The Patient Ending Explained: HULU’s “The Patient” has ended the term of its 10 Episodes with the last Episode releasing with a runtime of 46 minutes. The show did not end in whatever way we had expected instead it ended with an enigmatic ending which is sort of expected from a psychological thriller. If you’re also confused about what happened toward the end of the series, you’re at the right place. Let’s get to it.
Just a quick recap, Dr. Alan Strauss is a renowned therapist who gets kidnapped by one of his patients Sam who lies about things in his previous visits and reveals after he’s kidnapped Dr. Strauss that he’s a serial killer and wants to stop. Up until the last episode, we see Alan trying to come up with something to escape while sharpening his foot cream on the side of his bed.
During that time up until the last Episode, Sam who is trying to resist kills again but in the last Episode, he goes to kill his father who he believes is the reason for his violent behavior and if he kills him, then it’ll put a stop to his violent urges once and for all, after seeing a video of Edmund Kemper, the serial killer.
In the last Episode, after Sam goes to kill his father but stops strangling him and comes back home to tell Alan that, Alan states that this is a major breakthrough and Sam is getting better. Sam, on the other hand, doesn’t feel much difference but after Alan is hopeful that Sam’s making good progress, he believes that.
Alan then proceeds to tell him that its time he went home but when Alan refuses that idea Alan makes it very clear that he will not be treated like a pet and is stopping the treatment and the only solution for Sam to get better is to physically restraint himself from the people meaning he needs to turn himself in which doesn’t sit well with Sam and he rejects that idea.
The next day when Candace, Sam’s mother brings Alan breakfast he tells her that she might not have beaten Sam like his father but she also didn’t try to stop his father or take any measures to stop that. Hearing this, Candace starts to cry and after he passes tissues to her, he grabs her and puts the sharpened foot cream on her neck calling Sam downstairs.
Threatening to kill Candace, Alan asks Sam to call 911 and turn himself in but Sam doesn’t do so by telling him that Alan is not the type of person who can kill, and in response to that, he pushes the sharpened foot cream inside Candace’s neck making her bleed and the next scene we see is Alan with his full family looking happy but this is all just a dream when we see Sam strangling Alan and ultimately killing him.
So, for people who were wishing that Alan might just live or escape to go back to his family and reconnect with his son Ezra, this doesn’t happen. But he does leave a letter to his children which Sam finds and delivers to Alan’s house where Shoshana, Alan’s daughter finds it. Alan leaves a heartfelt letter to Ezra and Shoshana apologizing for the mistakes he did and not accepting Ezra for the choices he made.
In the end, Sam chains himself to the bed as he did to Alan and accepts that his only salvation could be his physically restraining himself. After chaining himself, he gives the key to his mother.