'd like to give you a message
for mine, too.

Okay.

Okay.

Tell my daughter, Shoshana,
that I love her.

And that I treasured
our life together.

And that...

I want her to find a way
to move on.

Ezra, my son...

Tell him I loved him very much

and that his mother
loved him, too.

Even when it was difficult
between them.

And that I'm...

sorry that there was so much...

conflict in the family
when she was dying

and that I...

That's a lot to remember.

Um, just...

Just tell them
what you can remember.

Can you k...

keep talking?

Please?

When Ezra went to college...

...he fell in with one of
those rabbis with the black hats

and...

suddenly he's an Orthodox Jew.

No parties.

Doesn't turn the lights on
or off during the Sabbath.

Beth, my wife...

...this all...

just drove her crazy.

Everybody following
their own paths

wasn't exactly her cup of tea.

I did my best
to help her with it, but...

...Ezra did not make it easy.

His family could not
even come over to our house

without bringing their own food.

You know about kosher food?

It's regular food
with a thousand rules.

This one birthday party

for Ezra's son...

she wanted to bring some...

He's back.

I got my chair back.

So you saw her?

Yeah.

What did you talk about?

She's got these kids...

...who we adopted in Bangladesh.

We adopted 'em from this...

organization.

I mean,
we-we adopted one of 'em.

She just got another one.

And...

she loves them a lot.

How did it feel seeing her?

Yeah.

I liked it.

Mm.

But I don't think
it accomplished

what you were hoping.

Like, diverting me.

These kids of Mary's
and yours...

...when they grow up,

I bet you want them
to be responsible

for the things they do in life.

It has to be hard in Bangladesh.

You want them to overcome, not...

blame everything
on their circumstances

or the people who hurt them.

That's part of what
we're talking about here, Sam...

Can you imagine me beating
the shit out of those kids?

Like...

punching 'em, hitting 'em

like they're
worthless pieces of shit?

How can anybody...

Yeah, I'm gonna do this now.

Wait. Wait. Wait! Sam!

- No. Listen to me!
- This guy's gonna get it.

- He's gonna get it right now.
- Candace! Get down here!

Get down here! Right now!

- We have a problem down here!
- No! No!

- Sam?
- No! No, no, no...

No, please.
Please.

- Oh, Sam, stop!
- Wait, please, please.

- Wait, wait.
- Mom, go back upstairs.

No. You listen to me.

Stop right now.

You are supposed
to be protecting me

by not doing this.

Get back here!

What?

Go to your room.

Right now.

- I don't want to.
- Sam.

You need
your good night's sleep.

You know, sometimes
you feel better after that.

Fuck!

I'm okay.

♪ "Jack and Diane"
painted a picture of my life ♪

♪ And my dreams ♪

♪ Suddenly this crazy world ♪

♪ Made more sense to me ♪

♪ Well, I heard it today
and I couldn't help ♪

♪ But sing along ♪

♪ 'Cause every time
I hear that song ♪

♪ And I go back to a two-toned
short-bed Chevy ♪

♪ Driving my first love
out to the levee ♪

♪ Living life
with no sense of time ♪

♪ And I go back to the feel of a 50-yard line ♪
Alan?

♪ A blanket, a girl,
some raspberry wine ♪ - Yeah.

♪ Wishing time would stop
right in its tracks ♪

They gone?

- ♪ Every time I hear that song ♪
- Yes.

♪ I go back... ♪

- ♪ I go back ♪
- His mother.

His mother... sh-she seems okay.

♪ I used to rock
all night long ♪

♪ To "Keep On Rockin' Me,
Baby" ♪

♪ Frat parties, college bars ♪

♪ Just trying
to impress the ladies ♪

♪ Well, I heard it today and I
couldn't help but sing along ♪

♪ 'Cause every time
I hear that song ♪

♪ And I go back to the smell
of an old gym floor ♪

♪ The taste of salt
on a Carolina shore ♪

♪ After graduation and drinking
goodbye to friends ♪

♪ Every time ♪

♪ I hear that song ♪

♪ I go back... ♪

♪ I go back. ♪

♪ I got a feeling ♪

♪ Are you feeling it, too? ♪

♪ I guess
I've all but said it now ♪

♪ So much for hoping
you'd go first ♪

♪ Say you couldn't
sleep last night ♪

♪ Swore that
you could feel me breathe ♪

♪ Had you wanting me there
by your side ♪

♪ Yeah, baby,
I know what you mean ♪

♪ I got a feeling ♪

♪ My head's reeling ♪

♪ My heart is screaming ♪

♪ I'm about to bust loose ♪

♪ Bottled-up emotion ♪

♪ It's more than a notion ♪

♪ It starts with an I
and ends with a you ♪

♪ I got a feeling ♪

♪ You're feeling it, too. ♪

♪ Ma yafeh hayom ♪

♪ Shabbat shalom ♪

- ♪ Shabbat ♪
- Mommy! Mommy!

