Reverie
“The Key” (Episode 109)
August 1, 2018
Read up on the details on what happened in last week’s Reverie here!
The biggest shock of last week’s episode, okay, well, I guess there were two big shocks, was first, Mara has been seeing Chris as a derealization and only realized this after she was with program Chris and received a phone call from human Chris and the derealization turned into Ray. WHAT?!?! The second shock was Oliver Hill had the shady security guard steal him a program tablet to only go inside the program and collapse without explanation at a bar. WHAT?!?!?
Oliver Hill saying apertus is where we left off last week and now we will begin with The Key (Spoilers ahead – be warned)!!!!
Apertus.
We begin the episode with Mara at her house, she is joined by Paul, Charlie, and Alexis. They are there for support and out of concern. Charlie wants to know what happened to her. Mara recounts her experience with Chris and you can tell she is completely freaked out over it. She tells them about the glitch after the phone call from Chris turning to Ray. Paul questions who Ray is and Charlie fills him in (Ray is her brother in law in case you forgot at home). Paul reassures Mara they will work this out but Mara isn’t having it.
“Don’t you tell me this is going to be okay. I did everything you said, I did everything you said to make it okay and I am not. I don’t even know if any of you are real.”
Alexis asks Mara if the assembled group answered when she called them all, explaining you can’t call a derealization. Mara called them, they are real and Lexi also assures her they will help her. Mara’s phone rings and she has Charlie answer it, they now have to go to a hospital.
Following a doctor through the ER ward while they are being filled in on the patient they were called about. Mara appears to be in shock and Charlie is all business. The doctor wants to know if Charlie knows what going on with the patient as they can’t figure out why he won’t wake up since all of his tests are coming back normal. As they walk into the room the doctor asks if they know who this patient is. They do. It’s Oliver Hill. On the table next to his bed is the Reverie tablet which is now broken, Charlie asks if it was with him which it was. Mara asks why the doctor called her. The doctor explains when a patient arrives unconscious they try to get in touch with someone who knows the patient. Charlie asks why the doctor would think Mara knows Oliver, the doctor pulls back the blanket. Oliver’s chest reads “Deliver me to Mara Kint.”
–What in the heck, then again Oliver had been trying to get close to Mara for some reason before.–
Oliver Hill is moved to Onira Tech where Charlie has an officer handcuff Oliver to a bed. Charlie pulled every string he could to get Oliver transferred to Onira Tech, he isn’t taking the chance of him possibly getting away. Charlie isn’t really thrilled with the fact that someone within the company stole a BCI and delivered it to Oliver. Worse, it went unnoticed that it was missing. When the officer leaves the room, she informs the security guard to not let anyone besides herself or Charlie into Oliver’s room — what she doesn’t know is that this is the Shady Security Guard who has been helping Oliver this entire time.
Charlie walks into Lexi’s office as she is finishing up a phone call. Lexi was on the phone with a neurologist who is willing to come to Onira Tech the following day to try and help Mara. Lexi asks Charlie about Oliver, he let’s her know he’s been settled into the medical wing and continues to ask her about when she went to meet with Oliver and what they talked about. She goes tells Charlie the only reason she went to talk to Oliver was because of the bruise Mara had when she left the Reverie; she wanted Oliver’s opinion because he mentioned something like this could happen.
Charlie is surprised Lexi met with him seeing as it was Lexi who didn’t ever want to speak to him again. Lexi tries to turn it on Charlie seeing as he is divorced she thought he would understand why she wanted to talk to Oliver. Charlie reminds Lexi his ex-wife never tried to burn down his house and is sane unlike Oliver.
–UMMM WHAT, Oliver tried to burn down Lexi’s house. That is a bit unsettling.–
Charlie is aware Oliver has an agenda, he just doesn’t know what it is … yet. He warns Lexi to stay away from Oliver. Surprisingly, Lexi defends Oliver reminding Charlie of the fact that Oliver is angry because they hurt him, he’s just hurt. Charlie’s scared of this.
Paul enters Mara’s office to see how she is doing. She still isn’t herself. Paul suggests a few things. They could try a stronger medicine or another type of therapy? Mara isn’t having his suggestions, they haven’t worked before so why would they help now. She asks Paul if this has ever happened before? “Not like this,” Paul replies. He asks more questions about Mara’s derealization because Chris turning into Ray is something out of the ordinary. Paul wants to know if she had any interaction with Ray? Mara explains to Paul that Ray is there in the same capacity as Bryn was, they are there for a reason. –What the reason is, we still don’t know.–
Charlie joins the duo, letting them know Lexi has talked to a neurologist about helping Mara. Knowing that the neurologist will most likely not know anymore about what is going on than the team, Mara decides to go in and talk to Oliver herself. Paul and Charlie are shocked by her decision.
