Reverie – The Key

By starrymag | August 7, 2018

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

At Mara Kint’s (Sarah Shahi) apartment, Charlie Ventana (Dennis Haysbert) asks Mara what happened. Mara explains her derealization visions of Chris and how he glitched into Ray McConley (Christopher Redman). Charlie and Paul Hammond (Sendhil Ramamurthy) promise to work things out, but Mara breaks down, telling them she did everything they told her to do and she’s still not okay. Mara questions if they are actually real, and Alexis Barrett (Jessica Lu) tells Mara that she can’t call a derealization, promising they will help her.

 

The phone rings, and Mara asks Charlie to tell them she’s not available. Charlie answers the phone, listens to the caller, and tells them they’re going to the hospital. At the hospital, the Doctor (Andrew Patrick Ralston) explains that a man was brought into the hospital in a mysterious coma. Charlie identifies the man as Oliver Hill (Jon Fletcher) and notices the Reverie tablet at his bedside. Mara asks why they called her, and the Doctor shows them that Oliver wrote the words “Deliver Me To Mara Kint” on his chest.

 

They bring Oliver to Onira Tech, and Tirzah Hagan (Molly Hagan) handcuffs him to the bed despite her reminder that what they’re doing is illegal. Charlie tells her he’s not taking chances, ordering her to not allow anyone to come in the room without him knowing about it. He’s determined to find out who stole a Reverie system for him, and Hagan asks Leekly (Gary Kraus) to watch Oliver. Alexis tells Charlie that she’s contacted a neurologist to help Mara, but isn’t sure if she can help. Charlie confronts her about her meeting with Oliver, and insists that Oliver is planning something. He orders her to stay away from him, but Alexis insists that Oliver is just hurt.

 

Paul checks on Mara, and makes suggestions to help Mara with her derealizations. Mara is skeptical the suggestions will help, and asks if this has happened to anyone else. He admits it hasn’t, and tells her that Chris’ transformation into Ray is extremely rare. Paul asks if Ray said anything, and Mara tells her that he mentioned being there for a reason. Charlie tells them that Alexis called a neurologist, but Mara questions how helpful she’ll be since she doesn’t understand the program as well as Alexis and Paul. Mara declares she wants to go into Reverie and talk to Oliver, despite Charlie and Paul’s objections, insisting that he understands what she’s going through.

 

Mara goes into the program and finds herself on a beach. Oliver is waiting for her, and comments on the beauty of the program despite it’s ability to drive one mad. Mara questions what he wants, and he tells her about his conversation with Alexis. He confirms that her derealizations are getting worse, and offers his help in exchange for her help. Oliver asks Mara to have Alexis visit him inside the Reverie, so they can talk without Charlie’s interference. Mara tells him it’s a bad idea, but Oliver insists he just wants the chance to explain himself to her. Mara asks how he can help her, and he tells her to have the BCI unit completely removed before leaving Onira Tech for good.

 

Mara asks the team if removing the BCI is possible, and Paul explains that it’s possible but not recommended. Alexis explains that complete removal means that it can never be planted again and she will be permanently locked out of the program. Mara declares that she wants the derealizations to stop and Charlie agrees to set up an appointment for her to remove it. Alexis apologizes to Mara, but Mara tells her to not be sorry. Leekly asks a secuity guard (Charles Maceo) to take over watching Oliver before pulling out a laptop on his break and watching the security camera in Alexis’ office.

 

Charlie tells Alexis that she shouldn’t go in to talk to Oliver, and asks why she would want to. Alexis tells him that talking to Oliver is the only way to figure out what he wants, and argues that she’ll have to talk to him eventually. Charlie tells her to call him as soon as she returns, and Alexis enters the Reverie. Oliver greets her on the beach, and thanks her for coming. She asks what he wants and Oliver wishes her a Happy Birthday as a vase of flowers materialize. Alexis asks if that’s all, and Oliver admits he’s been selfish and wants to show her something, promising a present. Alexis tells him he has five minutes, and Oliver asks her to follow him.

 

Leekly observes Alexis lying in her office, and Paul looks up information on Chris. He presents his theory to Mara that Chris is linked to Ray in her derealization because he works at the hospital where Ray is. Paul suggests that the BCI is uncovering something in Mara’s subconscious and tells her that removing is the worst possible course of action. Mara asks why he’s making things difficult, and Paul admits he doesn’t want her to go. Paul explains how great she’s been for Onira Tech, and hesitates before adding that he enjoys working with her. He suggests that there is something from Ray’s shooting of Jamie and Brynn that Mara has hidden in her subconscious, but Mara is upset at the prospect of revisiting those memories. She refuses, admitting that she’s barely holding herself together before breaking down.

 

As they walk along the beach, Alexis comments that it’s been longer than five minutes and asks what Oliver wants to show her. Oliver stops and a recreation of Paris materializes on the beach. Alexis is impressed, and Oliver points out the coffee shop they visited before asking her to join him for a cup. Leekly goes to Alexis’ office and shuts off the security footage. Dylan (Kai Scott) reports to Charlie that the camera was disabled, and Charlie is suspicious.

