Patience Season 1 Episode 1 Review: Paper Mountain Girl, Part 1

On Patience Season 1 Episode 1, “Paper Mountain Girl, Part 1,” we meet our title character, an autistic young woman who reluctantly inserts herself into Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf’s latest case.

Adapted from the French series Astrid, we open on a man calmly taking out a large sum of money from a bank and then setting himself on fire on top of a parking garage—at which point he becomes considerably less calm.

It seems a straightforward if horrific self-destruction until Metcalf notices similarities to another apparent suicide. Both men were psychiatrists exhibiting similar behaviors. She asks for the man’s file but is greeted by a young woman who drops off two boxes.

Patience Evans is autistic, avoiding most people except during support meetings and living with her lizard and cat. She’s also found yet another very similar case. Bea is intrigued, but has trouble convincing her colleagues, including DA Jake Hunter.

She eventually follows Patience to one of her meetings, where she begins to see similarities between the other autistic adults and her own young son. More determined than ever to try and work with Patience, she’s stunned when she’s brought in for questioning.

We learn the second victim is Patience’s own childhood psychiatrist, who incorrectly diagnosed her with schizophrenia and tried to have her institutionalized. When it turns out all three “suicides” happened under the influence of a suggestive drug, she becomes the prime suspect.

Any series focusing on a neuroatypical character of courses hinges on the ability to portray that character’s condition well on screen. Thus far, Patience feels like an accurate and respectful reflection of a young woman with autism.

It helps that actress Ella Maisey Purvis is on the spectrum herself. Though her, we see a character who portrays the more socially uncomfortable elements of the condition without ever making it something to be stereotyped or mocked.

While this isn’t truly an ensemble piece,  it’s worth noting that we see just as much if not more of Bea than we do of Patience. She treads a middle ground between those who have neurological conditions and the “regular” people who always seem to ostracize them.

I’m curious to see where the plot with her son will go. Even shows that treat austisitic adults with respect often portray the conditional as debilitating for children and especially their parents. I hope that’s a pitfall we manage to avoid.

The series also works well as a general crime drama, allowing the case at hand to shine just as much as the main character’s backstory. Forced suicide by drug is just intriguing and horrifying enough to bring us back for the second half of the pilot in earnest.

The one thing I’m not entirely sold on yet is the twist of Patience’s personal connection to the case. I don’t think anybody thinks this could be a show along the lines of Dexter or Breaking Bad. Our lead is no serial killer and I don’t see the point of doubting that.

I’m cautiously optimistic that the twist will be used as learning opportunity for those who doubt Patience and that they’ll come on board with being open to how her mind works. After that, I’ll be very curious to see the kind of crimes they throw her way.

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Patience airs Sundays at 8/7c on PBS.

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