Therapist Alan Strauss is held prisoner by a patient, Sam Fortner, who reveals himself to be a serial killer. Sam has an unusual therapeutic demand for Alan: curb his homicidal urges. In order to survive, Alan must unwind Sam's disturbed mind and stop him from killing again.
Unmarked spoilers ahead.
Tropes present in this series
- Abusive Parents: Sam's father was extremely violent to both Sam and his mother.
- Accomplice by Inaction: While horrified by her son’s actions, Sam's mother does nothing to stop his murders, nor does she free Alan from his prison. Alan similarly calls her out for not doing anything to stop Sam’s father for abusing him as a child.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Sam confronts his father towards the end of the series who barely remembers the abuse he put Sam through and apologizes but treats it as not being a huge deal, not understanding the devastating effect it had on Sam.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Sam has been fantasizing about killing Elias for months, but has consistently resisted the urge. He even manages to kidnap Elias, but not kill him, and Alan tries to work with Sam to get him to spare Elias. In an overlap with Take a Moment to Catch Your Death, Alan persuades Sam not to kill Elias several times before convincing Sam to bring Elias out, so they can all talk, in the hope that humanizing Elias will convince Sam to release him. Instead, Sam soon flies into a rage and kills him.
- Chronic Villainy: Sam tries very hard to resist his impulses but regularly fails, to the point that Alan says the only way he will stop is if he is incarcerated. Sam eventually agrees, imprisoning himself in the final episode.
- Dead Person Conversation: Alan has conversations with his former psychiatrist as a way to work through his current predicament.
- Distressed Dude: Alan and, to a greater extent, Elias, who are both held captive by Sam.
- Dying Dream: Alan imagines being reunited with his family as he’s being strangled to death.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Sam refuses to accept any insults against his mother. He even reluctantly kills Alan when Alan threatens his mother.
- Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: Sam is a huge fan of Kenny Chesney.
- Freudian Excuse: Sam grew up violently abused by his father who would viciously beat him at the slightest provocation, leaving Sam seriously traumatized, in desperate need of a father figure to provide guidance and lashing out violently at any authority figure he perceives to be mistreating him.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: A downplayed and fairly realistic version. Part of Alan's therapy is encouraging a version of this mindset in Sam, allowing him to make a conscious effort not to take out his violent impulses on strangers or people who unknowingly get on his bad side the same way his own father did with Sam. Alan wants Sam to see his victims as people like himself, who don't deserve to be treated the way his father treated Sam and show the restraint and compassion he was denied. Alan is far kinder and more empathic and encouraging than most versions of this trope. He understands that Sam is a seriously troubled person and is perfectly justified in being angry at how he was treated and that making the transition to this way of thinking is a long and difficult process for anyone, especially abuse survivors and people with violent tendencies. He commends Sam for any progress and even just wanting to get better in the first place.
- How We Got Here: The first episode opens with Alan being imprisoned in the basement, and then flashes back to show the events leading up to it.
- Karma Houdini: Neither Sam nor his mother face any repercussions for their actions; Sam imprisons himself, but it’s by his own choice.
- The Mourning After: Alan is still not recovered from the death of his wife.
- No Social Skills: Sam has a very noticeable case of this, coming across as sullen, awkward, confrontational and often just plain off-putting in his daily life and struggling to even tell a simple joke when meeting his ex-wife. According to his father, he was much the same as a kid and it was a part of why he treated him so poorly.
- Parental Substitute: Sam eventually sees Alan as being a surrogate father.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Sam's terrible childhood has left him emotionally stunted and extremely awkward, struggling to form relationships and having a childlike mentality, often needing to be guided through basic empathy as though he were a kid learning something for the first time.
- Self-Restraint: Sam ends up imprisoning himself in Alan’s place, giving his mother the key, to prevent himself from murdering anyone else.
- Serial Killer: Sam is one, having killed at least a few people before he started therapy and murdering two more while he has Alan imprisoned.
- Sinister Shades: Sam wears sunglasses during his initial therapy sessions with Alan.
- Tragic Villain: Sam really doesn't want to kill people and hates himself for his impulses, even coming close to killing himself over them, and he honestly tries to get better but is unable to resist.
