Episode 3 of Reverie aired June 13, on NBC.
We all have our ghosts, those things that haunt us, that we just can’t shake–and Reverie knows all about it.
Fear in My Bones
The client this week is Nate. In real life, he’s married, with a child on the way, and by all accounts is a faithful and reliable guy–in Reverie, he’s a bad ass bank robber. He’s been going into his Reverie more and more, and now he’s not coming back out. He’s losing everything, his job, his house, and if he doesn’t come back, his family. Nate’s wife is desperate, and brings an attorney to Onira-Tech—if they don’t get Nate out of Reverie, they’re going to be sued.
Mara makes her first attempts in Nate’s Reverie, which as usual fail, the last one ending in a shocking, violent twist when a thug on a motorcycle wraps a chain around Nate’s neck and drags him down the street.
She talks to the wife who tells her about a recent event—a man with a knife broke into their home, and he was never caught. Mara believes that the thug in Nate’s Reverie is the same guy who broke into his home, and she gives Charlie the guy’s description, including a detail that helps LAPD track him down, he had two x’s tattooed on his neck. They get the guy, but they have to have Nate’s positive ID before they can put him away.
Back in Nate’s Reverie, Mara learns that the break in wasn’t the end of the story. Turns out that the guy came back a few weeks later and threatened Nate with a knife, said he’d kill him if he talked to the police. Nate felt helpless and afraid for the first time in his life, and this is why he wants to stay in his Reverie, in there he doesn’t have to feel afraid. With all of the Reveries, there’s usually some thing about Mara’s own past that she comes to realize and shares with the client—with Nate, it’s the fact that even after two years she still can’t go back to the house or even drive down the street where her sister and niece were killed. She knows that this fear won’t go away until she faces it, and she tells Nate that it’s the same for him, this fear he has won’t go away until he faces it. With that, Nate exits his Reverie. He ID’s the thug and goes home to his wife.
Reverie Knows What You Need
When Mara tells Paul about the motorcycle guy dragging Nate down the street, he explains to her that people think they know what they want when they design their Reverie, but the program goes beyond that, it knows what the person needs, and puts it into the Reverie. And to show her what he means, Paul invites Mara into his own Reverie, a perfect replica of his childhood home.
This is what Paul wanted, but Reverie knew what he needed and during one of his visits he found that the program had added a new door inside the house. It’s a frightening looking door, but a sliding bolt, and on the other side of it someone or something is BANGING loudly. It’s pretty damn scary. What’s behind the door, Paul? Mara asks. He tells her that his father was a difficult man, an alcoholic, cruel and abusive. In Reverie, Paul realized that his anxieties and fears (which he’s been trying to deal with and hiding very well) were because of his father, and when he opens the door, he’s standing there, a frail old man, not a monster, just an unhappy man who never wanted a family. Paul tells him he can go now and the old man leaves. When Paul and Mara come out, he is visibly shaken. Mara asks him about the other doors in his Reverie, and he tells her “another time perhaps.” Paul is a man with many ghosts, it would seem.
You’re Here for a Reason
Mara is still having the issues with derealization. After nearly being fired by Charlie, she agrees to take the pills that Paul prescribed, and the episode ends with Mara facing her fears. She takes a drive and ends up at the house her sister and niece were killed in. Terrified, she forces herself to go in and to go to the room where it all happened. Inside that room, Brynn is there waiting for her. “You’re here for a reason,” she says to Mara, and the walls start to flash and cave in as Mara says, “This is not real.” Was it a nightmare? Was she in Reverie? Or did it really happen? Either way, I feel like Reverie is responsible. The program knows Mara, it knows what she needs, and in some frightening but amazing and incredible way, Reverie is saving her. I wish we all had a Reverie.
What would your Reverie look like? What would you want? What would you need? Please take a moment and share your thoughts on the show in the comments.
Reverie returns June 20th, 10/9 C, on NBC.
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