The Patient (2022): Season 1, Episode 7 - Episode #1.7 - full transcript

(men praying in Hebrew)

- (praying continues)
- (crackling)

(praying continues)

Freeze!

How are you?

Terrified.

He's out there right now,

putting Elias's body somewhere.

They find it
sometime tomorrow morning.

(camera clicking)

♪ ♪



Coroner finds the note.

And then, sometime tomorrow...

the cavalry comes.

(clamoring)

I hit him with the pitcher.

- Stab him.
- (grunts)

And the cops blow his head off
his goddamn shoulders.

Okay.

Or he's out there right now,
dumping the body,

and as he rolls it
out of the blanket,

my note comes out of his mouth.

Then...

(both grunting)

Well, if that happens,
what are you gonna do?



If he drives a knife
down my throat?

I don't know,
die as quickly as possible.

Well, I mean, your hands
aren't tied, are they?

I just shoved a note
down a poor dead kid's throat.

That was pretty good.

I'm sorry I didn't use my skills

as a mediocre
high school wrestler

to beat a crazed killer
to death.

Fuck you, Charlie. I got old.

You've mentioned
your old age and your weakness

several times already.

It's pretty relevant.

I agree.
We should talk about it.

If nothing else, it's probably

the most interesting case
you've ever had.

Uh-huh.

I'll write a book.

Sam's Treatment.

There, I have the title.

♪ ♪

Have you ever heard of Kenny Chesney?

No.

He's a country western singer.

Sam is very devoted to him.

Goes to his concerts a lot.

Has, I think,
a community of fellow fans.

Alternate social world,
real but not,

where he can be
like everyone else.

I just had this dream.

I was in a concentration camp.

Auschwitz, I think.

I walked into the barracks.

These Jews were
reciting the Kaddish.

Orthodox, with all the stuff on.

Okay.

So I'm a Jew.

I am trapped in the basement
with a killer.

A killer who wanted to recite
the fucking Kaddish himself.

I miss my wife.
Orthodox Ezra.

It's all pretty obvious.

Sometimes with an obvious dream,

the question is less
the interpretation

and more "what are you going
to do with it?"

Mm.

Are you gonna tell me
that I need to fight again?

Got the point.

No.

What, then?

The work.

The work you've always done.

Look into yourself, Alan.
Go ahead.

Don't you want to
take the veils off?

They aren't doing you
any good down here.

(sighs)

I can't.

You can.

What's the point?

Beth's dead.

Ezra is in
a fucking religious cult

and hates me.

I'll probably be dead
by tomorrow.

So, what do you want to do
with the day you have left?

You're an adult.
You make your own choices.

You're joining a cult.

Well, I don't think you have

an authentic relationship
with God.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(chains rattling)

Yitgadal...

Yitgadal v'yitkadash
sh'meih raba.

(inhales sharply)

Yitgadal v'yitkadash
sh'meih raba...

B'alma...

(vehicle approaching)

(sighs)

- (vehicle door closes)
- Yitgadal...

- (gate opens, closes)
- (exhales)

Yitgadal...

What are you doing?

I was trying to recite
the Kaddish for my wife.

I can't, I can't...
(clears throat)

I can't remember the words.

I want to talk to you.

It's been a long day and night.

I'm exhausted.

♪ ♪

(door closes)

No hunting knife
down the throat?

Not yet.

It's good to be alive.

Jealous?

Are you ready?

I'm too anxious right now.

The body, the note, waiting...

(vehicle engine starts)

(sighs)

(clamoring)

♪ ♪

Come on, you fuckers.

(sighs)

Hey.

Mr. Buchella.

Wait, I remember you.

Yeah, I'm Sam.

Right, right.

- Sam Fortner.
- Right.

Right. Right, Sam.

I-I didn't know
if you'd still be here.

Yeah, still kicking.

Hey, do you remember
when Mr. Schube was

yelling and screaming in class,

and he threw that chair,
and he almost hit Cindy Perez?

And then you came in and asked
to talk to him in the hall?

And then he came back
after you talked to him,

and he told us he was sorry?

Yeah. Yeah, I do.

He didn't come back
the next year.

Did you get him fired?

Yeah.

Yeah, I did.

Well, it was good to see you, Sam.

I've got to pick up my wife.

I don't think my life is good.

Oh?

It's like it isn't working out.

And I can't...

It just isn't working out,
and I'm-I'm not happy.

I-I don't know how to...

Did you know this would happen?

From what I was like,
when I, when I was a kid?

No.

No, not really.

I'm sorry to hear it.

I knew you were
a little different.

You'd had a hard time.

But you always hope
things turn around.

Can you be my therapist?

You're looking for
some counseling?

Uh...

(stammers) Well, I don't know. Um...

I've had some clients outside
of school over the years.

But they were always, uh,
current students.

But a former student?

Maybe.

Let me think about it, Sam.

I, uh,

I really do have to go
pick up my wife.

Here's my number,
call me in a few days.

Yeah.

Hey, Mr. Buchella.

What do you think about someone
living with their therapist?

Could that help?

That would not be a good idea.

♪ ♪

(sighs)

(takes deep breath)

(quiet chatter)

♪ ♪

(indistinct chatter)

- BETH: You guys thirsty?
- BOYS: Yes.

Hi.

♪ ♪

(clamoring)

♪ ♪

(sniffles)

(phone vibrating)

Hello?

SAM:
Hey.

Did you ever think that there
was something wrong with me?

