The Crowded Room - General Discussion

[BetterButter]

 

[HerkyJerky]

FWIW, the USA Today said the first 5 episodes were a slog but if you can make it through them, there is a nice payoff in the last 5 episodes.

[HerkyJerky]

I don't know what the USA Today critic was thinking!  I watched the first 3 episodes and I've really enjoyed it so far.

[Snazzy Daisy]

So, a 27yo man plays a highschooler and Emmy Rossum who is 9 years older than Tom Holland plays his mom. A bit unsettling - unless there’s a plot twist later.

All the 3 episodes are not as engaging as I thought they would be. Some parts are dreary. It’s a bit of a struggle to stay interested in this whole story.

In which episode are they going to reveal “what the show is all about”? Based on the opening credit, the details in Danny’s stories and the choice of words that Rya uses in her interview, we know that Danny…

Spoiler

has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

Ariana is given her own arc. Is she real or this is just a red herring? Her story is so depressing.

One of the review says that this feels like a feature film script that got expanded too much once no movie studio would buy it. Touché.

One thing that I really like about this show - the cinematography is stunning.

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[Affogato]

Daniel Keye's book is good. It has been a while since I've read it.  I think the therapy interests me, the very slow approach to self awareness. I think they are doing a good job of that, it may make it seem slow at times. 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Affogato

[gesundheit]

I haven't seen any spoilers nor do I know the real-life story it's based on, but it does seem pretty obvious what the big reveal will be so my question at this point is solely 

Spoiler

If this is a "many of these people are in his head/they're all him/multiple personalities/Fight Club" kind of thing, I'm just curious how many of these people are in his head. The title makes it seem like damn near all of them, but I hope there are some exceptions. My only real interest if my assumption is right is seeing some of the scenes again minus the imaginary people. But if almost everyone is imaginary, it becomes less interesting.

(I don't want to ruin it for anyone so I spoiler-tagged it even though it's truly just speculation)

[Bcharmer]

1 hour ago, gesundheit said:

I haven't seen any spoilers nor do I know the real-life story it's based on, but it does seem pretty obvious what the big reveal will be so my question at this point is solely 

  Hide contents

If this is a "many of these people are in his head/they're all him/multiple personalities/Fight Club" kind of thing, I'm just curious how many of these people are in his head. The title makes it seem like damn near all of them, but I hope there are some exceptions. My only real interest if my assumption is right is seeing some of the scenes again minus the imaginary people. But if almost everyone is imaginary, it becomes less interesting.

(I don't want to ruin it for anyone so I spoiler-tagged it even though it's truly just speculation)

I'm right there with you. 

[iMonrey]

I find the show compelling enough, but I was a little confused about the timeline. In the first (?) episode, they made it look like the cops were right outside the door and arrested Danny immediately after he got home from the shooting. Now it turns out there was a whole trip to London in between.

I'm not crazy about the idea that some of these characters are just his imagination or "multiples" of his own personality. Now that I've had that possibility pointed out, I've been looking for signs of it. But I'm taking everything at face value for now. Apparently, at least, Jack is real, since Rya was talking to him at the end without Danny present.

Still, I find the story compelling enough to keep up with it and I don't have a huge problem with the pacing. It helps that the story is more or less well told and well acted.

[meira.hand]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Apparently, at least, Jack is real, since Rya was talking to him at the end without Danny present.

Spoiler

The idea is that we are shown the different personalities as different people but Rya can recognize which one she is talking to via his accent, behavior etc. and so addresses each one by his "name". All the movies/series that I have seen about DID showed the same actor simply sounding and behaving differently. This series made the interesting choice to actually portray them via different actors which is how the main characters experiences them. The fact that the main personality (Danny?) is even aware of the others is also unusual unless he is at an advanced stage of treatment.

 

[iMonrey]

28 minutes ago, meira.hand said:

Apparently, at least, Jack is real, since Rya was talking to him at the end without Danny present.

  Reveal spoiler

Well if so then that's disappointing. It's one thing to show various characters in the flashback sequences. The interview sequences with Rya have thus far been straightforward and we've only seen her talking to Danny. I hate to think the show would stoop to that kind of misdirect.

[gesundheit]

This show really has nothing to offer without the "reveal" we're all expecting because every new character is so corny, and the protagonist has no linear journey we can follow up until then. Strange way to execute it.

