Felicia Nickens
The following recap contains spoilers for The Crowded Room Episode 7, “The Crowded Room” on Apple TV+
Whoa! Episode 7 was pretty amazing. My favorite in the series so far. We are treated to a visual representation of what multiple personalities look like inside Danny’s mind. I could be wrong but I don’t know that any other movie or show has depicted it in such a creative way. A way that the audience can truly understand. The episode can be broken down into two narratives.
Rya, Danny, & The Reveal
Rya visits Danny with the VHS (from last week) in hand. She informs him that Jack paid her a visit recently. He is in disbelief because, of course, Jack is in London. She slides Jack’s glasses across the table and Danny doesn’t understand. He also accuses her of being nervous. She confirms she is because there are things they haven’t discussed about Rockefeller and once they do, he will be upset.
She questions him and asks why he is here with her. He thinks she is there to help prepare him for trial since he was complicit in the attempted murder. Rya pops the tape into a nearby TV and watches for Danny’s reaction. We watch with Danny as he sees security footage of him, and him alone pointing the gun and shooting.
Danny accuses her of altering the tape or playing a trick on him. She tries to gently expose the truth that he was alone and always was that day. He begins shaking at which point Yitzhak comes into the frame from behind Danny. He kneels, puts his hand on Danny’s shoulder, and commands him to “sleep.” He is angry and he lets Rya know it as he begins throwing chairs and screaming at her.
The Alters
While Yitzhak and Rya are doing their thing, Danny wakes up on a patch of grass that happens to be outside of THE barn. He makes his way inside, cautiously. It doesn’t look like a normal barn. Once inside, it looks like dozens of floors. A little maze-like in that there are many openings, missing floors, and broken walls.
Danny explores until he comes to a wall with large spaces between the slats. He peeps through to see his alters all standing there arguing. There is a large spotlight in the center in which Yitzhak stands. His words and movements are a replica of his words/movements “up there” with Rya.
They are all worried for Rya as they think Yizhak will hurt her. Danny walks in and everyone, including Danny, seems confused. Jack says he shouldn’t be there. Yitzhak begs Jack not to let Danny up there because he won’t make it. Danny looks to a stack of hay where his body lies, asleep. Then he is in that body asleep and no longer standing in the room.
Mike persuades them all to let him take over. At the same time guards are coming in to get Danny as he is becoming more violent with Rya in the room. She asks them not to, at which point Mike has taken the spotlight. “We’re all good, sis,” he says as they cuff him and take him away. I suppose that was Mike we saw last week when Rya was introduced to Danny.
Jack and Yitzhak discuss while they play cards. I know it wasn’t meant to be a funny scene, but I thought it was hilarious how they are casually chatting about the future during a card game. Like it is all normal somehow.
The decision is made (by Jack) that the only way to help Danny is to get him away from Rya. Why? Because if Rya helps in landing Danny in an institution, they will medicate him, therefore killing them all.
Later on, Rya and Danny’s lawyer, Stan arrive for a pre-trial hearing. The prosecutor and Judge basically laugh off Danny having multiple personalities. The judge takes every opportunity to shut Rya and Stan down, clearly favoring the prosecutor. They call Danny in and ask him questions. Rya realizes it’s Jack due to the accent. Jack answers every question with answers that contradict everything Rya and Stan have said. He presents himself as sane and the judge eats it up. He clears Danny as able to stand trial.
Afterward, Yitzhak suggests to the others that it’s time to “face the music” as Jack would say. Jack agrees that when you love someone so much you want to protect their existence. Then, he proceeds to shoot Yitzhak. He believes Danny could never survive without them.
Ariana appears out of nowhere and walks over to where Danny is asleep. She wakes him and lets him know that she never left and is always with him in his head and heart. She walks him through the barn and into a flooded room. In the water lie the bodies of what Jack calls, “Undesirables.” They are all previous alters who no longer had a purpose.
They join the other back in the main room where they tell Danny he needs to go back up and cut ties with Rya or else they will all die. They send Danny back up where he is waiting to meet with Rya. Rya storms in upset, addressing Jack about how he made a fool of her and sealed Danny’s fate. He will go to prison. She tells Danny if he is in there and really wanted to fight, then he would fight. She stops when she sees Danny begin to whimper. He looks at her and pleads for help. There are so many voices in his head. Her look softens and the episode ends.
Some Thoughts…
I was fascinated by how the alters interacted with one another and by how many “undesirables” existed before this period. What makes an undesirable? I was also in awe of how Danny’s physical strength could change depending on which alter has taken over. There was a brief scene after Mike takes over in which he get into a fight in the gym. Before the fight, he could barely lift the small weights, but during the fight when Yitzhak takes over, he is able to truly beat the shit out of the inmate. This included him using a heavy weight. I imagine it’s similar to the moms who can lift a car if their child were trapped under it. The mind is an incredible thing and now I am psyched to see more of how Danny’s works.
