The Crowded Room – Season 1 Episode 2 “Sanctuary” Recap & Review

Sanctuary

Episode 2 of The Crowded Room begins with Rya visiting the boarding house. She is creeped out by it. She inspects the whole place and finds a splatter of blood on one of the walls in Ariana’s room upstairs. Rya leaves in a hurry after she is thrown off by various weird noises in the house and procures Danny’s sketchbook from the fireplace. It was thrown in to be burned but it didn’t work. Danny explains that Marlin and his mother came to get him from the boarding house the day after. They insisted he come back at once. Marlin got quite animated and threatened him but Danny and Yitzhak came out and levelled him.

Danny assures Candy that he will be alright at the house and it is his wish to stay. They leave, reluctantly, and Danny begins his journey with his “new family.” He called Yitzhak’s coming into his life a coincidence. The Israeli made the house rules clear to Danny, who just wanted a place to stay. Ariana took a long time to open up to Danny. Their friendship gradually grew but she was too guarded about her personal details and often was erratic and abrupt with him.

Nonetheless, Danny believed that Ariana was a kind person but went through a lot of stuff. She would also mysteriously disappear for whole nights and show up a mess in the mornings. At the supermarket, Danny runs into Annabelle once again, who is in college now. The two make their peace and Danny invites her to a “party” at his place that night. Jonny and Mike promise to bring weed, alcohol, and some people over so that Danny can finally get his wish.

Ariana was introduced to them that night when she sat down to do drugs with them. Danny and Annabelle got closer as the night went on. They were in each other’s privacy in Danny’s room when Ariana interrupted them and started making out with Annabelle. Danny got out of the way and only saw Annabelle in the morning. There is still some confusion over the respective characters’ sexualities as of now. Ariana and Danny hang out afterwards and then even go on to see a movie. While on their way out, Ariana is confronted by a strange man called Benny.

But she violently pushes him away, curses Danny, and runs off on her own. In reality, we saw Ariana getting dressed up with heavy makeup and going to rave parties at night. She used to drink, dance, and flirt with strangers of both sexes, indicating she was bisexual. We see her getting intimate with Jerome, a person she had been physical with before. She also gets close to a girl called Grace. As the hours went by, Ariana didn’t realize it was morning until after she got out of the club, fighting with Jerome.

He professes his love for her but Ariana breaks his heart and runs away. We see her crying alone in her room for a while and then going to Danny, asking “for help.” In Rya’s opinion, she was a liability and her unpredictableness put Danny in danger. She tries to get more answers about who got rid of Ariana but Danny does not respond. He gets up from his chair, all of a sudden. The episode ends with a shot of Ariana walking into a strange place filled with water and unconscious people.

The Episode Review

Episode 2 of The Crowded Room has mixed results and feels like a filler episode. There is no real story progression and we get further away from knowing our characters rather than closer. Ariana seems an unsolvable enigma as of now and one really wonders what Danny saw in her.

Not much of it made a lot of sense and this is certainly disappointing. While the pilot was supposed to keep the details guarded, this episode was to build on it and pave the way forward.

Not only do we not know what the central crime is but we have no idea about what the police have found. Rya is talking in riddles and so is Danny. It might prove to be a clever storytelling device later on but right now, The Crowded Room is losing the battle with its viewers.