[Affogato]

On 6/16/2023 at 11:26 AM, iMonrey said:

I find the show compelling enough, but I was a little confused about the timeline. In the first (?) episode, they made it look like the cops were right outside the door and arrested Danny immediately after he got home from the shooting. Now it turns out there was a whole trip to London in between.

 

Spoiler

blackout periods would be part of the structure of the story. I don't think this is a mystery show, but I think the story unfolds like a mystery for the principal players.

 

[Hook75]

I'm only in episode 2 but I'm thinking Ariana and maybe Johnny are

Spoiler

2 of Danny's personalities.  

But what about Yitzak? Is he real? 

[Affogato]

16 hours ago, Hook75 said:

I'm only in episode 2 but I'm thinking Ariana and maybe Johnny are

  Reveal spoiler

2 of Danny's personalities.  

But what about Yitzak? Is he real? 

Spoiler

I doubt it. He is living in an empty house, after all.

I'm pretty sure Jack isn't real either, but this is the first time the therapist has met one of Danny's alterate personalities. Danny might have gone to London, though.

 

[Johnny Dollar]

I know of the true story that this is “based on”, but the only similarity appears to be that both main “characters” 

Spoiler

suffer from DID. Which makes the whole “based on a true story” concept kind of pointless. 

 

[Hook75]

I guess no one is real, even Adam. My question is, why Adam "left" for some time to be with "the dad" and why he "comes back" before Marilyn begin to molest him. 

I guess it's to throw us off from the twist that....

Spoiler

They are all Danny's personalities.

 

 

But even if you don't know it, it is very obvious by now. 

[gesundheit]

I'm just so confused about the narrative here, but I'm probably thinking too hard about the real-life story since I've only just delved into it out of curiosity.

Spoiler

But the stepfather's abuse was always the pointed-to origin of the split, but in the show it seems like he was already well split before that since he had a pretend brother (I assume). But maybe the show is trying to tell us there's an earlier seed or that he was just born with it, who knows. I am increasingly irritated by how they've softened the edges, though. The real life Danny (Billy) was a serial rapist and almost certainly a serial killer, too, but they seem to be reframing him as Poor Sad Guy Who Almost Does Bad Things But Doesn't. Seems like if they didn't want to deal with such a sadistic and violent character in the central role, they shouldn't have connected this to Billy Milligan at all.

Diverting that much from the real story is just bizarre.

Edited June 25, 2023 by gesundheit
Added spoiler tags b/c of real-life story details

[chediavolo]

I guess some of this is not hard to decipher , but no spoilers please. I never read the book or knew this was based on a true story. 

[iMonrey]

I thought this last episode made it fairly obvious Adam is not real. Nobody ever talked to him or acknowledged him except Danny. It made zero sense for Marlin to drive up to that barn and tell him he wanted to show him something while not even acknowledging the presence of Adam in the back seat and just leaving him there. I just don't get why Danny's mother apparently indulges this fantasy because Danny repeatedly name checks him in front of his mother and at one point she even asks if he misses Adam.

Maybe Danny is actually already in therapy? And this is how his therapist has instructed Danny's mother to deal with the situation, by pretending Adam is real but saying he has to "go away" to visit his father for awhile. Like they're trying to wean Danny off of "Adam." There's also no logic in sending just one of the twins for a visit with the father if there are really two of them. What - the dad only likes one of them?

And at this point it's easy enough to extrapolate that Ariana wasn't real either given Rya's pointed questions about Adam while Danny repeatedly asks what this has to do with Ariana.

If none of this was obvious before it certainly is now.

I can't believe there's five more episodes of this, I really don't know what more they can do with it.

[chediavolo]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I thought this last episode made it fairly obvious Adam is not real. Nobody ever talked to him or acknowledged him except Danny. It made zero sense for Marlin to drive up to that barn and tell him he wanted to show him something while not even acknowledging the presence of Adam in the back seat and just leaving him there. I just don't get why Danny's mother apparently indulges this fantasy because Danny repeatedly name checks him in front of his mother and at one point she even asks if he misses Adam.

Maybe Danny is actually already in therapy? And this is how his therapist has instructed Danny's mother to deal with the situation, by pretending Adam is real but saying he has to "go away" to visit his father for awhile. Like they're trying to wean Danny off of "Adam." There's also no logic in sending just one of the twins for a visit with the father if there are really two of them. What - the dad only likes one of them?