Apertus.
Mara is on a beach and Oliver isn’t far away. He immediately strikes up a conversation about all the 1’s and 0’s in the code — it’s playing tricks on their brains creating this world. Tricks that are real enough to cause them to go mad. Mara asks him why he is here? Oliver asks Mara about the bruise she received from the program, stating he received this information from Lexi. Mara doesn’t care about the bruise right now, there are bigger things concerning her. “Derealizations, they getting worse?” Oliver asks Mara. She responds with yes which is the answer Oliver wanted to hear.
This is the reason Oliver wanted to delivered to Mara. He can help her and she can help him.
–erm, how is this going to work out exactly? Not well one can only assume.–
Oliver asks Mara to ask Alexis to come meet Oliver in the program; no one else would be able to do it besides Mara. She warns him why it isn’t a good idea. Oliver just wants the chance to explain things to Lexi without anyone else watching to explain what happened; a moment where it is just them. Mara then asks how Oliver can help her. He goes on that the only way to fix the problem she is having to have them remove the BCI, not deactivate it, remove it from her brain and leave Onira Tech.
Exitus.
Mara is now in a conference room with Charlie, Lexi, and Paul wanting to know if what Oliver told her is true. Can they in fact remove her BCI and make the derealizations go away? Paul let’s her know it’s an emergency extraction and it can be done but they almost never do it. If a patient wants to be turned off from the program, they prefer to deactivate the BCI and within six months the body will absorb it as if it were never there to begin with. Mara asks why they don’t just take it out. Now Lexi answers Mara, informing her that when they extract the BCI, scar tissue is left in the BCI’s place. A person will never be able to have another BCI implanted – they would be permanently locked out of the program.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice Mara is super overwhelmed by all of this information. Paul suggests deactivating Mara’s BCI and to allow them to have more time to figure out why this keeps happening to her. Except, Mara doesn’t want this — she doesn’t want to wait for them to figure this out. Mara’s had enough and she decides she wants the BCI out. They will arrange for the BCI to be removed that afternoon.
“Mara, I’m sorry” Lexi says to her.
“Don’t be.” Mara responds before going to her office.
–Lexi is showing empathy. Mara loves empathy.–
There is a security guard switch and the Shady Security Guard moves to the courtyard with an iPad which has the security footage of Lexi’s office. –This guy is up to no good.– Charlie is waiting on a couch outside Lexi’s office and stops her as she is walking through the hall. Charlie tries to convince Lexi not go inside, but Lexi knows the only way to get the information they need is to go in and talk to “him.” Lexi knows Oliver enough that he won’t come out of the program without her going in; he would wait in there until his body goes into medical distress and at that point someone would have to go in anyways. Charlie agrees to it but he wants to know as soon as she exits the program. Lexi goes into her office and into the program.
Apertus.
Lexi is on the beach and joins Oliver. She tries to cut to the chase right away, Oliver says to her if he recalls correctly, her birthday is tomorrow and a vase filled with flowers appears a few feet away. Lexi remarks on the odd chance of Oliver only wanting her to be there because of her birthday. Which she’s right — it’s not the only reason he wanted her there. Oliver asks if he can show her one small thing and if she does, there is a present. Lexi reaches down and takes off her shoes. “You can have five minutes,” she tells Oliver.
–Hey Lexi don’t forget time isn’t the same in the program.–
On the outside the Shady Security Guard is watching the security footage of Lexi and gets up since he’s finished his lunch and take his tablet with him. Paul had been in his office and the camera pans over his computer screen which shows Chris’ bio page from LA Metro where he works. Paul finds Mara in her office, which she has started packing up. He has an idea that there is a reason why Mara is seeing the specific things she is seeing. The program wants her to figure something out, they just don’t know what yet.
Paul doesn’t want Mara to remove the BCI by any means. Mara asks to not make this decision any harder for her, she’s already made up her mind. You can see the disappointment and concern written all over Paul’s face. This is his friend and he doesn’t know how to help her, he also most likely feels like he did this to her.
Paul doesn’t want Mara to leave — she’s been able to help so many people, she’s been able to help the team. He begins to say how he wants her here but stops himself. There is a pause and goes back to Mara’s derealization. If Bryn and Ray keep saying they are there for a reason, then there is something about the shooting and they need to figure out what it is to help her. Paul wants to help her even if he doesn’t know how. Mara doesn’t want to keep digging around in memories she has spent so much time forgetting. She is okay with not figuring out what the program wants.
