The Crowded Room | "Exodus" | Episode 1 Recap & Review

Located in New York, around the 70s we are introduced to the main protagonist Danny Sullivan played by Tom Holland, and his friend Ariana played by Sasha Lane. We start the episode with Danny and Ariana lurking around Rockefeller Center. Confused at first we get the sign that Danny is carrying a gun which is soon confirmed as he takes it out, having it in his hand. Little words are exchanged between Danny and Ariana leaving us wondering why. Why does Danny have the gun? Who is it for? Is this series going to start off with a shooting?

It's soon confirmed that Danny and Ariana are chasing down a mystery man through the busy street of New York with the intent to kill him. As Danny is close enough to shoot him, we see him freeze. There's this moment of disbelief in Danny's eyes. Seemingly surprised by who he sees. Ariana notices and is furious. Arguing with Danny as he's frozen, she's pushing him to pull the trigger. After arguing for a moment, Ariana takes the gun out of his hands and attempts to shoot the man. After a couple of missed shots, she drops the gun and takes chase after him. Leaving Danny alone in the crowd of terrified people. This still leaves us wondering why, with more questions than we had before. Why was she so determined to shoot the man? Why was Danny there to begin

with? And why did Ariana leave him there to suffer the potential consequences by himself?

The police nearby react and start to chase Danny, the one at the scene. Danny picks up the gun and runs away. Danny runs back home where he meets Yitzhak a large, scary-looking, bald man played by Lior Raz. Yitzhak aggressively asks Danny where Ariana was, but Danny isn't able to answer him as he doesn't know where she went. Yitzhak takes a passport and cash out of his pocket, and hands it to Danny telling him to "find his father". As he gets a moment of rest, as Danny begins to leave, he is met with the flashing red and blue lights of police cars surrounding the house, ready to arrest him. We find out that Danny is claimed to be a serial killer.

To try to confirm the hunch and also to gain more information on the "Rockefeller event" as it's called, Rya Goodwin played by Amanda Seyfried, a professor and psychologist is called in to talk to Danny. Although she has no true reason to, she still takes up the challenge as she sees something unique about Danny. As she sits for her

first session with Danny she asks "When did you first meet them, Ariana and Yitzhak?" We find out that Danny meet Ariana and Yitzhak back in 1977.

Danny was your typical moody teen. He was shy, depressed, quiet, and was dealing with trouble at home mostly at the hands of his stepfather Marlin. Candy, Danny's mom played by Emmy Rossum, doesn't seem to be too happy with the married. Thankfully, Danny has two carefree friends Jonny and Mike who seem to deeply care about him. We then get a flashback montage of a stereotypical high school troupe of the three hanging out and going to parties. The positive light for Danny. In the montage, we hear about this Adam person who was Danny's twin brother. We don't get much more about Adam besides that he had passed away a few years prior.

Throughout high school we see Danny's focus stuck on one person. Annabelle, a transfer student attending his high school. At this party that Danny goes to with his friends, the mysterious Annabelle is present. The two engage in a conversation that goes from your standard "Hello how are to" to "want to get high?" An interesting way to engage with someone if you ask me.

Neither one of them had marijuana on them causing them to postpone their "smoke session". After the party, Danny heads back home and is surprised at the sight of someone moving into the ghost house across the street from his parent's home. This was the same house that Danny is shown running to at the start of the episode. The

following day Danny and his friends meet Yitzhak who introduces himself as not being from around here and coming from Israel.

Jonny and Mike come up with a plan to make Danny look more appealing to Annabelle. They're going to get their hands on 100 dollars, which Danny will steal his stepfather's credit card to then take money out of the "cash machines". Buy an ounce of weed, flip it and sell it, give Danny the 100 dollars he took with profit, and give him enough weed to smoke with Annabelle. A risky plan was devised by a couple of teenagers. The plan is a success although a few times it almost becomes a bust. They are able to meet Angelo the dealer at a nearby park and buy an ounce off of him not without being threatened with a knife about how they knew who he was.

Now with step one being complete it's up to Jonny to sell the weed during the afternoons to the other students. While Jonny is selling, Mike and Danny sit back and watch Johnny go to work. As Mike and Danny are spectating, Annabelle walks by. Mike nudges Danny to go talk to Annabelle to ask her out, giving him the courage he needs.

As Danny is talking to Annabelle, Bill the school jock and possibly Annabelle's boyfriend, interrupts them even pushing Danny and getting aggressive with him. Bill, Annabelle, and Eden (Annabelle's friend) take their leave laughing at Danny.

Soon after word gets out of Danny having weed on school grounds. The principal meets Danny at his locker and asks him to open it for inspection. With a stroke of luck, the principal finds no evidence of weed and apologizes as he grabs Bill and takes him outside to discuss the false information Bill provided. Turns out Mike saw Bill and Eden talking after they had encountered Danny. He had a hunch that they were going to do something fishy. He got the help of Jonny to go into Danny's locker and remove the weed before anyone saw it. A good friend in my book!

Before Bill interrupted the two, Annabelle invited Danny to hang out with her. That "date" is what lead to the whole steal money scheme. So Danny meets Annabelle under a bridge. They hang out for a bit. Smoking, talking, and Danny pushing her on a makeshift swing strung to a nearby tree. Annabelle seems to like him, and they even

end up making out.

That night after going home Danny taps into his artistic skills and draws a beautiful picture of Annabelle. The next day Danny waits for Annabelle to hand her the picture but Eden approaches Danny and tells him that Annabelle doesn't want to hang

out or see him again. That it was a "one-time thing".

Danny being extra giving had also put a joint in the envelope with the picture. When Eden slapped the envelope down (following the bully persona), the joint spilled out. The timing couldn't have been any worse as the principal was close by and saw this. As he was about to question Danny, scared, Danny made a run for it, running down

the halls, to the gym, to the parking lot, all the way to his home. To twist the knife further in the wound, Danny hears a voicemail left by Marlin talking about how he'd had finally noticed the missing 100 dollars in his account. He was putting the blame on Candy.

Feeling even worse now Danny goes outside attempting to put the money back into the account, he is met by Bill and a few of his friends walking to his house. As they spot him they rush him telling him to, "get back here" and that Danny got Bill suspended. Bill starts absolutely beating Danny, giving him a bloody nose and bleeding

gums. Bill raises his hand for another punch but is stopped by Yitzhak who in return beats up Bill and his friends making them run away. Yitzhak then helps Danny up and leads in inside the Ghost house to clean up the blood. When Danny enters the home we get finally get the scene of Yitzhak and Ariana in the same room showing the exact day when they meet.

Overall review of the episode? A lot is done here but not to an extent that makes it too confusing. The constant flip back and forth between the past and the interview room give an intriguing outlook. Although it may leave me with a lot of questions, it's a perfect opportunity to build up secrets and story-building. It's a nice balance between mystery and drama. This the story itself a sense of authenticity and importance.

Catch episodes 1-6 available now on Apple TV+