In the previous episode of The Crowded Room, we were introduced to Danny after he was arrested for being a part of a shootout at the Rockefeller Center in NYC. He was accompanied by a girl called Ariana, who was nowhere to be found. Criminal psychologist Rya was brought in to question him about Danny’s past and how he ended up in that situation. He had apparently stopped living with his mother, Candy, and his stepfather, Marlin after they stole money from him and got caught carrying weed at school. It was the Israeli immigrant, Yitzhak, from across the street who sheltered Danny after he found Danny getting beat up by the bully, Bill. All this was connected to a girl Danny was infatuated with called Annabelle, who had ditched him after their first date. However, since Danny failed to reveal the whereabouts of Yitzhak, Ariana, or his twin brother, Adam, Rya assumed that he was guilty of something greater than that failed shooting attempt.
Spoilers Alert
Danny Talks About Living With Yitzhak And Ariana
The second episode of The Crowded Room opens with Rya taking a trip to the ghost house and retrieving Danny’s painting book. Before being spooked out of her mind, Rya does notice blood stains on the walls in the upstairs corridor and a broken window downstairs, which points towards a possible break-in. In episode 1, Yitzhak was seen beating up someone near the stained glass window at the end of the corridor. So, it’s quite possible that that’s the blood of Yitzhak’s victim. But during her conversation with Danny, Rya brings up Ariana and asks him if she was the one who got him the gun. Danny says that it was actually him who got the gun to rescue her. Rya points out that, even if that’s true, Ariana has shot two people and fled, thereby leaving Danny to fend for himself. The narrative cuts back to the past when an injured Danny was staying at Yitzhak’s house. Marlin and Candy had arrived at his doorstep to take him back home. Danny didn’t want to go back. So, Yitzhak spoke for him, and he not only told Marlin that Danny wasn’t going back home, but he also ordered him to behave properly with Candy.
When Danny insinuates that all that was meant to happen because he was on a “collision course” with Marlin, Rya tries to make him explain that in a little detail. However, since Danny is so obsessed with Yitzhak, Rya tells him to talk about his new guardian angel. Danny remembers that Yitzhak had certain “house rules,” which meant Danny had to pay his rent in a timely manner, go to school on a regular basis, and stay away from both girls and drugs. With that out of the way, Danny delved into his first conversation with Ariana, who revealed that she was also a refugee and that Yitzhak was her guardian angel too. She was apparently a “night person,” which meant that she’d come home when he’d wake up. Initially, she didn’t respond well to Danny’s concern for her. But eventually, they got along pretty well. Weirdly enough, Danny drew a parallel between Marlin and Candy’s relationship and the one he had with Ariana. According to him, since Yitzhak used to rarely stay at home, it allowed Ariana and his bond to strengthen.
Ariana Invaded Danny’s Relationship With Annabelle
Rya inquires about Danny’s ways of earning money. He says that Jonny’s weed business used to keep him afloat. As for Yitzhak’s business, he isn’t very sure about his source of cash, but he says he used to cover the overall expenses on time. In an attempt to pin Yitzhak as the head honcho of the whole operation, Rya asks Danny whether Yitzhak made him do anything that he regrets doing. Danny shoots down that line of questioning and instead frames Yitzhak, Ariana, and himself as a family.
Danny used to do the groceries for everyone, and that was when he met Annabelle again. She apologized for the abrupt way in which they parted ways last time and hinted that she was open to rekindling things again. Danny jumped on the opportunity and called her to party at the ghost house. That was when Jonny and Mike met Ariana, and all four of them became friends almost instantly. The party officially began when Annabelle and her friends showed up. Later on, Annabelle got intimate with Danny. However, Ariana barged in and sidelined Danny. The following day, although Annabelle didn’t address it, Ariana did. She even apologized for doing what she did by taking him to the diner, which was something that they hadn’t done before. They even went to the movies. However, when Danny tried to talk to her about her past or ask her why a passerby named Benny was calling for her, she got angry and incredibly defensive.
Where Is Ariana?
When Rya asks Danny to describe a particular night because that was when she dropped her guard in front of him, we see what Ariana did or what Danny remembers about Ariana’s night out. She apparently flirted with a girl named Grace. When she met her ex-boyfriend or ex-fling, Jerome, she hooked up with him. But then she started to make out with Grace right in front of Jerome. That evidently offended Jerome because he loved Ariana, and they broke up. When she returned home, she told Danny that she needed help. In the present day, Rya asks Danny if there’s a possibility that Ariana was always meant to go down a dark path, and Danny is suffering because of it. She even theorizes that Yitzhak is responsible for Ariana’s disappearance. All this aggravates Danny, and his expression of anger shocks Rya, but it doesn’t scare her.
At the end of The Crowded Room, episode 2, we see a decrepit and damp structure made of wood. It’s pretty clear that Ariana is there, along with the dead bodies of an old man with a long beard and a guy in an orange t-shirt. Is that her hiding place? It’s possible, yes. Is that a physical place where she stores all her victims? Well, the showrunners clearly want us to think so. However, it won’t be a stretch to assume that it is some kind of mental prison where Ariana deals with her demons. Yes, she’s capable of scaring away a bunch of hooligans with a broken bottle. However, since every war isn’t physical in nature and some of them are mental, one has to look inward for a solution. And maybe that’s what Ariana needs help with.
