The Apple TV+ drama, The Crowded Room follows a troubled young man getting arrested for a crime that is a result of a lifetime of sexual abuse and trauma.
Story
Danny Sullivan shoots a couple of rounds at Rockefeller Center. He’s arrested and to the police, he provides an erratic display of behavior that makes them think he might either be acting or genuinely challenged.
Detective Matty brings psychology professor Dr. Rya Goodwin to the case and she begins her sessions with Danny, who offers much resistance at first but slowly starts peeling off the layers of his psyche.
Rya and Danny make many breakthroughs and learn how so many of the characters in Danny’s life of late are all alternate personalities that reside inside his mind and surface from time to time.
Meanwhile, his case seems cut out for failure at the hearings, since his disorder isn’t an officially recognized condition. Rya and Stan work hard to help Danny and at the final moment, help him come to terms with the truth of what happened to him and get his freedom.
Performances
Tom Holland leads the cast with an immensely strong and felt performance. It’s a heavy role to take on and is sure to leave a lot of baggage with whoever takes on it, and Holland fires on all cylinders.
Amanda Seyfried is the second main character who is phenomenal, especially when it comes to expressing herself through her eyes. She also acts as an audience surrogate and offers a great lens to see Danny’s suffering through.
Emmy Rossum renders pain and guilt like it’s nobody’s business, and even in the relatively less amount of screen time she has, she does an incredible job with it.
Will Chase plays the diabolical and truly disgusting Marlin, making his evil character seem believable, a feat not easy with characters such as this.
Positives
The Crowded Room is paced well when it enters its second half and the story really takes a life of its own.
The show is stacked with an immensely talented cast that elevates the material way beyond what it’d have been capable of with lesser actors.
The show deals with many heavy themes and subjects and does so in pretty mature ways and without turning up the kitschy elements that so often end up happening with true crime content.
Negatives
Even if different and slightly better at handling mental health problems, the show still uses Danny’s condition as a central narrative tool.
The show takes its time getting to the weight of the matter and the first few episodes are just eternal slogs.
Verdict
The Crowded Room is a mixed bag of mental health representation and is an initial slog. However, its story and developments pick up the pace as the episodes roll out and by the end of it all, the story manages to grip the viewers while unraveling a most painful tale of abuse and trauma.
Also Read: Is The Crowded Room based on a true story?