Return the the beach with Lexi and Oliver. They are walking on the beach when Mara states how they’ve been there for more then five minutes. Oliver instructs for her to stop walking. Seconds later and the entire town in Paris erupts from the ground around them. Instead of standing on sand, they are now standing on a cobblestone roadway. Lexi asks if they are in the place they traveled to together, in which he replies, “oui.” He points out the place Lexi always said had the best coffee she has ever had.
At Onira Tech, the Shady Security Guard is making his way through the halls and disables the security camera in Lexi’s office. Charlie is in the cafeteria when he is joined by the officer who confirms a BCI implant has in fact gone missing.
–Umm well ya it’s in Oliver’s head…shaking my head.–
The BCI has been missing for two weeks. Dylan comes over the system and informs Charlie how the security camera has gone off air and he doesn’t know why. Charlie asks where Oliver is — he is still in the medical unit, guarded. Charlie doesn’t have a good feeling about this. In the meantime, the security guard uses a code to enter Lexi’s office. He takes Lexi’s coding security USB key which has the specific coding she has done for the Reverie program. He drops the USB into the backside of a flashlight. She is the only one with this.
Charlie and the officer are now entering Lexi’s office. Once inside they find the Shady Security Guard across her office looking at the security camera. He states the reason he is in Lexi’s office is because he had performed a sweep of the security system and noticed her camera was offline. He says he came to check it out. Charlie requests to have someone come and survey the room as well as the Shady Security Guard. He then walks over to Lexi who is “asleep,” laying in her nook.
We return to Paris where Lexi and Oliver are now sitting at a table drinking a cup of coffee. Lexi compliments Oliver, as far as presents go, this one isn’t so bad. Oliver let’s Lexi know this isn’t the present, her present is something she has always wanted. Oliver says the present is a who, someone she has always wanted. In the distance we hear a voice say “Alexis,” a voice we have heard before as the AI at Onira Tech. Lexi questions, “Dylan?” Turning around, Lexi finds Dylan standing a few feet away. She gets up and hugs her brother.
Dylan asks Lexi what’s wrong with her as he can tell she is sad. She didn’t expect to see Dylan, he asks if he was a big surprise? She agrees he indeed is. Dylan asks if Lexi is crying and she says she is just a little. Lexi sends Dylan away to a bakery down the street and tells him she will join him in a few minutes. Dylan walks away and Oliver gets up from the table and joins Lexi. She wants to know why he did this. Oliver responds how this is what everything has always been about — bringing Dylan back. He’s been the inspiration for the program, for the AI, for everything. Oliver explains how Lexi can’t see how dangerous the program can be because it’s too personal for her. Lexi is in full tears, she tells Oliver he has no idea what he is talking about.
Oliver wants back into the company. Together they can fix the problem, he says. Oliver wants to get rid of Charlie and work together again. Lexi is angry at this point with Oliver, that he doesn’t understand anything. To Lexi, Reverie was never about Dylan and she never wanted him resurrected. Oliver chimes in how he never wanted to be kicked out of his own company. He reminds Lexi about how she ignored his warnings and now this is where they are.
Lexi realizes she never should have agreed to come into the program because Oliver hasn’t changed, he’s the same person he has always been. As she goes to walk away Oliver says, “at least I didn’t kill my brother.” Lexi turns and lands either a punch or a slap on Oliver’s left cheek.
–GO LEXI! But also, what’s the story with Dylan.–
Oliver grabs her arms and apologizes, she pulls her arm away and walks away. “You better have the key by now mate,” is the last thing Oliver says before we return to Onira Tech.
Exitus.
Lexi opens her eyes and you can see she was crying. The officer reports to Charlie that nothing is missing or out of place. They didn’t find anything on the Shady Security Guard either and they let him go. Alexis comes out of her office and asks what is going on. Charlie immediately asks what happened with Oliver. He also wants to know why she is crying but the only thing Lexi will tell him is that it’s nothing.
Charlie is angry and storms down the hall into Oliver’s room, who woke up just seconds before and realized he was cuffed to the bed. Charlie grabs onto Oliver’s gown lifting him out of the bed demanding information on what he did to Alexis while they were in the program, Oliver keeps his cool. The officer ends up coming in and pulling Charlie off of Oliver and Oliver lays back on the bed maniacally laughing. Charlie leaves the room. Oliver asks for a phone so he can call his attorney.