 

Leekly breaks into Alexis’ office, steals a flash drive off her unconscious body, and stuffs it in a flashlight. Charlie and Hagan approach the office and find Leekly inside. He lies that he was checking the disabled security camera, and Charlie orders Hagan to have the room, and Leekly, checked. Alexis admits to Oliver that his present is alright, but Oliver tells her this isn’t her present. A recreation of the human Dylan calls out to her, and Alexis embraces him. He asks what’s wrong, and Alexis admits she didn’t expect him. She calls him perfect, and tells him to go ahead down the street, promising to meet him.

 

Once Dylan is gone, Alexis asks Oliver why he did that. He tells her that she created Reverie for Dylan, and is too blinded by the possibility to see the dangers. Oliver asks her to let him back in so they can fix it together, but Alexis tells him that Reverie was never about ressurrecting Dylan. Oliver insists he’s right, but Alexis tells him coming there was a waste of time. Oliver tells Alexis that she killed Dylan, and she slaps him. He grabs her and admits he shouldn’t have said that, but she pulls away and exits the program.

 

Hagan reports that nothing was found missing in the office and that Leekly has nothing on him. Alexis comes out and asks Charlie what’s going on. Charlie asks what happened with Oliver, and she lies that nothing happened. He notices she’s crying and asks what Oliver did to her, but she continues to insist nothing happened. However, Charlie storms into the medical ward and grabs Oliver as he exits the Reverie. He demands to know what he did to Alexis, but Hagan pulls him off and Oliver asks for a phone to call his lawyer.

 

A tech (Jennifer Soo) tells Mara they’re ready to perform the extraction, but Mara asks for more time. Mara asks Dylan how many people are inside Reverie, and then the odds of how many people will need her help. She realizes that there’s a chance that someone needs her help right now, and visits Paul. Mara recounts the day that Ray shot Jamie and Brynn, as a flashback shows her driving to Jamie and Brynn’s house, calling Charlie, nearly talking Ray down, and then Ray shooting Jamie and Brynn upon hearing the sirens. Mara then recounts Ray pointing the gun at his head and shooting himself, commenting that he couldn’t even kill himself properly as he merely ended up in a permanent coma.

 

Charlie presents Oliver’s attorney, Haskins (Jeffrey Markle), his suspicions that Oliver stole something, but Haskins points out he has no proof. Charlie promises to find proof, and Haskins tells him that he’s lucky Oliver isn’t pressing charges for Charlie’s assault. Oliver tells Charlie that he can’t touch him, telling him that he’s in control now. Charlie overhears Mara telling Paul that Ray said nothing to her between shooting Jamie and Brynn and shooting himself. He goes into Paul’s office and tells Mara that she doesn’t know what really happened that day, promising to tell her the truth.

 

In Charlie’s office, Charlie admits he’s debated telling Mara the truth. He explains that when Mara tried to text him back that day, she accidentally called him and left a voicemail on his phone. Charlie plays the voicemail for her, which features Ray apologizing after the shooting. Mara is in denial that he spoke to her, but Charlie tells her that she suppressed the memory in her trauma. Charlie continues playing the message, and Mara listens as she encourages Ray to join Jamie and Brynn by killing himself.  Charlie assures Mara that Ray would have killed himself anyway, but Mara is horrified and breaks down. Mara asks why he told her, and leaves the office.

 

Mara consumes a large amount of alcohol as a bar, and looks at her picture of Jamie and Brynn in her apartment. She calls out for Brynn or Chris to appear, but nothing happens. Oliver meets up with Leekly, and Leekly hands over the flash drive in exchange for money. Oliver explains that it’s a security key that provides access to Reverie’s source code, and Leekly asks what he plans to do with it. Oliver shoots him, takes back the money, and declares he’s going to burn Onira Tech to the ground.

 

The next morning, Alexis wakes up Charlie as he sleeps in his office and admits that meeting Oliver was a mistake. She promises to never do it again, and tells him that she has to go to her parents’ house. Alexis asks for updates on Mara, and Charlie wishes her a Happy Birthday. Oliver observes from a nearby car as Alexis drives away from Onira Tech, and Mara tells Paul that he was right about the program uncovering a buried truth in the shooting. She tells him that the derealizations are gone, but that she can’t ignore the truth. Mara promises to talk to somebody about it, but asks Paul to help her with something, telling him it’s probably illegal.

 

Paul and Mara visit Ray’s hospital room and Mara shuts the door. Paul tells Mara that the environment she requested will take time to procress, and he has no idea what it will look like at first in Ray’s comatose mind. Paul injects Ray with the BCI, and Ray stirs. Mara goes into the Reverie and finds herself in a large white void. Ray comes up behind Mara and asks what she’s doing there. Mara turns around and says hello to him.