'The Crowded Room' Episode 2 Review: Danny and Ariana grow from strangers to close friends
Spoilers ahead for ‘The Crowded Room’ Episode 2
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tom Holland’s psychological thriller ‘The Crowded Room’ is finally out with the first three episodes streaming on Apple TV+. The first episode revolved around the past events of Danny’s life and the present-day investigation with Rya Goodwin. A lot is riding on Danny’s part, which he carefully and gradually reveals in ‘The Crowded Room’ Episode 2 titled ‘Sanctuary’. The episode explores the friendship of Danny and Ariana and features the dark side of Ariana’s life.
‘The Crowded Room’ Episode 2 opens with a future still where Rya Goodwin investigates the "ghost house." Inside the house, she discovers Danny’s art book by the fireplace, blood stains on the wall, and a broken window. This episode juggles two different timelines, with the present day featuring Rya and Danny’s ongoing investigation and the past events showing Danny and Ariana’s growing bond. The suspense builds in the second episode, considering Danny’s innocence and Ariana’s psychological warfare, which might be the key reason for Danny’s involvement in the criminal world.
Danny Sullivan’s short-lived happiness
After Danny moves into the "ghost house" across the street with Yitzhak and Ariana, Candy and Marlin make an effort to bring him back home. However, Danny assures Candy that he’s happy there and they are good people. He reveals to Rya that the three years he lived there was the first time in his life that he felt happy. Unfortunately, the good life didn’t last long. As Danny goes to the grocery store, he coincidentally bumps into Anabelle, who apologizes to him for her rude actions and asks him if they can hang out again. Danny then invites her to a ghost house, where Yitzhak establishes house rules consisting of no drugs, no sex, no parties in the house, and rent on time.
We reckon his attraction for Anabelle didn’t hold him back. At the party, Danny, Johnny, and Mike smokes weed and was later joined by Ariana. Anabelle arrives with a bunch of friends. As she flirts her way ending up in Danny’s room, they kiss but are cut off by the presence of Ariana. She joins them and starts kissing Anabelle, surprisingly disappointing Danny, who is left out. The next morning, Anabelle tells him that he can kiss her, but her expressions state otherwise, again disheartening Danny.
Danny and Ariana’s budding friendship
When Danny moves to the ghost house, he has a casual encounter with Ariana, who is a complete stranger to him. He feels a connection with her and tries to get involved in her life, but she has always told him to "f**k off" and to not think for a second that they can be secret buddies. However, after Ariana gets involved with Anabelle and leaves Danny out, she apologizes the next morning and they hang out together.
The main theme of Ariana’s character is that she constantly keeps mentioning to Danny that they aren’t sweethearts, secret buddies, or even real friends. We can see that is just the way she is. Nonetheless, upon returning from a movie theatre, Danny and Ariana encounter some ruthless men on the street who were her friends or her f***bo*s. But Ariana ignores them and tells Danny to f*** off. Later, she goes to a club that she has clearly visited a lot before, considering her acquaintances there. She meets a girl there but also comes across Jerome, her extremely possessive boyfriend. When they have sex, she tries to sabotage their moment as she kisses the girl in front of Jerome, who then grabs her outside the club. Upon returning home, Ariana asks for Danny’s help as she feels uneasy and her psychological demons have destroyed her mentally.
The episode offers a revealing glance at Danny and Ariana’s life. Still, Rya isn’t convinced that Danny is telling the whole story, specifically as he doesn’t talk about his fear and his dead brother. The episode concluded with Ariana walking in a wooden stable that is flooded, with two dead bodies lying in it.
The ten-episode miniseries is undeniably keeping its audience intrigued and scratching their heads as it tries to get to the bottom of the big mystery. The first two episodes of the Apple TV+ thriller leave a myriad of questions, which are expected to be unraveled with each new episode.
‘The Crowded Room’ Episode 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.