And at this point it's easy enough to extrapolate that Ariana wasn't real either given Rya's pointed questions about Adam while Danny repeatedly asks what this has to do with Ariana.

If none of this was obvious before it certainly is now.

I can't believe there's five more episodes of this, I really don't know what more they can do with it.

I can’t believe this is based on a true story. I’ll have to Google that. I still don’t know why he is being psychoanalyzed, while being in jail for attempted murder.

[Snazzy Daisy]

5 episodes in, we're still waiting for the BIG REVEAL...

[AstridM]

On 6/24/2023 at 5:17 PM, chediavolo said:

I can’t believe this is based on a true story. I’ll have to Google that. I still don’t know why he is being psychoanalyzed, while being in jail for attempted murder.

Because it’s vital to his defense. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by AstridM

[shelley1234]

On 6/24/2023 at 12:10 PM, iMonrey said:

I thought this last episode made it fairly obvious Adam is not real. Nobody ever talked to him or acknowledged him except Danny. It made zero sense for Marlin to drive up to that barn and tell him he wanted to show him something while not even acknowledging the presence of Adam in the back seat and just leaving him there. I just don't get why Danny's mother apparently indulges this fantasy because Danny repeatedly name checks him in front of his mother and at one point she even asks if he misses Adam.

Maybe Danny is actually already in therapy? And this is how his therapist has instructed Danny's mother to deal with the situation, by pretending Adam is real but saying he has to "go away" to visit his father for awhile. Like they're trying to wean Danny off of "Adam." There's also no logic in sending just one of the twins for a visit with the father if there are really two of them. What - the dad only likes one of them?

 

I just assumed that Danny's mom thought he had an imaginary friend and was playing along.  

[peachmangosteen]

I started to figure Adam wasn't real in like episode 2 but I didn't get that Danny had DID until like episode 4. I'm half still intrigued and half annoyed that every character is actually just Danny.

I don't know how they can get 5 more episodes out of this.

[Straycat80]

I figured by the fourth episode that Danny had multiple personalities. And for sure in the fifth episode it was very clear, Adam is his other self and not real. 
I’m sticking with the rest of this series. Psychological disorders are fascinating to me. I know this is fictional but there have been cases, like this one is based on, that truly happened. 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Straycat80

[peachmangosteen]

What was on the tape the detective gave Rya? Was it just video of the shooting showing only Danny there?

[iMonrey]

I found Episode 6 rather tedious if I'm honest. A lot of rehash, and I'm not terribly interested in Rya's home life. The scenes with Danny, both as Jack and himself, were interesting, but I'm annoyed they are still dancing around this Adam issue. Even the mother wouldn't give a straight answer. And the episode ended without any definitive answer. I mean, I've pieced it together already myself, so I don't know why the show is still stretching this out.

2 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

What was on the tape the detective gave Rya? Was it just video of the shooting showing only Danny there?

I would assume so. That's another thing that annoyed me.

I did enjoy Tom Holland's acting in this. His transition from self-assured Jack to frightened Danny was really impressive. I wonder if he'll get an Emmy nomination for this.

[peachmangosteen]

I thought perhaps it was Johnny who Rya first met. He wasn't acting at all like the shy, quiet Danny.

I'm also annoyed about the Adam situation. I feel like maybe he actually isn't an alter since he was a thing before Danny was molested by Marlin. Then I thought maybe Danny was molested before that as well and Adam developed due to that abuse. 

It seemed like other people had actually witnessed Ariana being there so I thought maybe she was actually real but then the detective showed Rya that tape and the only thing I could think it showed was Danny being alone at the shooting. But then I don't get why they said they had a report of what Araina looked like.

[iMonrey]

41 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I'm also annoyed about the Adam situation. I feel like maybe he actually isn't an alter since he was a thing before Danny was molested by Marlin. Then I thought maybe Danny was molested before that as well and Adam developed due to that abuse. 

It seemed like other people had actually witnessed Ariana being there so I thought maybe she was actually real but then the detective showed Rya that tape and the only thing I could think it showed was Danny being alone at the shooting. But then I don't get why they said they had a report of what Araina looked like.

I'm confused about Ariana as well.

As for Adam, notice when Rya went into the house there were no photos of Adam, just a drawing of him and Danny. If it turns out Adam was real at this point, I'm going to be very mad at the show. That whole scene in the truck last episode made zero sense if Adam was real.

[AstridM]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

What was on the tape the detective gave Rya? Was it just video of the shooting showing only Danny there?

