Patience Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Are Patience and Frankie Finally Where They Should Be?

On Patience Season 2 Episode 6, “Paco’s Revenge,” the motive for death by poisoning matters less than the specific type of toxin used when it comes to catching our victim’s killer.

Between accusations of patent theft, a secret cannabis lab, and the potential of a large inheritance to be split between her and her brother, there’s no lack of suspects or motives for who poisoned Aliana to death and left her body in a public place.

Through another woman’s attempted suicide, Patience is able to determine that the plant initially believed to have killed Aliana is yet another red herring. The true poison leads to a man Monroe has already suspected but been unable to pinpoint.

In the wake of her breakup with Elliot, Patience gets support from Jake, who invites her to a speed dating night that she’s unexpectedly open to. The event goes about how you’d expect but does help Patience start to move on.

Even more surprisingly, Frankie also steps up in a way she hasn’t before come close to. She acknowledges the insensitivity of calling Patience “Headphones” and even apologizes to both her and Jake for some of her earlier behavior.

The episode ends with all three going out together, but not before another shock is set up for Patience on behalf of the woman who said her mother is dead. Douglas insists on sharing the news but is unable to before the end of the hour.

There’s a bit too much going on for the case of the week to have much emotional impact. We certainly want justice for Aliana, but apart from one poignant moment with the (innocent) brother she was close to, we barely get to see who she was.

The plot twists and potential poisons we get instead are intriguing, but the resolution is rushed as well. We spend only moments with the man Frankie eventually finds guilty and even less with another poor, suffering woman Aliana was friends with.

But where I feel the lack of episodic story, I’m just as pleased with our main character developments—almost. It’s hard not be disappointed by seeing Elliot this distant so soon after he’d been eager to support Patience even “just” as friends.

Maybe it makes more sense to see some hidden tensions between them. And while I certainly would never have guessed that Patience would like the idea of something as social as speed dating, it proves in a way to be just what she needs.

I don’t like that she feels the need to try and mask her autism (nor am I sure she does as good a job of it as she thinks). It’s more important that she and Jake get to bond over it. While I so basically no chance of romance in it, I love their dynamic.

I’m perhaps most happy that I can finally say the same thing about Patience and Frankie’s relations. What’s long felt like a “one step forward, two steps back” scenario finally seems to be getting where it should be with two episodes to go.

And then, of course, there’s the news Patience is likely set to get very shortly. We don’t know how she’ll receive or even definitively what it is, but I have a feeling that the fallout will have additional emotional impact on the upcoming season finale.

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Patience airs Sundays at 8/7c on PBS. 

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