Mara is getting a cup of coffee when a tech comes to let her know they are ready to remove her BCI. She asks if she can have a minute; the tech let’s her know they’ll be waiting whenever she is ready. Mara then asks Dylan how many people are currently in the Reverie program? He replies “27,423” and she looks up at him. She asks how many people may need help? Without hesitation, he responds with a statistic of “1 in every 12,000.” Mara realizes then that there maybe people in the program who may need her help and they don’t even know it yet.
Mara leaves the cafeteria and heads to Paul’s office. She sits down on his couch and pulls her legs to her chest wrapping her arms around them. She begins to tell the story of what happened to Paul. She mentions that some people, when their life is falling apart, give off signals, but, when it’s a person who is close to you — you’ll miss those signals. This was Ray.
Mara rushed to her sister’s house and called Charlie to have him come with backup. She was going to talk to Ray. Mara makes sure to tell Charlie no lights or sirens when they arrive. Paul asks her why? Mara explains how she wants the people she is negotiating with to calm down and believe she is on their side so she can get in their head.
“So you can manipulate them?”
“That’s the idea.”
As she explains to Paul exactly what happened, we see the flashbacks of the event. Ray was unraveling but she was able to get him to calm down a bit. She reminded her sister to let her be the one who is talking. Mara uses a story about one of the cars Ray had and gets him to partake. Mara had him listening and her regret is she had the opportunity to grab the gun and they could have walked away.
Back to the flashback, Ray hears the sirens and unravels again turning the gun on Jamie and Bryn. “There was nothing I could do,” she says to Paul explaining what came next. Ray turned the gun on himself but didn’t do it right because the bullet went through the front of his brain putting him in a permanent coma. Mara doesn’t understand what part of this is supposed to reveal something else?
Change of location at Onira Tech and Charlie is outside the elevator speaking to Oliver and his attorney. Charlie explains Oliver has a piece of technology he stole from the company. His attorney states until they can prove he stole it from the company they will be leaving and he should be happy they aren’t pressing charges with the way Oliver was treated. “So you can’t touch me Charlie,” Oliver says to him in that way of his which makes everyone go crazy. Oliver waves over Charlie’s head that maybe he’s got it wrong maybe he is the one in control after all. With that, Oliver and his attorney get on an elevator and leave.
Return to Paul’s office where he asked Mara if Ray said anything to her after he shot Jamie and Bryn. Mara replies no. Charlie walks by. Paul asks Mara what she did until the police came, Mara isn’t sure what she did until that point. Charlie walks in and asks what they are doing. Mara explains Paul’s theory. Charlie knows the theory and doesn’t agree with Paul forcing it onto Mara. Paul defends himself, knowing his theory has standing.
–Charlie at this point looks super defeated with having to deal with Oliver.–
Charlie thinks Paul is wasting his time because neither of them knows what happened that day. Charlie asks Mara to go to his office and he will tell her the truth.
Now in Charlie’s office, Mara is sitting in a chair hanging onto each word Charlie says. He is holding a cell phone in his hands explaining why he hasn’t told her about this before. He wasn’t sure if he ever should share it with her, since she was doing okay.
–What aren’t you sharing with her? CHARLIE!?!–
Mara is freaked out by what Charlie is saying. Charlie reviews with Mara about their texting conversation from when Mara was inside the house, except after the last text Mara sent she accidentally called him. He didn’t answer but his voicemail recorded everything that happened after that moment. He apologizes to Mara before he hits play.
On the voicemail, you first hear the exchange that took place before Ray shot Jamie and Bryn. Then you hear the gunshots. Moments later, you hear Ray saying, “I’m so sorry.” Mara doesn’t remember this, she remembers it happening differently. She doesn’t remember him saying anything before he shot himself. Charlie knows that’s what she wants to believe and he knows this because this is what Mara told him after it happened. Charlie could tell Mara needed to believe that’s how it happened, he explains how trauma victims will suppress memories. The reason Charlie kept the voicemail was if one day Mara questioned that day, he would have it to explain it to her.
Charlie hits play on the voicemail again and we hear Mara talking to Ray. She’s reminding Ray of what he did and how he wouldn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison. She reminds him he has a way out before the police get there. We are seeing the flashback of this scene take place. “It’s okay,” Mara says. Then, knocking on the door. Ray puts the gun to his head.
Mara is shocked. Charlie let’s her know he would have shot himself anyway. Charlie reminds her that the program may be digging up memories she buried so now he has decided she needs to know. Mara leaves, Charlie tries to plead with her but she goes anyway.
