Apple TV’s newest thriller series that borrows inspiration from Akiva Goldsman’s The Minds of Billy Milligan, titled The Crowded Room, dropped three initial episodes today. In the first episode, Danny Sullivan (Tom Holland) is arrested after he pulls a revolver on a man at the packed Rockefeller Center. Now, Rya Goodwin is trying to get to the bottom of the case and find out where Danny’s accomplice Ariana (Sasha Lane) is. In this episode, Danny explains how he and Ariana became friends or something similar to that, but by the end, Ariana’s mental issues become quite apparent.
Spoilers Ahead
What Does Danny Say About Ariana?
With Danny Sullivan in police custody, Investigator Rya Goodwin walks into the “ghost house” after finding it unlocked. She hears some scrapings and crashes upstairs, and there are shattered glasses from a window. Last but not least, there’s blood on the walls as well, but she finally stops before the fireplace and fishes out an album with fantastic portraits inside that Danny had made.
As the interrogation continues, Danny explains that it was he who’d gotten the revolver so that he could protect Ariana, but most of The Crowded Room Episode 2 talks about the growing friendship between the two. Soon after Danny ran inside Yitzhak’s house, his mother Candy and stepdad Marlin arrived and began calling after him, but Danny wanted to stay back. Marlin’s attempt to bully his wife into silence doesn’t go down well with Yitzhak, and he shoos Marlin out. Soon afterward, Danny started feeling at home there and considered the elusive Yitzhak and the troubled Ariana, his family. Ariana would make sandwiches for him, and the Israeli landlord got Danny some GED books so that his studies weren’t hampered. Danny did hear Ariana return early in the mornings after pulling all-nighters, and often she’d cry profusely. Rya kept asking questions about Ariana and her mental state, but initially, Danny never thought anything of Ariana’s behavior, even if she punched the walls so hard that she could’ve broken her hand.
What Happens At The Party?
Danny’s rent was covered because Jonny and Mike sold the weed that Danny invested in, and one day on a grocery run, Danny came across Annabelle. The two quickly got to talking, and he invited her to the house, and his buddies came to the rescue. Jonny and Mike gathered beer and weed, and Annabelle showed up with the girls. She and Danny finally got to kissing in his room, but Ariana crashed the party and began kissing Annabelle in front of him as Danny sat, pulling his knees to his chest. He still hasn’t learned how to say no or to stand his ground, has he?
Do Danny And Ariana Become Friends?
The next morning, Ariana apologizes for hoarding Annabelle all to herself and pushing Danny out, and she offers to go grab a burger together. She doesn’t say much about her past, but she does mention that she’s suffered some trauma. However, to lighten the mood, the two go to the movies to watch Rocky, but while coming out, a man keeps trying to chat up Ariana until she screams at him. Danny had, by this time, begun considering Ariana more than just a roommate and almost a friend. He did admit that she and Yitzhak were more like his family than his parents had been in a long time. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Danny is concerned about her. He asks about it, but she snaps at him, too, and storms off. This is yet another red flag that Rya tries to draw Danny’s attention to, but he’s still too blind to see through Ariana’s obvious issues. However, as it turns out, Ariana did tell him about what had been bothering her after all.
What Happens At The Nightclub?
One night, Ariana got dressed up and went out to a nightclub, where a girl named Grace instantly took a liking to her. While pretending to be an out-of-town tourist, Ariana got Grace to let her put all the drinks on her tab, and when her benefactor was out of earshot, the bartender told the regular visitor Ariana that Jerome had been here a few nights ago. Ariana danced with Grace rather passionately, much like everyone else in the club, until she spotted Jerome and went to a secluded corner with him for lovemaking. She did admit to him that she feels uncomfortable when romantic feelings are involved.
Moments later, though, while sitting with Jerome on a couch, Ariana very quickly began kissing Grace when she came back. Jerome got upset and pushed his girlfriend off the couch, resulting in both of them getting thrown off the club and Ariana huffing away as Jerome called after her with tears. Ariana staggered back to the house and woke Danny up to tell her that she needed help. Rya’s questions got incessant, and Danny pushed his chair off as he suddenly stood up, frustrated by her questions. Elsewhere, Ariana could be seen walking through a ruined building that was submerged in water, and two dead bodies were visible.
How Does ‘The Crowded Room’ Episode 2 End?
Of course, Ariana is an extremely troubled young woman who has a storm brewing inside her head, one that only she can feel until it becomes extreme. It’s in these extreme moments that people like Jerome and Danny experience how volatile and dangerous Ariana can be. On top of being immensely fickle, she can also be quite insensitive to other people’s emotions, at least when her issues act up rather severely. Ariana not only kept putting multiple drinks on Grace’s tab just because she’d given the girl permission to but also continued going back and forth between Grace and Jerome. It was especially unfair to him because he really liked her, but she couldn’t commit because of her past trauma, which we’re yet to learn about. If she really doesn’t feel comfortable with romantic attachments, there’s no reason to string Jerome along, knowing it’s only going to hurt him.
We don’t yet know the identities of those bodies in the dilapidated and waterlogged house that Ariana casually walked into. However, given that she didn’t freak out seeing the bodies, it could mean that she’s either had something to do with those two corpses or this is all a figment of her imagination. Given how disturbed Ariana was and considering the volatile nature she often exhibited, it’s not surprising either way. Lastly, Danny finally showed some courage, after all, standing up before Rya to express his frustration at her droning questions. If he does know about Ariana’s location, he might be able to save himself, but will he do it?