I assume so. 

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I found Episode 6 rather tedious if I'm honest. A lot of rehash, and I'm not terribly interested in Rya's home life. The scenes with Danny, both as Jack and himself, were interesting, but I'm annoyed they are still dancing around this Adam issue. Even the mother wouldn't give a straight answer. And the episode ended without any definitive answer. I mean, I've pieced it together already myself, so I don't know why the show is still stretching this out.

I would assume so. That's another thing that annoyed me.

I did enjoy Tom Holland's acting in this. His transition from self-assured Jack to frightened Danny was really impressive. I wonder if he'll get an Emmy nomination for this.

I really enjoyed this episode. It’s not for everyone, obviously. And I think it’s obvious that Adam was imaginary. No need to spell it out further, imo 🤷‍♀️. I think young Danny invented “Adam” when Marlin came along and his mother got closer to him and Danny no longer had her all to himself. They already showed he was a lonely, anxious child in the episode where he begged his mom to take him with her to work. It’s not uncommon for kids to invent imaginary friends (I had one). But after the abuse started, his psyche truly split .

Edited June 30, 2023 by AstridM

[Hook75]

I agree. I think Adam may have started as imaginary friend (and that's why his mother knew about him and played along) but after the abused started, Adam came back but as one of his personalities. 

I think at this point, the "twist" (DID) is really dragging. We ALL figured it out a few episodes ago, there was no need for a whole episode dedicated to the reveal. I do hope it'd be Danny switching between his personalities from now on and not them being played by different actors because at this point, this is what keeps me interested.....to see Tom's acting out each one of them. 

[AstridM]

18 minutes ago, Hook75 said:

I agree. I think Adam may have started as imaginary friend (and that's why his mother knew about him and played along) but after the abused started, Adam came back but as one of his personalities. 

I think at this point, the "twist" (DID) is really dragging. We ALL figured it out a few episodes ago, there was no need for a whole episode dedicated to the reveal. I do hope it'd be Danny switching between his personalities from now on and not them being played by different actors because at this point, this is what keeps me interested.....to see Tom's acting out each one of them. 

IDK, some of us figured it out very early on, but there are some who didn’t, oddly. 

[peachmangosteen]

13 hours ago, Hook75 said:

I do hope it'd be Danny switching between his personalities from now on and not them being played by different actors because at this point, this is what keeps me interested.....to see Tom's acting out each one of them. 

Yea, the only thing left that intrigues me is the possibility of Tom acting as each of Danny's personalities. 

[iMonrey]

The first time Rya met Danny he seemed so full of swagger and confidence. Very different than the meek, quiet Danny she's been interviewing since. So I wonder which personality she encountered that first time.

Edited July 1, 2023 by iMonrey

[AstridM]

25 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

The first time Rya met Danny he seemed so full of swagger and confidence. Very different than the meek, quiet Danny she's been interviewing since. So I wonder which personality she encountered that first time.

Jonny and Mike, his high school friends.

[iMonrey]

23 hours ago, AstridM said:

Jonny and Mike, his high school friends.

How do you know that? Is that a book spoiler?

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

How do you know that? Is that a book spoiler?

Jonny was the one who often did magic tricks (getting out of the handcuffs,) and Mike said “hey sis” to Ariana at the party, just like Danny did when he met Rya.

This series is only very, very loosely based on the book.

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by AstridM

[peachmangosteen]

I mentioned earlier that I assumed the Danny that Rya first met was Johnny.

I'm just wondering if any of the people we've seen with Danny besides his mom and Marlin are actually real or if they're literally all alters. I feel like Annabelle is real but I'm not sure. I hope so because them all just being Danny is sort of annoying to me for some reason.

I also just remembered a scene in, I think, episode 2 where Ariana is walking into some old building or something and there are dead bodies. So, I guess maybe Danny is a serial killer.

[NeenerNeener]

On 7/2/2023 at 6:16 PM, peachmangosteen said:

I also just remembered a scene in, I think, episode 2 where Ariana is walking into some old building or something and there are dead bodies. So, I guess maybe Danny is a serial killer.

Maybe those were just some of the other personalities in his subconscious sleeping until they're needed.

[peachmangosteen]

13 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

Maybe those were just some of the other personalities in his subconscious sleeping until they're needed.

Ah, you are probably right.

