Denis Kimathi
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Every show has a turning point, and The Crowded Room Season 1 Episode 7 was it for The Crowded Room.
By the first half of The Crowded Room Season 1, there was a rough idea about what about Danny’s story was not real.
It was clear some characters in Danny’s story never existed. We also got an understanding of when his dissociative identity disorder began.
But one thing that remained unclear was the scope of how many of these identities existed.
I thought I had everything figured out about who was real and who was not, so it was surprising to learn that even Jonny and Mike were never real.
My heart broke for this boy who had never known love, companionship, or friendship. Imagining how lonely he must have been all those years living alone was an utterly destroying thought.
The moment of truth had arrived, and with Danny’s pre-trial coming up soon, Rya had run out of the luxury of taking things slow. She needed everyone to understand what she’d discovered, but none would be possible without making that revelation to Danny Sullivan first on The Crowded Room Season 1.
Danny. Your mind is extraordinarily good at rationalizing. At unspooling narratives in real time. At making the improbable possible. You’ve had a lifetime of it.
Rya
Fighting ignorance is an arduous task. It’s like rock climbing without climbing gear while barefoot under the scorching sun.
Rya had three rocks to climb, none less steep than the others.
The first was attempting to convince Danny that he was sick and all the people he had in his life were made up.
Rya knew well the danger that might present. It could put her in mortal danger because Yitzhak was still around, and that Israeli lived and breathed violence. Being close to guards was not an immediate concern because the next thing was.
Showing Danny the truth would topple his entire worldview. It would put him in a mental crisis whose scale or magnitude not many people have experienced. There was a fair chance it would break him.
Yitzhak: He never came here awake before.
Jack: The system is breaking down, I’m afraid.
Yitzhak: What system?
Jack: Us. The center cannot hold. The beast is slouching towards Bethlehem.
The last thing his mind needed was more trauma.
Those concerns materialized on different levels, but no one was seriously injured.
Some journeys one has to go alone, and self-discovery is one of those journeys. There was only so much Rya could have done to show Danny the truth but accepting it would be all up to him.
The Crowded Room is a title I never entirely understood what it stood for and didn’t care much about, even in The Crowded Room series premiere review. Yet this episode, homonymous with the series title, finally showed the genius behind the title.
In our minds, we have at most two voices, but one is dominant. It is who we are and then our conscience.
Danny’s mind was very different. There were voices from all over with different accents and of different ages. Sometimes they had conflicting interests, and each fought to be heard. It was crowded up there.
Please. There are voices in my head. There’s other people in here. I’m begging you. Help me. Please.
Danny
Meeting all of the alters in one space finally filled in some missing gaps on how Danny managed to survive this long alone.
There was an almost poetic side to the episode as Danny consciously met all of them where his trauma began on The Crowded Room Season 1 Episode 5 when he was a child — that damned barn.
We knew much about Yitzhak, the protector; Jack, the father figure; Arianna, the companion, but what we didn’t was Leone, the charmer, and Jonny, the survivor.
It was via Leone that Danny charmed his way into or out of many situations. He was everything Danny was not. He was tall, athletic, and energetic.
He killed it at basketball.
Jonny was the survivor. He fed and clothed Danny. How he did that is questionable, but the simple fact that he developed a drug addiction spoke volumes.
Learning a lot about these alters shone a light on why some other characters treated Danny how they did. Angelo kept calling him a freak on The Crowded Room Season 1 Episode 2. Had Angelo met all the alters?
The second rock Rya was climbing was trying to prove something science considered wild.
A determined District Attorney put up a spirited fight against what she considered nonsense. Was this another ploy to get another white boy out of facing the consequences?
I’m gonna make you a wager, Stan. When I look hard at him, and I’m gonna look at him real hard… I’m gonna find a history of violence. I’m gonna find that somehow he managed to slip through the cracks. He shot people in Midtown in broad daylight, and you want a pass? Rikers is filled with young Black and brown men who did far less. Where was their pass? Where was their plea bargain when they needed a break? Your client will get the benefit of the doubt because he has the privilege of a justice system that was built for people who look like him, but he’s not gonna get a pass from me. So, no. I’m not just gonna plead him out. We’re going to trial.
Patricia
Acclaimed psychiatrists found the proposition ridiculous.
As a firm believer in scientific methods, I questioned some things. I understood how the idea would sound ludicrous, but it was real.
That is why it’s important to be open to any new possibilities. It’s the only way to learn new things.
The third rock Rya was climbing was trying to save a person hellbent on not being saved. It was like trying to save a drowning man who kept on kicking. Eventually, they will take you down with them.
In her mind, everything made sense. She had spent enough time with Danny to distinguish different alters as they showed up. Jack snuck in and out effortlessly, and she clocked him just as much.
After Yitzhak’s death, the remaining alters wanted their interests looked out for. And that was what Jack had been doing all along. He had ended dozens of former alters when they outlived their usefulness.
Will Jack be the only way to save Danny?
The Crowded Room can’t be described as fun. It is troubling, gloomy, heartbreaking, disappointing, bleak, and thrilling.
“The Crowded Room” (this episode) was the opposite. It was light and funny in a way we’d never seen. Tom Holland must have had fun playing Jonny.
Rya would have given up if she didn’t have a personal stake in the outcome. As the trial approaches, it will be interesting to see what the justice system does with something this unprecedented. What testimony will sway the jury towards believing Danny and Rya?
When Patricia finds Danny’s extensive violent history, will that be the final nail?
Hit the comments with your thoughts.
Denis Kimathi is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on Twitter.