The Crowded Room Episode 6 Recap: “Rya” Provides Answers to Lingering Questions

The following recap contains spoilers for The Crowded Room Episode 6, “Rya” on Apple TV+

Until now, every episode of The Crowded Room has focused mainly on Danny, which is understandable, but after an emotionally tough episode last week, it was time for a break. Episode 6 focuses almost solely on Rya and how she became a part of this case, which felt like a breath of fresh air.

We learn that Rya is in the middle of a divorce and is currently trying to navigate life as a single mom to her son, Ezra. Ezra doesn’t appear to be handling the divorce well. He appears to be angry with his mom and asks to speak to his dad. Rya’s mom points out that he needs consistency in his life and that she needs to be home to sit and have meals with him.

Rya has been busy though. Prior to her work with Danny, she was working to obtain a grant through the university where she teaches to focus on her research on bulimia. She was denied and the grant was given to someone with “more seniority.” Both her colleague and ex-husband tell her that research on bulimia is basically a waste of time. Rya is concerned because she is hoping to become tenured which would ensure she could care for her son financially.

Then as fate would have it, Detective Doyle, who had a fling with Rya, calls her in to discuss a new case. This brings us to the scene we saw in Episode 1 where they are going over the shooting in Rockefeller Center. This time the scene is expanded and we hear dialogue not present in the first episode. The detective and his partner explain to Rya that Danny is weird and talks in different voices. She agrees to speak with him.

Upon meeting Danny for the first time, he greets her with “What up, sis?” It seems pretty uncharacteristic of Danny. My guess is it is one of his alters, Mike or Johnny, due to the speech pattern and the silly sort of confidence he exudes. He brings up Jack and she asks who that is. Ignoring the question, he says he wants to share a secret with her and raises his hands up. He has gotten free of the cuffs telling her he can get himself out. The guards run in and take him away.

She thinks nothing too odd at first and tells the detective that Danny is probably on some sort of drug and to give him a few days to detox. She can’t help. Later at home while asleep, The Three Faces of Eve plays on the television. It’s loud enough to wake her. The film parallels Danny’s life as it is about a woman who suffers headaches and blackouts, transforming into seemingly different people before eventually being diagnosed with split personalitiy disorder. Rya listens for a moment before the realization hits her.

She uses the detective to get her access to Danny before he is sent to Rikers Island. She tells Danny she needs to speak with Jack. He agrees to try to get the message to him.

In the meantime, Rya conducts her own little investigation on Danny. She visits the boarding house which is another expanded scene from Episode 1. Not only does she discover his sketchbook In the fireplace, but finds Jack’s glasses sitting on a receipt from The Winchester in London. Earlier the detectives had told her that Danny was spotted at JFK airport catching a cab back to the boarding house. Was he really in London? The clues suggest he was.

Rya runs into Danny’s mom, Candy outside. They go back to Candy’s house and talk. Rya focuses on a wall of family photos. Noticeably, Danny is alone in all the photos.

The only picture of him and Adam together is a sketch that Danny made. Rya asks if they are twins and Candy only responds that he’s been gone for a long time. Rya asks what happened to him. Candy invites her outside.

I think Rya was given an answer off-screen which in my opinion is that Adam wasn’t real. Candy most likely believed Adam to be an imaginary friend. Why wouldn’t she have pictures of Adam on the wall too if that were her son? Why do we never get an answer when Rya questions what happened to Adam?

Candy tells Rya that Danny was always sensitive and bright and that he had a huge imagination. Then she says things just never turned out for her and the men. Rya gently probes Candy and asks if anything ever happened to Danny as a boy. Candy gets extremely defensive, “So it’s my fault now!?’ She shuts Rya down and tells her to leave.

Rya convinces Danny’s legal aid attorney to let her have sessions with Danny. She tells him about her hunch that Danny has split personalities and explains that this condition comes almost solely from extreme and ongoing sexual abuse from early childhood. I mentioned last week that I wondered if Danny had been sexually abused before Marlin. I couldn’t think of another reason for Adam to be called on. Now, I feel certain he was abused. This makes it even more heartbreaking. Danny has been through so much.

Rya visits him at Riker’s where she is greeted by Jack. They have a brief conversation where Jack calls Danny and Ariana misguided children. He tells her Danny is asleep, that he is here, but sleeping. Then explains what he has is not a psychological condition, but rather Quantum Entanglement. He goes on to say it suggests that separation is not what we believe it to be but the idea that two particles can share characteristics without being in the same space and time.

Scenes like this highlight just how intelligent Danny truly is. Jack’s intelligence and Yitzhak’s street knowledge alone are probably more than what your average person possesses. I also thought it was a little funny watching Danny speak with a fake British accent, knowing that Tom Holland is actually British.

She pleads to speak with Danny and he says he will consider her request.

Rya’s detective boo thang shows up at her house with a tape. We see her watch the tape with a look of shock but are unable to see what she sees.

Back at the prison, she speaks with Jack again. Rya tells Jack that Danny needs to understand his past in order to prepare him for trial. Reluctantly, he agrees and asks that she be gentle because he doesn’t know about “us.” Rya asks how many there are, but at that moment a noticeable change in Danny’s face and body language occurs. He is now looking around, scared. Finally, Rya can speak to Danny.

A montage of all their conversations occurs and it is all things we’ve seen in past episodes. Then we get to the part about Adam. Rya says she has a hunch that Adam did something for him that was very hard and that it has to do with Marlin.

Danny sadly recalls that he and Adam were in Marlin’s car and Marlin took them to a barn he owned, but he would only ever take Adam inside. Rya becomes visibly upset. The viewers don’t hear what comes next. The next thing we hear is The Beatles’ “Let It Be” play as Rya walks to her car and cries. Back at home she falls into her mother’s arms and continues sobbing. It ends with her laying down with Ezra while he sleeps.

This episode was long but packed with information. I enjoyed seeing Rya’s side of things and how she became so invested in Danny. I feel some questions were answered. Adam was all but confirmed to be an alter. Danny has been asleep since the shooting, so his alters must have been trying to protect him the past few weeks from knowing what he did and where he is at. Tom Holland has grown into this role beautifully. The way his whole body changed when he went from Jack to Danny was awesome. I feel like I can believe it.

Now that Danny has spoken about the abuse out loud, the next step I presume is for him to realize he was the one being abused and not Adam. I also want to know what his mother will do. Deep down she must know; otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten so defensive. I hope she does what is right as a mother and help’s Danny. In the upcoming trial, it would be beneficial to Danny if they can prove Marlin to be the monster he is even if it means she is a monster as well. We shall see.