“Rabbit Hole” started out so promising, and I was quite excited about it. But I have realized that it is one of those things that was never sketched properly beyond the basic idea. Manipulation of mass populations as a concept requires very careful world-building and a fair bit of anecdotes scattered across history that would have made a riveting narrative. But all the audience gets is a shadow of that. The last three episodes have not taken the story forward one bit, which is making us think that the makers didn’t know how to do it either. With just one more episode left in “Rabbit Hole” Season 1, my expectations are at an all-time low. Either way, this is how the episode goes.
Spoilers Alert
Does John Trust His Father?
John is spiraling. Ever since he found out that his entire team was dead, followed by the assassination of Nora Evers, he cannot help but feel that he is missing something. In John’s own words, his mind works by imagining every possible scenario from each angle, which is his strategizing and problem-solving prowess. But he tends to get too deep into it. When Miles Valence was still alive, he knew how to pull him out of it, but he does not have that support now, which is why he is going crazy (for lack of a better word) and is unable to count on any anchor of sanity.
Looking at the briefcase they retrieved in “Rabbit Hole” Episode 6, it did not have anything explicit the way Nora Evers claimed it would. In fact, it had documents with series and series of numbers on them. Decoding it would take time, and when Ben suggests that they look at other solutions since the Shared Data Act would be passed in two days, John lashes out, saying that Ben wants the legislation passed, even though those words were never uttered by him. But right here is when Hailey does something shady again. Ben, Edward, and Homm discover that John did not go to sleep after the fight but secretly left the place. Hailey finds his chat on the game open on his computer, where someone has messaged him that Ben is lying, followed by the fact that the app is susceptible to manipulation and that John must move to a more encrypted service. Hailey quietly shuts down the laptop without showing it to Ben or Homm.
John goes to an electronics shop, not bothering to cover his tracks, and logs into one of their computers to chat with the anonymous person in alphanumeric codes. The message John receives is that “Ben used them.” In the meantime, Hailey tracks him down, but he gives her the slip on the pretext of escaping from someone. But John is still confused, and this is when he goes to the church—the scene that started “Rabbit Hole” Episode 1 of the series. He gets a call from his ex-wife Liv, who has received a package from Valence, and she doesn’t know what to make of it. When John goes to meet her, he finds that it is the tablet of Gilgamesh in the package—the one that Valence had in his office in the first episode. The pieces are all in front of John, but before he can put them together, they get dangerously scrambled one last time. Before we get to that, let us take a look at why we call Hailey a shady person. She nicks one of the pen drives from Homm and gives it to Agent Madi under the pretext of having been sent by John. Madi takes this pen drive, and its information to Rasche, and what they find on it blows their minds. The contents are still hidden from the audience, but Rasche doesn’t want them to come out, and Madi demands to be back on the task force, in charge of Weir’s case, in return for her silence.
As for Edward Homm, he has cracked the code of the numbers. They are the collected information about all the people Crowley has on his payroll. Nora Evers wanted to use it for herself. Hailey suggests exposing it all, but Ben recommends holding back to further find out what is going on. Coming back to John, he is escorted to meet the evil CEO, who tells him that it was Ben who was the mastermind behind everything that was happening. He had planned the assassination of Nora Evers and the subsequent result of the Shared Data Act. The man even points out how it was Ben who recommended the creation of Arda Analytics, which is now the power center of the country’s data. John is furious and punches the man, not believing his words. He finds a device in his ear, suggesting that somebody is telling him what to say, and when John takes the device, that someone, aka Crowley, repeats what the man had said, adding that Ben had lied to John. He wasn’t globetrotting, looking for Crowley, but had been John’s neighbor all along. John is furious and is in two minds about the situation. Literally, everyone is telling him that he cannot trust his father, and as much as John is leaning towards that theory, he is unable to fully accept it.
‘Rabbit Hole’ Episode 7 Ending Explained: How Did Valence Save John’s Life?
John wastes no time in going back to confront his dad, and when he is doing that, Homm discovers the chip hidden in the artifact. That turns out to contain a video shot by Miles Valence minutes before his death. He says that Crowley wanted John to be killed after they killed (pretended) Edward Homm. Since Valence won’t do it, Crowley would come after them both. Valence needed to buy some time for John and Ben so that they could finish the task they all started together. Valence jumped from the building to protect John and buy him time to escape. He had put the chip in the tablet and added that to the outgoing mail—a risk, but one that was effective. This meant that Crowley had been contacting John through the app this whole time.
At the end of “Rabbit Hole” Episode 7, John apologizes to his dad once all his facts are clear. Ben says that they need to use the data on hand to stop Crowley since the entire world is on the verge of collapsing if he ever succeeds in his plans. Though he had initially wanted to wait, the situation does not warrant that anymore, and they must take immediate action. In the “Rabbit Hole” season finale, audiences will see the group’s takedown of Crowley and finally know whether Hailey is trustworthy or not.
Final Thoughts
There were one too many filler episodes in the series, and of them all, this one was the most lukewarm. But now that the finale is coming up, maybe we can expect some surprises. Hailey being the bad guy wouldn’t be one of them. We are sure there will be a “Rabbit Hole” Season 2, looking at how the web is so intertwined, but it has not been presented well enough for us to be properly invested in it. A lot rests on how good the finale is, and for the sake of our initial optimism, we hope it carries it well.
