Felicia Nickens
The following recap contains spoilers for The Crowded Room, Episode 4 “London” on Apple TV+
Admittedly, after the premiere last week, I was split on how I felt about this show. I had some gripes, but I’m happy to report that I no longer feel the same. After watching “London,” I’m confident The Crowded Room is moving in the right direction. It’s no surprise (or it shouldn’t be, at least) that Danny (Tom Holland) has some dissociative behaviors. I feared that the writers would drag this out as some mystery for a full 10 episodes, but I feel like Danny and the audience are very close to learning the “truth” which makes it interesting to see what will happen in the later half of the season. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s jump into this episode, shall we?
Most of Episode 4 takes place in London after Danny decides to fly across the pond and look for his father. I call it going on the run, but same difference, I guess. Rya (Amanda Seyfried) questions Danny about how he obtained his passport since he never left the country before. He claims Yitzhak has connections and gave them to him. I wondered this myself last week when Yitzhak handed Danny a passport and money. Since presumably Yitzhak is an alter, it makes me wonder who Danny used as a connection.
In London, Danny wanders into the travel agency his dad, Pete, works. The lady at the desk knows nothing about him. Danny looks puzzled, but not for long. Jack comes from the back room and recognizes Danny almost instantaneously as Pete’s son. He cheerfully welcomes him and takes him to dinner. At first, it seems like Jack has Danny’s best interests at heart. He feeds him, protects him from a jerk at dinner, and finds him a place to sleep. During all of this, there is no Pete. Jack even mentions that Yitzhak knew Pete and was living near Danny as a favor to his father. He was living there to keep an eye on Danny.
Later, Jack explains that Pete left the country since both he and Pete are into shady shit. Turns out the travel agency is a front. He encourages Danny to recoup money that some man owed his dad. It should help keep him afloat while he figures out his next moves. Turns out this man is a sort of big deal around those parts. He appears to be some sort of crime boss. Danny goes in there, throws his dad’s name around, and asks to get the money his dad is owed. He gets laughed off and is lucky not to have been murdered on the spot. Danny looks for Jack and is upset that he abandoned him during this difficult time.
As Danny recalls this all to Rya, she points out how ironic it is that the man who moved in across the street from Danny happens to know his father and Jack. Danny agrees it is a crazy story but ultimately a true one. Jack appears one more time and gives Danny some advice which leads Danny to come back to the States and face his problems head-on. He comes back to an empty house with no sign of Ariana or Yitzhak. He proceeds to throw his passport into the fireplace, along with his book of drawings. You know, the one Rya recovered last week. The police show up at that time and Danny surrenders.
Rya is trying hard to help Danny realize the truth by probing the obvious. Why would they all abandon Danny when he needed them? Danny says he would never hurt Ariana because he loved her. He continues the narrative that he didn’t kill any of them. He tells her it doesn’t make sense. She agrees. Then as if concocting it on the spot, he comes up with a conspiracy theory of how his father owed money and that people were after all of them. Rya stops him and brings up his brother Adam. It jolts Danny out of his theories and his attitude changes. He tells Rya he died and that he is done talking. On her return for their next session, it is Jack sitting there and not Danny. Rya is smart enough to recognize this and addresses Jack and not Danny. She appeals to his need to protect Danny and asks that he help her to help him.
I initially thought it was possible that Adam was real and that some tragedy took him when they were young, which could’ve been the catalyst for Danny beginning to call on alters. I assumed that once Adam died, he became the first alter later when his abusive stepdad came into the picture. After seeing how deluded Danny was in London, I don’t think Adam was ever real. I think this reveal will be the thing to finally break Danny later on and make him realize how much help he truly needs.
This episode flew by and while most of it consisted of Jack mentoring Danny, it is essential because it shows the great depths of what Danny can do when he needs to protect himself. I find it fascinating that each alter (or presumed alter) can do something pretty extraordinary when it’s Danny doing it for himself. He has these skills, emotions, and intellect inside of him already. It is how the alters do what they do. I think about the type of person he could’ve been had it not been for the trauma he suffered. Having all of those qualities and living a somewhat normal life, he would have probably made it pretty far. I am rambling, but it is a sad thing to realize how a traumatic incident(s) can change the course of one’s life.
Each session with Rya seems to bring Danny a little closer to questioning himself. You can see when Rya gently questions inconsistencies. I take back what I said previously about Tom Holland not fitting this role. I think he is portraying it wonderfully. His facial expressions are telling and I can recognize when he starts to see the truth in his stories. I hope that Danny begins to understand his condition soon and that the last half of the season will be Rya and his lawyer fighting to keep him out of jail. If he continues to stay in the dark and it drags out for another six episodes, then I think they will lose a lot of viewers. Only time will tell.