This show is giving me One Life to Live vibes. There are a lot of similarities to Jessica's DID. 

[peachmangosteen]

That was a very boring episode.

I'm still trying to figure out if Annabelle was an alter or real. I guess literally everyone we saw him have contact with was an alter but I'm hoping there's some actual real people in there somewhere for some reason lol.

[AstridM]

11 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

That was a very boring episode.

I'm still trying to figure out if Annabelle was an alter or real. I guess literally everyone we saw him have contact with was an alter but I'm hoping there's some actual real people in there somewhere for some reason lol.

She was an alter, just like the others.

[peachmangosteen]

So every single person outside of his mom, Marlin, Rya, and all the people at the jail were alters. They should have shown some of the other characters we actually saw like Annabelle, Annabelle's friend, etc. in his mindscape. 

I should have read up on what this show was based on before watching so I probably wouldn't have watched it lol.

Tom Holland wasn't even that interesting/good playing the others so it wasn't even really worth watching for the performances.

Although, Danny finally asking for help at the end was quite moving.

[iMonrey]

I really liked this one. I liked the gimmick of him going into the barn and finding all the alters there. Really makes sense that's where he would make the association since that's where he was broken into pieces. 

I'm still confused about Adam though. He had Adam pre-Marlin. And we didn't see him in the barn. Obviously there's still some upcoming reveal about Adam but it's driving me nuts because I can't figure out a way for it to make a lot of sense. The only thing I've got right now is that maybe there was an Adam who died when they were very little, and Danny just kept pretending Adam was still there and his mother let him. 

Also? At the very beginning when there was an eclipse everyone was just staring straight up at it. WTF? Shouldn't they all have permanent eye damage now? 

39 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Tom Holland wasn't even that interesting/good playing the others so it wasn't even really worth watching for the performances.

Hard disagree, he's really selling this for me. He's kind of the main draw, which is why I was kind of bored with the previous episode that was mostly about Rya. And I have zero priors with this actor. Never saw his Spiderman or whatever the hell else he was in.

[AstridM]

54 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

So every single person outside of his mom, Marlin, Rya, and all the people at the jail were alters. They should have shown some of the other characters we actually saw like Annabelle, Annabelle's friend, etc. in his mindscape. 

I should have read up on what this show was based on before watching so I probably wouldn't have watched it lol.

Tom Holland wasn't even that interesting/good playing the others so it wasn't even really worth watching for the performances.

Although, Danny finally asking for help at the end was quite moving.

His mindscape scenes took place within his fractured psyche, so only the alters were present. Annabelle and her friends were real and played no part in that. 

[Hook75]

2 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

That was a very boring episode.

I'm still trying to figure out if Annabelle was an alter or real. I guess literally everyone we saw him have contact with was an alter but I'm hoping there's some actual real people in there somewhere for some reason lol.

Annabelle is real, they had sex.  

[peachmangosteen]

40 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Also? At the very beginning when there was an eclipse everyone was just staring straight up at it. WTF? Shouldn't thlet all have permanent eye damage now? 

Yea, very dumb scene.

2 hours ago, AstridM said:

She was an alter, just like the others.

 

26 minutes ago, AstridM said:

Annabelle and her friends were real and played no part in that. 

What lol? So do you think she was an alter or not?

I was thinking about it more and Annabelle was definitely real. The alters were only who were in his head in this ep. Plus Adam. I’m with you @iMonreythough that I feel there’s maybe something more to come with him. Also, I don’t understand how Danny made it through life having conversations with himself and no one was like um this kid needs help lol.

[Hook75]

37 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I'm still confused about Adam though. He had Adam pre-Marlin. And we didn't see him in the barn.

I have 2 theories about Adam. He either was "put to sleep" ala Yitzak in this episode because there was no more use to him OR Adam grew up to become Ariana so Adam=Ariana. 

I'm also wondering why Adam exists pre-Marlin. I'm sticking with my previous theory that he started as imaginary friend and turned into Danny's first alter. 

Tom did a great job this episode. 

[peachmangosteen]

42 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

And I have zero priors with this actor. Never saw his Spiderman or whatever the hell else he was in.

This is the first thing I’ve ever actually seen Tom Holland in as well. He has charm but he hasn’t overly impressed me acting wise. He’s fine.

[AstridM]

6 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

What lol? So do you think she was an alter or not?

No idea why this is funny 🤷‍♀️. Ariana was an alter, Annabelle was a real person.