The eighth episode of Apple TV’s The Crowded Room was released today, and it shows just how lost and alone Danny Sullivan has been his entire life. In the previous episode, the personalities inside Danny’s mind sat in a round-table discussion to decide whether they should vacate Danny’s mind, and then Jack ultimately decided that it was best if they stayed. But Danny finally came to terms with the chaos inside his mind and begged Rya to help him, so this episode deals mostly with Rya helping Danny as he struggles to piece his shattered psyche together. It also shows how low creatures like Marlin can sink when it comes to saving themselves.
Spoilers Ahead
What Does Matty Confirm To Stan Camisa?
The episode opens with Det. Matty dropping by a cafe, and that’s where Marlin has been drinking. The two get to talking, and Matty quickly strikes up a friendly conversation with Marlin until the officer comments about the strange mark on Marlin’s arm and questions rather pointedly whether it was a bullet wound. The suddenness of the situation confuses Marlin, and he tries to cover it up the best he can, but the Detective has picked up on everything he needs to. Outside, he calls Danny’s lawyer, Stan Camisa, confirming that it was indeed a bullet wound.
What Does Danny Realize With Rya’s Help?
Meanwhile, in the meeting room, Danny continues to open up about the parts of his personality that he didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago. He lets his counselor, Rya Goodwin, know that Yitzhak is the protector, the personality that came out whenever Danny was threatened, so the day Yitzhak stepped in to punch the bully Bill in the face when he and his cronies attacked Danny, it was actually Danny himself. That’s the reason why the other boys cut and ran—because they saw a wimpy, scared kid transform into a ruthless and fuming man, speaking with a thick Israeli accent. Back in the room, it’s time for Rya to leave for the day, but she heads to Stan’s office and pleads with him to get Danny sent to a psychiatric facility because she believes there’s no way that a troubled young man like Danny will survive a month at a federal prison.
Who Visits Danny In Prison?
On the other side of the town, Candy is interrogated by her husband, Marlin, about whether anyone has come to ask after him in his absence. She responds that she’s told what she’d been asked to, that she was with Marlin at the time of the shooting. In the prison, Danny gets a surprise visitor, and as it turns out, it’s Jerome. Ariana’s boyfriend, Jerome, has come here to meet his girlfriend after seeing Danny’s picture in the newspapers, but Danny’s eyes are nothing like those of the feisty and confident Ariana that Jerome was in love with. However, Danny and Jerome quickly bonded because Jerome was a good person, a far better person than the monsters life had been throwing at Danny since his childhood. Had he met Jerome when he was still a child, perhaps Danny’s mind wouldn’t have splintered into uncountable pieces. Elsewhere, Stan sends a man to send a notice to Marlin that he’s being served.
While counseling Danny, Rya slowly starts helping the victim of dissociative identity disorder piece together the shattered parts of his psyche. She helps Danny see that Ariana is the “keeper of (his) loneliness,” and she takes charge whenever Danny is unable to express emotional intimacy. Ariana used to step in to fill the crevices in his heart that his inability to be intimate didn’t allow him to enjoy. The day Danny sat huddled up as Ariana kissed Annabelle passionately, it was Danny kissing her, but in his mind, he was Ariana.
Why Did Annabelle Escape That Night?
It’s now time to return to Yitzhak, and Danny recounts the time when he stepped up to Marlin, the primary source of Danny’s traumas, but it was Yitzhak who had stood up against the child predator. When Danny moved to the Ghost House, and Candy came for him, Marlin had mouthed off to his wife in Danny’s presence, making Yitzhak, the protector of women and children, step in and threaten Marlin against misbehaving with Candy and call him a bully. It was the same Danny as Yitzhak who stepped in when that lowlife Angelo tried molesting Annabelle the night he broke into the house. A woman in trouble woke Yitzhak up, and he smashed the vermin’s face and fired a round at the stained glass, making Angelo wet himself and then chasing him off. With the threat averted, it was the sweet Danny who tried helping Annabelle up, but the poor girl had just witnessed the softest boy she knew almost kill a violent thug, so she freaked out and ran.
Jerome comes to meet Danny a second time, and he ends up sharing how he and Ariana met. Ariana was the antithesis of Danny; she was confident, proud, and had enormous charm. Jerome tells Danny that he’s been harassed, called names, and thrown out of places for being a black, gay man, but Jerome learned to accept who he was and never apologized for the same. Thus, he implores Danny to do the same because Danny’s mind has become the “Crowded Room” where he’s surrounded by personalities he hardly even knows.
In the next session with Rya, the primary antagonist in Danny’s life is brought up, and he wonders whether he, too, has been assaulted by the monster that tortured his brother, Adam. This explains why Danny went to London: he needed to feel the safety of being protected by a father figure that he never had while growing up. Thus, Jack was born. He was the best father to someone as helpless as Danny could ask for. He was suave, polished, and charming, reminding you of the gentlemen from “Kingsman,” and Danny ended up finding a father in Jack. Rya then recalls to Danny how he conversed with her as Jack, mentioning how he’d helped Danny return to the USA to “face the music.” This was Danny’s self, asking him to face the consequences of his actions because he was incapable of the simplest of retrospection. The kind of cerebral growth that gradually helps us make judgments and decisions as we grow older never happened in Danny, and instead, his psyche split into multiple parts, each fulfilling a particular duty.
How Does Marlin Save His Skin?
On her way to the court, DA Patricia is stopped by Marlin, who introduces himself as Danny’s stepfather, and soon the letter that reaches Stan spells doom for the case. Apparently, Marlin, the cowardly rat, went and blabbed to the DA that he’d stayed quiet about being present during the shootout because he’d tried protecting his son and that the shootout wasn’t the only time Danny had been violent. Marlin had also mentioned that Danny had beat up a man named Angelo Ruiz and that he’d had a history of attempted murder. This would ensure Danny got a life sentence, so Stan had to run to the DA to plead for 10–15 years maximum, while it’d be up to Rya to convince Candy to testify about her child’s innocence.
Why Did Danny Visit The Infirmary?
Unbeknownst to how his stepfather was busy signing his death warrant to save his worthless hide, Danny was visited in prison for one last time by Jerome, who confessed that this was his last time coming to visit Danny because he was hurting himself as well as Danny by playing a dangerous game. For a brief moment, Ariana returned to bid adieu to her love, and Jerome left Danny with a necklace as a good-luck charm. Later, Jonny, the least-loved personality of Danny, stepped into the spotlight and visited the infirmary after purposefully fracturing his arm. The reason Jonny pulled the stunt, though, was that he stole a paper clip, and after returning to his cell, Danny returned to the present to find the paper clip on his person.
So why did Jonny get Danny a paper clip? Jonny had whispered, “Just in case,” before getting Danny this stationery tool, but the reason behind this could be rather deep. Danny could see that there were rather slim chances of him not being sent to federal prison, and even he knew that he wouldn’t survive in that hell. So, the reason Jonny got the paper clip was for safekeeping, in case Danny ever needs to make a quick escape. As an escape artist who could slip through the crevices of the law like an eel, Jonny would be of enormous help if there was a handcuff that needed to be picked or a jail cell that needed to be unlocked. So, the paper clip could be of great help if such a time came when Danny needed to flee jail, but only time will tell if he needs to put this clip to use.
