Reverie Review: The Key S01E09

Reverie starts digging into the past, with Episode 9: The Key.  (Warning! The following review contains SPOILERS!)

It’s been a while coming, but we really get to delve into the characters histories this week, revealing some hidden truths.  The two main threads of the story involve keys, as the title would suggest; one cryptographical, and the other metaphorical.  The latter primarily revolves around Mara (Sarah Shahi), as she decides what the best course of action is to fix the appearance of derealisations that she’s been experiencing.

At the end of the last episode, she reached a tipping point, and this has led to a breakdown where the way forward isn’t clear.  Previously, we have heard from Oliver Hill (Jon Fletcher) that this was going to get worse, and now it has.  Her situation plays into Oliver’s hands however, as he instigates a plan to get back into the company.

REVERIE — “The Key” Episode 109 — Pictured: Sarah Shahi as Mara Kint — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

Entering a reverie, he leaves a message on his body that he should be delivered to Mara.  Once at Oniratech, Mara can’t resist going into the reverie to see what he has to say, and he recommends that she have the implant removed and walk away.  This is apparently the only way to ensure she gets rid of the derealisations.  Paul (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is less convinced by this however, and suggests to her that the derealisations are not random, and mean something which she needs to address.

REVERIE — “The Key” Episode 109 — Pictured: Sendhil Ramamurthy as Paul Hammond — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/NBC)

This is indeed the case, and we learn some new facts about Mara’s sister, and her death at the hands of Ray (Christopher Redman).  With this element of her memory now unlocked it looks like Mara will make some strides forward.

REVERIE — “The Key” Episode 109 — Pictured: (l-r) Jon Fletcher as Oliver Hill, Jessica Lu as Alexis Barrett — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

Alongside this plot, we have a very low tech scheme being played out, all devised by Oliver, as he has paid off a security guard, Leekly (Gary Kraus) to be his lackey.  Having drawn Alexis (Jessica Lu) into the reverie, Leekly sneaks into her office and steals a USB key from her pocket as she is unconscious, which apparently contains the key to accessing the Reverie source code.

Like in previous episodes, the security in this building does seem extremely lax, and it’s not the first time that a simple plan has outwitted them.  It definitely feels like it shouldn’t be possible, but yet again it’s where they are.  One thing that did bug me, is that before Alexis wakes up, they determine that nothing has been taken from her office; how exactly?  At no point do they ask Alexis, which just seemed very strange.  These odd things are serving the plot though, so they remain as contrivances to that aim.

REVERIE — “The Key” Episode 109 — Pictured: (l-r) Jon Fletcher as Oliver Hill, Jeffrey Markle as Haskins, Dennis Haysbert as Charlie Ventana — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/NBC)

While this episode does have some interesting things in it, like Mara investigating her memory, some of it gets solved too quickly, or too cleanly.  For instance, Charlie (Dennis Haysbert) having an answerphone recording that is somehow remarkably clear is one particularly unlikely thing, but him not telling her about it until now seems especially cruel, as she has been torturing herself about that night for a long time.  He could have at least mentioned it to her therapist, or maybe even Chris (Sam Jaeger), rather than just watch her flail about looking for answers.

SO, as we near the end of the season, the general feel is that this show has some potential, but continues to have some patchy moments.  Overall it has enough charm and engaging stars to hold interest, but the ragged edges will need to be cleaned up if it is to survive in the long term.