Patience Season 2 Episode 7 Review: Murder in a Monastery

There is indeed a dead monk on Patience Season 2 Episode 7, “A Monk’s Tale.” Things get off to a strange start when he asks forgiveness of his own killer.

Brother Lucas had a complicated relationship with the monastery he’d just joined. At first, a motive seems tied to his potentially shady past and a young woman he’d sheltered through her drug problems and their own messy romance.

The relationship does wind up playing an important role, but mainly because Lucas had once protected Katie from an assault, accidentally killing the man who’d been about to rape her. Now, that man’s younger brother has arrived seeking vengeance.

Not satisfied with just killing Lucas, he traps the other monks and is poised to set them on fire before Frankie and the squad intervene. Amid the investigations, Patience has a few more tense scenes with Elliot that she relates to her therapy group.

On their advice, she prepares to tell him she thinks they belong together but is interrupted by seeing him with another woman at a festival Zinzi ropes the squad into. Still, she gives a quite moving speech there about her experiences with her new team.  

The emotional weight of this case matches its setting. Though we only get to see Brother Lucas for a few moments before his death, that those moments come with him asking forgiveness is a something that endears us to his memory.

As for everyone else in his orbit, it’s a little hard to be sympathetic toward those who’d condemn him for offering a woman sanctuary. Katie herself is messy, initially lying to the detectives, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve protection.

And then there’s Leo, the grieving brother of the man who tried to rape her. Despite his brother’s actions, we feel for the pain he lashes out with, but when that extends to the desire to commit multiple acts of murder, the empathy falls short.

It does at least give us a sufficiently exhilarating climax. Even knowing this isn’t a gruesome enough show to go the route of burning a dozen (mostly) innocent monks to death, the tension before Patience stomps on the lighter is very real.

So is the tension between Patience and Elliot. Her moment of determination sends out hope that’s quickly quashed by seeing him with someone else. Is that the final nail in the coffin or are they somehow still soulmates? The jury is out for now.

Thankfully, Patience’s heartbreak at seeing him quickly moves on to something else. I’ll admit I spent most of the episode convinced there was no chance of seeing the speech Zinzi puts into potion. But Patience defies even my own expectations.

Is it a legendary soliloquy? No, and it doesn’t need to be. Getting up in front of a crowd is enough to show her growth and the difference her work has made in her life. Being able to make it is also a sign that her connection with Frankie is progressing nicely.

I just hope the timing won’t become ominous as we head into whatever drama the season finale has in store. With some likely life-or-death stakes on the horizon, this is a good moment for Patience to remember everything she says on stage.

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Patience airs Sundays at 8/7c on PBS>

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