The article discusses the sidecar pattern in Kubernetes, which allows developers to extend application functionality without altering the original code. Sidecars are companion containers that handle specific tasks like observability, security, and traffic management in distributed systems. While sidecars can be beneficial for certain use cases, they also increase complexity and resource consumption, so simpler alternatives should be considered first. The article also outlines other multi-container patterns like the init container pattern, ambassador pattern, configuration helper, and adapter pattern, each serving different purposes in containerized environments.