Patience Season 1 Episode 4 Review: The Locked Room

On Patience Season 1 Episode 4 “The Locked Room,” a famous author is poisoned inside, well, a locked room. Solving the crime exposes several secrets and helps Patience face her insecurities.

Harry is a noted writer, most famous for a series of crime novels likely featuring scenes like the one of his own demise: poisoned inside a locked room. Eager to investigate, Patience accidentally touches evidence and flees the room in a panic.

Though she bounces back the next day, she feels another blow when doubting an initial theory. Meanwhile, the investigation extends into Harry’s past and a fire that scarred him and took the life of a young woman he cared for.

 

That in turn leads to both a fellow author and a colleague who harassed young women, including the dead girl. Though the latter is certainly the more likely suspect, when he turns up dead in the same way as Harry, suspicions turn to the author.

Turns out he set that fire only after killing the girl. He’s also the true author of Harry’s books. Fearing exposure, he kills Harry to solve the crime and is caught thanks to Patience’s careful eye for typewriting analysis, helping to restore her confidence.

This is the most case-centric episode we’ve seen yet, and there are more than enough twists and reveals between the various players involved to hold up that level of focus. Even with only two suspects, there’s enough to guess about until the very end.

Even after we learn that Harry had essentially been taking credit for our killer’s work, this is another murder where the motive, although intriguing, winds up being based on selfishness and cowardice, even before it’s also used to cover an earlier murder.

It does all get a little convoluted toward the end. By the time an arrest is made, it’s hard to keep track of who wrote what and how exactly it all works as evidence. Still, the point is that Patience knows- and Bea knows how to use it for a confession.

We don’t get quite as much direct bonding time between Patience and Bea as we have in previous episodes. That’s especially notable both times Patience runs off with little explanation, leaving Bea with few cues as to how to help her regain confidence.

At the same time, while her actions confuse and concern anyone, there’s very little lingering ill will from any of Bea’s fellow investigators. They may not have the same connection to Patience, but her skill and position seem to have been affirmed.

Now we just need to see more of that in Patience herself. You don’t need to have autism to struggle with impostor syndrome, but being neurodivergent certainly doesn’t help. Here, she says directly that she’s unsure she deserves her new role.

Hopefully, those feelings being out in the open will let her tackle them head on. With the progress she’s made with the team, many remaining hurdles are the ones in her own mind. I’d like to see her overcome them in the second half of the season.

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Patience airs Sundays at 8/7c on PBS

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