Roush Review: Slowly Untangling a Psychological Puzzle in ‘The Crowded Room’
Review
The Crowded Room
Perhaps it’s only fitting that I’m of two minds about The Crowded Room on Apple TV+, an ultimately haunting limited series inspired by Daniel Keyes’ The Minds of Billy Milligan. The psychological puzzle begins when troubled youth Danny (a pitch-perfect Tom Holland) is involved in a shooting incident in midtown Manhattan in 1979.
It’s clear that Danny has issues: social anxiety at school, an abusive bully of a stepdad (Will Chase), repressed childhood trauma. We learn early on that Danny’s unhappy home life, where he’s unable to protect himself or his unhappily submissive nurse mother (a heartbreaking Emmy Rossum), has led him to move into a neighboring building known by locals as the “ghost house,” where he rooms with the mysterious and alluring Ariana (Sasha Lane) and the brutish Yitzak (Lior Raz).
The frustration I have with series creator Akiva Goldsman‘s (A Beautiful Mind) empathetic approach to Danny’s unsettling story is that the series spends half of its 10-episode length dancing around Danny’s mental condition, which seems all too obvious. Apple has deemed the revelation a spoiler, as well as the occupation of Rya, the harried single mom whose professional reputation hinges on probing the “crowded room” of Danny’s mind. This expert is expertly played by The Dropout‘s soulful Amanda Seyfried, who establishes a poignant rapport with the emotionally remote Danny.
Apple TV+
Once all of the cards are finally on the table, the series kicks into high gear. Goldsman shapes a fascinating struggle for the young man’s anguished soul, with professor Rya confronting Danny’s demons — which includes Jason Isaacs as someone with a vested interest in keeping the boy in the dark — in a groundbreaking case that sets academic and legal precedent. (Girls‘ Christopher Abbott is also quite good as the overwhelmed legal-aid lawyer who has trouble comprehending his client’s many mysteries.)
The interrogation scenes between Rya and Danny take on heartbreaking dimension as fantasy gives way to tragic reality. If you can make it through the first five episodes, you will be rewarded.
The Crowded Room, Series Premiere (three episodes), Friday, June 9, Apple TV+