- ♪ Shabbat shalom ♪
- Mommy! That's my mommy!

- Shh.
- Mommy!

♪ Shabbat ♪

- ♪ Shabbat shalom ♪
- Mommy! Mommy!

- Mommy.
- ♪ Shabbat ♪

♪ Shalom. ♪

- I'm a cantor, but I'm also a mommy. This is my son Ezra.
- Mommy.

Here, come sit with me
over here.

Why don't we play one
of your favorite songs, then?

What song should we play?

- What's your favorite song?
- "Got That Shabbat."

"I Got That Shabbat Feeling"?

Okay. Here we go.

♪ I got that Shabbat feeling ♪

♪ Up in my head ♪

Head.

♪ Up in my head ♪

♪ Up in
my head ♪

♪ I got that Shabbat feeling ♪

♪ Up in my head ♪

♪ Up in my head today. ♪

Come, sit down.

You told me
that you get very angry

with people
who treat you rudely.

That everyone you hurt

somehow deserves
what happens to them.

And...

I'm starting to think that

that's not actually
what's going on, Sam.

What do you mean?

What I mean is, after everything
you went through as a child,

you are angry,

as anyone would be
who experienced that.

And that anger
has made you violent.

Which is also very human. So...

really, Sam,

you are just looking for people

who will serve as an excuse

for you to act out
those feelings.

And the people that you choose...

I-I think it's almost random.

If you run into someone when
you are in that state of mind,

I think you will find a way

- to be offended by them.
- No, you're wrong.

Those people, each and every
one of those people

is a fucking asshole.
You weren't there.

You were never there.
That piece of shit,

he acts however he wants.

He treats people like shit.

I understand why
you feel that way.

I know

that is what
you are experiencing.

But part of therapy

is finding a way to look beyond

what you are experiencing
in the moment

and to search more deeply.

Sam, I think this
is a great opportunity

for you to search more deeply.

I know it's what you want.

I know it's why we are
both here right now.

I want you to consider
what I just told you.

May I tell you something more?

I don't know.

I think you are angry

because of what your father did,
like you always said.

But I think it connects
with your father

on deeper levels as well.

You said that he would beat you

if you didn't do

exactly what he said instantly.

If you even took a moment
to think about it.

Isn't that what you said?

Mm-hmm.

So that was, like, his reason

to hurt you, in his mind.

But then that
got into your mind.

So you-you think
that there is a reason

that all of these people are
behaving this way towards you,

when in reality,

they're just
going about their business.

They didn't do anything
to provoke your attacks

any more than you did
to provoke your father.

He was just a violent,
out of control abuser.

You weren't responsible.

You were just a little boy.

Elias Petraki in there...

...he didn't do anything
to deserve this either.

He's just a guy who cooks,
manages a Greek restaurant,

makes food that you like.

He got into a little tangle
with you

over an inspection,

and he might have
looked at you funny

or been obnoxious
or disrespectful.

He looked at me...

He looked at me like I was...

I was... a son of a bitch.

You know,
it doesn't-it doesn't...

- it doesn't-it doesn't matter.
- Sam.

- He's-he's... he's...
- Sam.

I want you
to bring Elias out here

so the three of us can talk.

What would the point of that be?

You seem to think that
he is such a horrible person

that he doesn't deserve to live.

Let's see

- if there's more to him.
- I don't want to.

- I want him dead.
- I know you do,

but I think

the three of us talking
could be an important

- part of our work.
- These aren't his therapy sessions. These are

- my therapy sessions.
- I'm not suggesting that

we do this for him.

This is your therapy.

I've gotten to know Elias some,

and I think he's
a good young man.

And I think
if you get to know him,

you will feel differently
about him.

Elias,

we want you to show
your full self here

so he can see you
as something more

than he does right now.

Do you think that
you could tell him

a little bit about yourself?

I know how hard this is,
given the circumstances,

but... do your best.

Okay. Um...

Why don't you tell him
about the pastitsio,

and how you
came up with that idea.

O... Okay.

Um...

It's okay.
I know this is hard.

Tell him about it.

How you were in Asia.

Okay.
Yeah, I...

Okay.

I work in a restaurant

with... with my parents.

They-they came from Greece.

All that way. They...

they had a-a dream to...

What? What? Wh...

Should I, uh...

I-I... Okay.

So, I-I had this idea

- to com-to combine udon noodles...
- I...

No, no. No, no, no!

- Alan!
- No, no, no! No.

No! Candace!

No! Don't...

No, God. Candace!

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Oh, God, no!

No. Oh!

No!

No! No, God!

No, no, no, no!

No!

No.

Captioned by
Media Access Group at WGBH