What do you mean?

I don't know, just something...

something that seemed wrong...

...or different?

You were my husband, Sam,
and then we broke up.

I-I think there were all kinds
of things wrong with you.

Your whole life
revolves around food.

I was never positive
you loved me.

I know you loved me,
but I mean...

loved, loved.

But, overall,

I know you're a good guy.

Okay. Bye.

(call ends)

(insects trilling)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(inhales sharply)

Are you ready now?

(sighs)

♪ ♪

His damn father-in-law, Chaim.

Who sits there putting stamps

on envelopes and boxes all day,

when he's not reading
his Talmud.

Ezra has chosen
this ridiculous life.

He's left us all in the dust.

That whole family, his in-laws,

they are over at his house constantly.

Helping with the kids,
waiting on them hand and foot.

It's like they're all living
together in the shtetl.

Whenever we visited,

we were like
second-class citizens.

We were somehow
not Jewish enough.

Beth, who devoted her life
and career to Judaism...

Liberal Judaism, but still...

She was not Jewish enough.

And we smiled,
and smiled and smiled.

When she got sick,

he still couldn't get
past himself.

Always had to have
the last word.

She was lying there, in bed...

...in so much pain,
spit coming out of her mouth.

She wants to go out
on her terms,

with her family around her.

We got the pills.

It's all ready.

And you know what the fucker,

the little fucker said to me?

"It's illegal."

Not just that it's against God,
but it's illegal.

Like we're criminals.

A-And he will have
no part of it.

Judgmental.

(sighs)

That day, the last day,

she's lying there, he gives
his holier-than-thou speech,

and he walks out of the house.

And I go after him,
mostly just to talk to him.

Trying to get him
to come back inside.

"Don't-don't do anything that
you are going to regret doing

for the rest of your life."

And I get back this torrent.

I never understood him.

I was never there for him.

I mistreated him
ever since he became Orthodox.

I-I said the wrong thing
to the rabbi

at his son's bris.

I-I didn't give
a big enough donation

to his fucking yeshiva
in Israel.

I once said

that his wife made
the best kosher steak

that I had ever had.

How about that?
I complimented his wife.

I get that he was hurting.

His whole life was
a rebellion against his mother.

I support rebellions, obviously.
I get it.

And his mother...

there was a lot
to rebel against.

A lot of individuating to do.

(sighs) But at a certain point,

you have to come back around.

You have to grow up.

Well, it sounds as if

with all the emotion and pain
swirling around Beth's death,

Ezra hit a bad spot.

You did, too.

But we know these things pass.

It didn't pass.

That day, Beth wanted to die
with her family around her,

and he had to throw
this tantrum.

He was struggling to process
the pain of his mother's death.

Okay. But he's always been
like that.

He digs in,
and he can't see any other way

but the way he sees things.

No wonder he became Orthodox.

I've been reaching out,
over and over.

Nothing.

I know grief can do this, but...

(vehicle approaching)

(door opens, closes)

(sliding door opens)

I'm gonna print that prayer
you can't remember.

From the Internet.

I really appreciate that.

And I want you to know
that is empathy in action.

That is it.

You put yourself in my shoes,

you saw what I needed,
and you did it for me.

Yeah. I just...

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

I don't feel good.

(scoffs)

(sniffles)

(sighs)

What kind of printer is it?

Uh, Hewlett-Packard.

Sam, it's been a difficult day.
Exhausting, probably.

But I want to talk to you
about what's going to happen

when they find Elias's body.

I'm sure it will be on the news,
and you'll see it.

And you're going to have
a lot of complicated feelings.

I don't want to tell you
what those feelings will be.

You'll have to tell me that.

But I just want you
to be prepared

to have a mix of feelings

that I will help you
work through.

(sighs)

It won't be on the news,
Dr. Strauss.

I didn't do
what you told me to do.

I was on the way to do it.

I had a good spot picked out,
where they'd find him.

But I was almost there,

and this truck pulls up
next to me at a stoplight.

And I can see the driver
just looking down

into the bed of my pickup,
where, you know,

the-the body was wrapped up.

And I just...

And I just thought,

if this is on the news tomorrow,

and that driver remembers
seeing something,

remembers my pickup...

So I-I didn't do it.

I-I know it wasn't empathetic.

(printer rattling)

What did you do with him?

I put it somewhere.

No one will find it.

(sniffs)

How do you pronounce it?
Kaddish?

- Kaddish.
- Kaddish.

Can I hear you say it?

It's private.

(door closes)

(chains rattling)

Yitgadal v'yitkadash sh'mei raba

b'alma di-v'ra chirutei,

v'yamlich malchutei

b'chayeichon uvyomeichon

uvchayei d'chol beit yisrael,

ba'agala uvizman kariv,

v'im'ru: Amen.

Y'hei sh'mei raba m'varach
I'alam ul'almei almaya.

Yitbarach v'yishtabach,

v'yitpa'ar v'yitromam
v'yitnaseh,

v'yithadar v'yit'aleh

v'yit'halal sh'mei
d'kud'sha, b'rich hu...

...I'eila min-kol-birchata
v'shirata,

tushb'chata v'nechemata

da'amiran b'alma,
v'im'ru: Amen.

Y'hei shlama raba min-sh'maya

v'chayim aleinu
v'al-kol-yisrael,

v'im'ru: Amen.

Oseh shalom bimromav,

hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu

v'al kol-yisrael,

v'imru: Amen.

♪ ♪