Episode 9 of Reverie aired August 1st, on NBC.
Things are coming to a dangerous and exciting head in the first of what series creator Mickey Fisher calls “essentially a two part season finale.”
Special Delivery
The show starts with Mara at her place, surrounded by Charlie, Paul, and Alexis. Mara is devastated about the frightening derealization where she saw a Chris who was not really Chris, who then turned into Ray. She is in tears and she’s angry, and she wants this to stop. While the team tries to comfort her, they are interrupted with a call from the hospital.
Remember last episode when Oliver passed out after going into Reverie? It turns out the weird writing that we caught a glimpse of was a message: “Deliver me to Mara Kint.” So the folks at the hospital tracked Mara down. Charlie has Oliver transferred to Onira-Tech and handcuffed to a bed. And of course Oliver’s “inside guy” is the security guard left in charge of Oliver.
Despite Charlie and Paul’s concerns, Mara goes into the program to talk to Oliver and see if he can tell her how to stop the derealizations. Which is just what Oliver wanted.
A Shocking Secret is Revealed
In Oliver’s Reverie, a beautiful beach with crashing waves, he wants to propose an exchange with Mara: he asks her to talk to Alexis and have her come into the Reverie so he can talk to her. Mara wants to know how he can help her, and he tells her the only way she can save herself is to have the BCI removed. He says it can’t just be deactivated, it has to be cut out. And then, he says, she should leave Onira-Tech forever.
At Onira-Tech, Mara wants to know if they can do it. Paul and Alexis explain to her that, yes, they can remove the BCI, but if they do it leaves scar tissue and they can never put another one in. She will be permanently blocked from Reverie. Mara considers this and decides that she wants the BCI out. But later Paul talks to Mara, and he suggests that it might not be just the program throwing images at her, that it really might all be connected and happening for a reason. He says the program could be trying to uncover something hidden in her mind, and if that’s true, taking the BCI out is the worse thing she could do. When Mara asks why he is making her decision harder, Paul admits, “I don’t want you to go.” I knew it, he has a crush on Mara! I so hope these two get together.
Just when Mara is ready to get the BCI out, she asks Dylan how many people are using Reverie, and how many might need help. His answer, 2.28 people at any given moment could be in trouble. Knowing this, Mara changes her mind. She goes to Paul and tells him all about the night that Ray shot Jamie and Brynn. But before they can figure out what the program is trying to uncover, Charlie interrupts. He has something he needs to tell Mara.
Charlie takes Mara to his office and begins to tell her that her version of what happened when Ray shot Jamie and Brynn is not accurate. I cannot tell you the goosebumps that I got when he said that. I had never even considered that there was more to the story, but apparently Mara had blocked out some of what happened, and there’s a good reason why she blocked it. Remember when Mara was trying to negotiate the scene and calm Ray down, and then all of a sudden the sirens are heard and Ray goes crazy? Mara was trying to text Charlie but she accidentally called his phone. The rest of what happened was recorded on his voicemail, and he plays it for her. We hear the whole thing, we hear the two gun shots, but then something happens, we don’t immediately hear Ray shoot himself. Instead, he says he’s sorry, and then we hear Mara as she prompts Ray to shoot himself. Mara is devastated, and she’s angry with Charlie for not telling her the truth.
After a night of drinking, Mara discovers that the derealizations are gone. She goes to Paul and asks for his help. They go to the hospital where Ray is and they get Ray all hooked up with Reverie (I totally called this one a few episodes ago!). She goes in, and it’s just this big gray space. She hears a voice behind her. It’s Ray. Mara turns and says, “Hello, Ray.”
Back to Oliver
While all this was happening with Mara, Alexis enters Oliver’s Reverie (against Charlie’s wishes). It’s her birthday, by the way. Happy Birthday Alexis! She meets him in his beach scene which he then turns into a romantic memory from their past and he tells her he has a gift for her—and then a voice calls out to Alexis, a voice we’ve heard before. It’s Dylan! Or at least Oliver’s version of Dylan. In a tearful and emotional scene, Alexis talks to her lost brother and then sends him away. She is angry with Oliver because he doesn’t understand, she says she did not create Reverie in order to resurrect Dylan. Alexis tells Oliver he is sick and a waste of her time, to which he replies with, “At least I didn’t kill my brother.” Hmm … seems there’s way more we don’t know about Alexis and Dylan.
Alexis comes out of the Reverie crying, and when Charlie sees this he attacks Oliver, who has also come out now, and demands to know what he did to Alexis. Oliver gets an attorney and on his way out the door he tells Charlie that he’s in control now. Of course Charlie has no idea what he means, but the whole thing with meeting Alexis in the Reverie was just a misdirection, a distraction–while Alexis was in the Reverie, Oliver had his security guy at Onira-Tech steal a key from Alexis that provides access to the program’s source code. He meets the security guy later and gives him his cash for the key. When asked what he’s going to do with the key, Oliver shoots him and says he’s going to “burn the place to the ground.” Later, Alexis leaves Onira-Tech to visit her parents, unaware that Oliver is following her. I have to say, Oliver intrigues me. Sometimes he seems so charming and gentle, and then he goes all freaking madman on us. The best kind of bad guy.
This episode was super intense and emotional all the way through, I feel like this is building to a killer season finale next week. Thoughts? What do you think Oliver is going to do? And what’s Mara going to say to Ray?
Reverie returns August 8th for the season finale, 10/9 C, on NBC. Are you ready?
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