Mara heads straight to a bar. Shots and beer — her old vices. Later, she returns home and crawls onto the couch with a picture of her sister’s family. She calls out to Bryn and Chris, trying to get one of them to appear. She needs someone to be there but she lays down and covers herself with a blanket.
In an eerie looking gravel lot, a speeding car pulls in to meet a parked car. Oliver Hill and the Shady Security Guard. Oliver hands Shady Security Guard an envelope filled with money. After he checks out the envelope’s contents, he hands Oliver the drive asking what it was. Oliver explains it’s the security key for the source code for the Reverie program. There are only a few people who have them. Then the Shady Security Guard asks what he’s going to do with it? Instead of responding, Oliver shoots him. The Shady Security Guard falls to the ground and Oliver shoots him again. Oliver bends down and picks up the envelope of money.
“I’m going to burn the place to the ground.”
[ED. NOTE: RIP Shady Security Guard. You weren’t the worst, but you were a close Second.]
Mara is waking up at her house and feels the frame she fell asleep with. Now with a little clarity, she moves the picture of Bryn which had been covering up Ray in the family picture. In Charlie’s Office at Onira Tech, Lexi wakes a sleeping Charlie, asking him about Mara.
–Oh Lexi, Oh Lexi, how your layers have been peeled back and we see you caring about others.–
Lexi tells Charlie he was right about Oliver and how she shouldn’t have gone to see him. Charlie isn’t sure how Mara is; he is going to check in with her shortly. Lexi knows the timing is bad but she needs to go away for a little bit, she will be back the following morning. If anything changes with Mara, she wants to know right away. As Lexi is walking out of Charlie’s office, he stops her. “Happy Birthday,” he says. She smiles and continues out of his office. Now in the parking garage Lexi unlocks her Tesla –cause what else would she drive?– and takes off. Except, she isn’t alone. Oliver is outside and follows her.
–Oliver Hill what are you up to?–
Mara returns to Onira Tech and walks into Paul’s office. He asks how she is and she isn’t sure how to respond. She informs him how the program was indeed trying to uncover something from her memories. Mara tells Paul about the night before and how she tried to, “call on her derealizations and they stood her up like a bad prom date.” They are gone now. Paul asks her if it is a good thing? It is. Mara is having a hard time with the things that were dug up — she can’t let them go. Mara asks Paul for his help but warns him it’s probably illegal.
Now at the hospital Paul and Mara enter Ray’s hospital room. A nurse is just finishing up and leaves them to be with Ray. Mara closes the door as the nurse exits. Paul fills Mara in on the program he created and how it’s very bare bones and won’t be there right away. She asks him what it will be like until it gets to that point and Paul has no idea. Mara hands the BCI Injecting Device to Paul and he administers it to Ray. Mara picks up the tablet and sits down on a chair. Paul let’s her know it’s ready for her to enter.
Apertus.
Mara enters a space of white with electrical lines shooting all over in a grid like a pattern. Ray walks up behind her and asks her what she is doing there.
“Hello Ray.”
Exitus.
Holy guacamole and all my feelings for the episode….
This week’s episode was definitely jam packed and gave us a lot of information. We know Oliver is most definitely up to no good, I mean in passed weeks it was definitely safe to assume but tonight, we got confirmation. He killed the guy who was helping him — if that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. Whatever he plans to do with the security key is not going to be good.
We see a layer of Lexi’s pain when she is face to face with Dylan in the program Oliver created. He’s trying to show her how resurrecting someone is dangerous but this isn’t something she ever wanted to do. She is shook by the program Oliver shows her. Lexi knows that whatever Oliver’s agenda is, she doesn’t want to be there anymore. Going through this experience, I think, helped Lexi show another side of herself. She shows how she does care for people and sometimes the people we are the toughest with are the ones we care about the most. And. it’s hard to show them how we feel. By the end of the episode, Lexi asks about Mara … This Is Huge! Lexi is going to return home in the season finale — I think we are going to learn a lot more about Lexi and why she is the way she is and what happened with Dylan.
Mara’s world was flipped upside down and by the end of this episode it was shaken and stirred. How much can one person handle? Apparently a lot. Deciding to ultimately keep her BCI so she will be able to help others who get stuck is selfless and had to be a hard decision to come to. On top of that decision, she is given information for the day she has been reliving over and over. Information only one person would give her but was the missing piece the program was trying to give her. The burden Charlie had to feel all these years carrying around the truth about what happened that day. No wonder he had been working so hard to protect her from it.
This next week we will bring a close on Season 1 of Reverie. Learning all the capabilities of the program and ones they didn’t even know about has been a ride. What will Oliver Hill do to burn down Onira Tech exactly?