The thrilling and heart-wrenching show on Apple TV, The Crowded Room, released its final episode today, and it was the climax of this 10-part series. Starring Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried in the leading roles, the show talks about a young man who’s a victim of dissociative identity disorder and how his illness is brought out during a daunting court trial. In the previous episode, after Danny’s mother, Candy, denied her son ever being sexually assaulted, Danny slit his wrists to end his life. The final episode brings us the aftermath of this suicide attempt, as well as the verdict of the trial.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Is Jack In Possession of Danny’s Body?
When Rya and Stan rush into the jail’s infirmary, they find Danny lying there with an impassive face, and he doesn’t make much of an effort to recognize the new guests. Instead, when Rya asks about Danny’s health, he answers in a sharp British accent that he’s safe, but he won’t be appearing anymore. He also lets Rya know that, given how the circumstances are, Danny will be in prison by the next month, so in all probability, Danny needs him a lot more than Rya now. This is none other than the British gentleman Jack, who’s seized complete control over Danny’s body and is operating in a dictatorial capacity, as can be seen from a look inside Danny’s psyche. After finishing the speech with Rya and Stan, he walks back to a makeshift cage to look at the real Danny Sullivan, whom he’s holding after he tried ending himself. By now, it’s obvious that Jack has taken over from his creator, Danny, and will do anything necessary to stay alive, even though he’s just a figment of Danny’s psyche. This is an example of the system’s complete breakdown, as Jack himself explained to Yitzhak before killing the Israeli gentle giant. Unless Danny can retake control of his body, there’s a high probability Jack will sabotage Danny’s trial.
How Does Stan Tear Down Jack?
At the cafeteria, Stan seems very dejected, as the possibility of them losing the case is more apparent than ever. While discussing Stan’s PTSD from the Vietnam War, Rya suddenly has a brainwave when she tells him that unless people realize that they can’t fix things that they don’t have a control over, they can’t accept reality. She takes Stan on a drive and stops to borrow some pictures from Candy while explaining that the best thing about Danny is that he needs visual proof to realize and accept something. Rya quits her job at the university, realizing that teaching isn’t her calling and she’s meant to help many more like Danny before arriving at court.
As the trial begins, Jack whispers some quips to Stan before the defense attorney calls his own client to the witness box. Jack firmly stands his ground that he’s indeed Danny Sullivan and proceeds to tell a tall tale about how he’d loathed his stepfather Marlin and had only wanted to scare him into leaving Danny and Candy. Jack also claims total responsibility for the situation, determined to go to prison instead of a psychiatric facility lest the doctors cure Danny of Jack. Stan brings out a portrait by Danny of himself and his twin brother, Adam, and questions Jack about who this child beside Danny is. There’s visible discomfort in Jack’s countenance as a rattling begins inside Danny’s cage. Jack responds distractedly that Adam is his twin brother while continuously looking back at Danny, who is now trying to escape from the cage. Jack adds that Adam died as a boy, not as a baby. Stan shows some photographs to Jack where Candy can be seen holding just one baby and other pictures of a single child, and there’s no other identical child around this kid. Danny breaks out of his cage, and Jack shouts at nothing to stop the nuisance, attracting the inquisition of the jury.
What Is The Biggest Revelation Of The Story?
As Jack has a hard time responding to Stan’s questions, Danny walks through chest-deep water toward a poorly lit area and brings out a little boy from under the water. The child Adam stares at Danny as the spotlight on Jack fades out with the rest of Danny’s personas surrounding this dictator. The next time Stan addresses Danny, it’s the real Danny Sullivan in his psyche, sitting in the witness box, who admits Adam was his brother, but he’d like to go away. Danny then explains that Adam wanted Marlin to sexually assault him as many times as that monster wanted because Adam wanted the well-being of Candy and Danny. Adam had always been the savior of the family. However, when Stan asks Danny who Adam is, Danny responds, “Adam is me.” Danny never had a real brother, and Adam was his first persona that developed to help this shy boy navigate his way through an unnaturally cruel world. Danny says he killed Adam because he did something bad, but as it turns out, Adam took over Danny’s body to keep his psyche safe as the savior faced the predator all by himself. Stan’s defense rests, and the jury declares Danny not guilty on the grounds of insanity. The case is won, but Danny still has a long way to go.
What Does Danny Tell Rya?
After some time, Rya is talking with Danny, who looks a lot healthier and more confident than he’s ever been. He thanks her wholeheartedly for guiding him in the right direction and also informs her that Rya had been his ‘Mother Mary’ in times of great distress. Rya has taken up counseling as a full-time profession because she’d rather help people than seek tenure as a teacher. Danny tells her that Candy had come to visit him, and she had been amazed looking at the fantastic paintings that her son had created in the two years after the trial. These are the same paintings we see during the opening credits, and being able to actually paint such masterpieces on canvas shows just how amazingly talented Danny Sullivan had been.
Did Danny Forgive Candy?
Danny takes a walk with Candy on the ornamented garden path, and she slowly divulges secrets that she’s kept buried in her heart for decades. When Danny was an infant, Candy realized that his father had abused him, so she took the 4-year-old and ran away, only to find out that the man she’d brought into their lives was just the same. Candy had left Marlin, but he’d kept harassing her for a while until the cops were called. One day, he stopped coming altogether. Candy profusely apologized for staying silent on the abuse her child suffered because she sought protection and safety and admitted that she’d failed to protect her child. Danny let her know in nonverbal cues that he didn’t want to see her again, and she had to leave. Danny couldn’t forgive the woman who was the biggest culprit in the devastation of his childhood, and he let her know as much without saying a word.
Is Danny Cured Of His Illness In The End?
Later, Danny walks Rya out as it’s time for her to head home. Rya tells him that Danny has successfully become all the people who lived inside his head, but he corrects her, saying that not everyone has assimilated with him. There’s an “unpaid debt” that he needs to fulfill, and as Rya walks out, for a brief second, she spots a child sitting beside Danny as he waves at her. This child was Adam, whom Danny had killed because he’d allowed Marlin to assault him, but now, after all these years, he realizes what Adam had done for Danny and his mother. So, Danny shall spend the rest of his days making it up to Adam by being kind to the fragment of his own psyche, treating him as the brother he knew.
Adam doesn’t exist, but this is no longer unknown to Danny; he shall look after Adam like a person who talks to a spirit that nobody can see, and he’ll treat this child with care. Of course, Adam lives inside Danny’s head, but he won’t drive the kid away or assimilate with him like he did with the rest of his personality because he truly considers Adam his brother. He shall protect and cherish Adam for the rest of his life because Adam did the same when Danny was a child. In some ways, yes, Danny is cured of his illness, and now he’s the only one controlling his mind, although he’s retained a tiny portion of his psyche in the form of his twin brother, Adam.
