The Crowded Room Episodes 1-3 review

❘ Published: 2023-06-09T13:35:47

Tom Holland and Sasha Lane in The Crowded Room

Apple TV+

The new Apple TV+ mini series, The Crowded Room, is finally here and its first three episodes are a wild roller coaster ride.

At long last, Apple TV+ finally dropped the first three episodes of its new mysterious summer drama The Crowded Room today.

Starring Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried, the series follows a young man named Danny as he’s accused of a heinous crime that he says he didn’t commit. Using his past, present, and future, the show weaves a tangled web of love, loss, and mystery over its 10 episodes.

The first three episodes are available to stream through Apple TV+ and they’re wild, wonderful, and will leave you wanting more. Spoilers to follow…

Episode 1: Exodus

The first episode of The Crowded Room paints the story of an ordinary kid living an ordinary life. Danny (Holland) is unpopular, sure, but he has his two trusted besties: a jock and a magician. He likes a popular girl who likes him back (when she’s not with her friends, that is) and he has a rivalry with her equally popular and douchey boyfriend.

His mother (Emmy Rossum) is trying her best to raise him all while dealing with his good-for-nothing stepfather who is incredibly creepy and abusive. Danny does the typical teenager things: buys weed, goes to parties, draws (very well) but, throughout the episode, you can feel something is just… off.

A close up of Tom Holland in The Crowded Room

Juxtaposing Danny’s unassuming life is flash forwards to the present where he’s arrested for shooting multiple people. Investigator Rya Goodwin (Seyfried) is trying to prove Danny is innocent, but he’s not helping himself as he refuses to talk about the event in question.

The show does a great job crafting several solid mysteries around Danny that tie into his past and the crime he stands accused of. As an audience member, you’re left in a shade of gray because you don’t really know if he did it; though the event is shown to you at the beginning of the episode, it feels like a lot of context is missing and, since this is a mystery show, there’s definitely more than meets the eye about what happened at Rockefeller Center.

All in all, it’s a solid start to a mystery and the performances are phenomenal. Through the use of close-ups and long takes, The Crowded Room gives its actors room to breath and really get into their characters’ headspace. Holland and Seyfried seem to be having an acting off during their scenes together and it’s amazing to watch them bounce off each other.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Episode 2: Sanctuary

Sanctuary, at least when it comes to The Crowded Room, seems to be more a person than a place. We find out how Danny comes to live with his across the street neighbors Yitzak Safdie (Lior Raz) and Ariana (Sasha Lane). The pair are a kind of guardian angel for Danny after he gets beat up by kids at school and kicked out of his house.

Through his interrogating with Rya, Danny divulges how he came of age in the “Ghost House,” the name the town kids give to house he’s staying in as it was previously abandoned. He still does typical young adult things like throw a party and kiss his high school crush who’s back in town from college, but the most intriguing part of the episode comes from his relationship with Ariana.

A close up of Sasha Lane in the Crowded Room

At this point, Rya is sure Ariana is the shooter and Danny is just covering for her as we see her actually shoot the gun at the beginning of Episode 1. But, it seems like Danny’s refusal to give anything up about her stems from their rocky-turned-solid relationship.

Danny recalls Ariana being exclusive and unpredictable; their interactions give off a very hot and cold vibe from the moment he moved into the Ghost House. But, there are some sweet moments between the pair such as when they went to see Rocky in theaters.

From Danny’s recollections, they audience witnesses how he comes to care for Ariana and why he would be willing to go along with her plan to shoot someone; if that was actually her plan to begin with. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions that the show seems to building to such as what happened to Danny’s twin brother, Adam, and the events that occurred after the shooting.

The acting is once again the highlight of the episode with Holland performing multiple monologues that truly show off his chops as a dramatic actor. However, the true standout in this episode is Sasha Lane as the damaged and mysterious Ariana. Lane gives a stellar performance as she gives the audience just enough to get them to want to know more about her character, where she came from, and how she also came to be there on that fateful date at Rockefeller Center.

The show continues to craft a plot that feels drawn out in the best way as they do give the audience breadcrumbs to explain what’s going on, but not enough that it feels like they’re giving the game away.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Episode 3: Murder

The seeds have been planted for the main driving incident of the series: the Rockefeller Shooting. The end of the episode is the A plot of the episode follows Danny has he tries to secure a gun for Ariana after she confides that she was sexually abused by a friend of her dad. In a twisted way, Danny got the gun in order to offer her some sort of protection.

However, getting the gun only leads to more trouble as the drug dealer Danny stole it from breaks into his house, scares off his new girlfriend, and gets him kicked out of Ghost House. But, at the end of all of it, he and Ariana’s relationship is on a more solid foundation as they begin to plan the inciting event of The Crowded Room.

But, unfortunately, the pace in the third episode is much slower and drawn out and now in a great way. While the A plot is really compelling, the adventure to get the gun is uncomfortable and convenient. And Danny’s relationship with his high school crush, while cute, doesn’t add a lot to his character except that she could’ve been another path for him to take if he wasn’t tangled up with Ariana.

Sasha Lane and Tom Holland in The Crowded Room

As always, the performances are the reason why this series is one to stick around for as Holland continues his journey towards a potential Emmy nomination. In an incredibly subtle ways, he’s able to convey the underlying tension and despair Danny has been holding in for years.

In the cafe scene where Ariana confesses her trauma to Danny, Holland’s facial acting is outstanding and really makes you feel for him, even if he might be the shooter. Seyfried also has a few moments during the interrogation portions where her face, particularly her eyebrows, make the audience think that she already knows what’s going on with Danny; she’s just trying to get him to admit it.

While the plot is still engaging if a bit tepid at times, The Crowded Room is still worth watching to the end to get the complete puzzle of Danny and the the Rockefeller Shooting..

Rating: 3/4 stars

The Crowded Room review score: 3.5/5 stars

The show’s mystery and acting is the biggest selling point for it, but some of the subplots could’ve been cut to make way for the bigger stakes in the show. That being said, if you’re craving a mystery show that will have you on your toes, this is the series for you.

The Crowded Room Episodes 1-3 are now available to stream on Apple TV+. You can check out more of our TV and movie coverage in the hubs below:

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The Crowded Room Episodes 1-3 review

Episode 1: Exodus

Episode 2: Sanctuary

Episode 3: Murder

The Crowded Room review score: 3.5/5 stars