The seventh episode of Apple TV’s The Crowded Room was released today, and it’s once again a mind-blower of an episode. In the last episode, Danny Sullivan’s counselor, Rya Goodwin, learns that the stiff upper-lipped British gentleman Jack isn’t real; he was a figment of Danny’s splintered psyche and that Danny suffered from Multiple personality disorder. With his trial date fast approaching, how would Rya help this troubled young man?
Spoilers Ahead
What Were The Contents Of The Tape?
The solar eclipse of February 26, 1979, had the people of Manhattan coming out of their homes to stare at the sky as Rya Goodwin walked into the room where Danny Sullivan was waiting for his session. Rya quickly got down to business, and her motive was clear: Danny needed to know what the reality was, and there was no time to slowly brace the subject as his trial date drew nearer. In the previous episode, Rya had been handed a tape by Det. Matty and the contents had left her bewildered. Today, it was time for Danny to face reality, even though he wasn’t quite ready yet. As Rya played the tape, Danny got increasingly frustrated and upset because the tape was the footage of the Rockefeller Center on the day the shootout happened.
On the tape, Danny could be seen brandishing a gun and firing wildly into the crowd, but that’s not what happened, was it? It was Ariana who snatched the gun from Danny’s hand and fired at Marlin because Danny got cold feet. As it turns out, however, it was just Danny who had shot into the crowd because Ariana didn’t exist. Jack wasn’t the only imaginary personality inside that splintered and shattered psyche of this fantastic artist; Ariana, the woman who was his best friend, was also an imaginary personality. As his perception of reality crumbled, seething rage overtook Danny when Yitzhak walked up to him and commanded him to go to sleep. Rya watched as Danny stood up, a completely different person who spoke in a thick Israeli accent, having let the personality named Yitzhak take over his psyche.
Where Did Danny Go Upon Waking Up?
Danny found himself lying on the grass as the eclipse swallowed the sun whole. He then made his way into the barn that he associated with the most traumatic event he’d witnessed as a child and proceeded to walk inside. The barn itself had a hole in the floor, deeper than any other crevice, and the insides of the building were crumbling. We wouldn’t be wrong to assume this was the psyche of Danny, broken into pieces and in a complete state of dishevelment. Danny walked down the stairs toward the muffled voices coming from an opening to find Jack, Mike, and Johnny heatedly arguing amongst themselves while Yitzhak yelled, cussed and flailed his arms wildly, standing under the only spot that received sunlight.
Eyes are called the window to the soul, and for Danny’s splintered psyche, that little spot lit by the sunlight was for the person who had complete control over Danny’s body at the moment. As Yitzhak shouted and looked menacing inside the barn, Danny Sullivan wreaked havoc inside Rya’s office, threatening her for having gone too far. Danny watched, astonished, as his best friends Mike and Jonny argued amongst themselves and pleaded with Jack to switch with Yitzhak before the angry Israeli harmed Rya. For the ones confused, there never was a Yitzhak, Mike, or Jonny, just like there never was a Jack. All of them were inside Danny’s head, and they would step out into the spotlight to help Danny veer his way through this cruel world.
That’s what Danny’s several personalities believed, at least. Jonny couldn’t be sent to handle the situation because he was a mindless junkie. Jack was the captain of the boat and would be making the key decisions. Without any other option in sight, the fuming Yitzhak immediately calmed into the relaxed Mike, who allowed the cops to cuff him and take him away but made sure to apologize to Rya for this little outburst.
What Do Jack and Yitzhak Talk About?
Danny is masterfully dunking balls at the basketball court inside the jail because Mike is currently in control of his body, while Jack and Yitzhak play cards. The brains and brawn discuss the recent fiasco and the arrival of the “center,” aka Danny’s self, coming down into the core. Jack makes up his mind that it is an extremely bad idea to let Danny converse with Rya any longer because the British gentleman is convinced that the counselor only wants to cause harm to his protectorate Danny-boy. Yitzhak, however, doesn’t agree, so Jack breaks the procedure down in simple words for the ‘block-headed’ Israeli man to understand. He states that in order to cure someone of Multiple personality Disorder, hospitals strip away the psyche that the patient has inside their mind. Yitzhak can’t agree to this because he, like all the other psyches inside this troubled young man, believes that they’re necessary for ensuring Danny’s survival.
Meanwhile, the crack-addict Jonny becomes jealous of the others enjoying the spotlight and decides to take control of Danny’s body, and immediately, the shy and timid artist becomes fidgety and twitchy for cocaine. After haranguing a few men at the gym, Jonny starts getting whooped until Yitzhak steps in and knocks the attacker’s lights out in one devastating punch. As the police barge in, Jack quickly steps in and tries to defuse the situation but is quickly put in cuffs and sent into solitary.
Why Does Jack Intervene During The Pre-Hearing?
Before the trial, Danny is asked to meet with the Judge, the DA, a respectable psychiatrist, Rya, and Danny’s lawyer, Stan Camisa. Jack, now in complete control of Danny’s body, completely misguides the bench with his charming British attitude and dry humor, letting the Judge and DA declare that Danny is fit to stand trial as a mentally stable person. Rya’s attempts to let the Judge see that Danny Sullivan isn’t actually present, irritate the Judge, and he threatens to have her removed while Danny is taken away. Stan requests the DA to let him plead insanity for Danny and send his client to a psychiatric facility. However, Patricia, a black woman, cites the ill-treatment of men of her race who’ve been thrown into prisons for far fewer crimes and clarifies that there’s no way she’s letting a man be given special treatment for his complexion. Clearly, sensitivity and understanding of the human mind were severely suffering back in the 1980s.
Rya reminds Jack in no kind words that a federal prison will destroy Danny, and Yitzhak won’t be enough to save the personalities. As Danny Sullivan sleeps, the personalities are torn over whether they should stay or leave. Yitzhak finally states that if the young man can be helped, he’s willing to be killed, and Jack proceeds to carry out his wish by shooting Yitzhak dead. The reason Jack intervened in the pre-hearing and also silenced Yitzhak for good was that he had started enjoying his position inside Danny’s psyche as the leader. The cohesion among the personalities was falling apart.
What Does Danny Ask Of Rya?
Danny wakes up inside the barn to find Ariana sitting beside him, and she introduces him to the rest of his personalities. They state in unison that all they’ve tried so far has been to help him, and it’s now up to Danny to shun the counselor away and make sure the personalities can live so that they can help Danny. The young man steps into the spotlight and takes control of his body as Rya walks in angrily and blames ‘Jack’ for making her look like a fool. As Rya is about to leave, Danny breaks down, begging her to help him. For the first time, Danny admits, “There are voices in my head,” and that he needs to be saved from this mental prison and the people inside his head.
‘The Crowded Room’ Episode 7 Ending Explained
The seventh episode of The Crowded Room by Apple TV shows how the mind is the biggest prison of man and how it can hold a person captive without them even knowing about it. Until this episode, Danny Sullivan was unaware of the cyclone that was secretly ravaging his mind. It’s only after the personality he trusted most, his “best friend,” Ariana, woke his subconscious up and made him aware of the personalities that Danny realized what was truly happening inside his freakshow of a brain. However, it’s marvelous that Danny wasn’t influenced by all the people he’d come to love as his close ones—Jack, Jonny, Mike, and Ariana—once he realized they weren’t real. The first step to recovery is identifying that one has a problem, and Danny had passed the first stage when he begged Rya with tears in his eyes to get him out of this ‘crowded room.’ As it turns out, the crowded room was Danny Sullivan’s mind, all along.Â
