The Crowded Room episode 6 recap: Which personality of Danny's did Rya interact with?

Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried starrer The Crowded Room is turning out to be one of the best shows of 2023. While both fans and critics were upset about its pacing when it began airing, everybody's perceptions have drastically changed since witnessing the show's brilliant acting and the unpredictable storyline, which are garnering all the attention The Crowded Room deserves.

The series is based on author Billy Milligan's 1981 non-fiction novel, The Minds. It narrates the story of Danny Sullivan (Holland), who after committing a horrific crime, gets interrogated by a psychologist named Rya Goodwin (Seyfried).

Episode 6 of The Crowded Room, titled Rya, saw Rya interacting with one of Danny's British personalities called Jack. The episode, directed by Mona Fastvold and written by Akiva Goldsman and Suzanne Heathcote, was released on Friday, June 30, on AppleTV+.

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The Crowded Room episode 6 recap: Rya's backstory explained

The latest pisode of The Crowed Room gives its audience a view of the entire fiasco through Rya's eyes. For all this long, Danny's story was put in focus, however this time, the makers shine light on Rya and her life. The character, who's nearing her 40s, is going through a divorce, has trouble at work, and also has an estranged relationship with her young son. As a reminder, there are a couple of time jumps in this episode. It is further revealed how she and Danny met.

One day, a cop friend of Rya informs her about a strange case of a boy (Danny) who's being held for shooting in broad daylight. Rya's first interaction with him is terrifying but as time passes, Danny grows more comfortable with her. Back at home, Rya's mother makes sure that she gets help because her daughter is a single mother.

Rya begins her investigation and stumbles upon the ghost house and Danny's paintings and even has a word with his mother, Candy, with whom Rya's interaction is rather absurd. She neither confirmes nor denies if Danny's twin Adam is real or if something bad happened to Danny when he was a child.

Rya knows then that she has to help the poor boy. By this time, she has started to figure out that Jack (the Englishman Danny met in London) was one of the latter's personalities. This is only confirmed when Danny speaks to her in a British accent. Rya even figures out that Danny has, in fact, had a number of personalities.

One day when Rya is at her home, her cop friend comes over and gives her a tape, which shows the incident that took place at the Rockefeller Center. It isn't revealed what Rya sees in the tape but one thing that's certain is the story is very dependent on it.

Finally, Rya speaks to Danny once again, and this time, she tells Jack to leave so that she can interact with only Danny. After a couple of sessions, Danny finally opens up to Rya.

He reveals how Adam was s*xually abused by his stepfather. Now, Adam could be real or another personality of Danny's. The reality will be hopefully unleashed in future episodes. The episode ended with Rya visibly overwhelmed by emotions after learning about Danny's childhood. She went to her car and bawled like a baby, finally returning her home.

Danny's story even struck a chord for her because she too had a young boy who was almost as old as Adam when he was abused.

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The Crowded Room synopsis

The official synopsis of The Crowded Room reads as:

"A psychological thriller set in Manhattan in the summer of 1979, when a young man is arrested for a shocking crime—and an unlikely investigator must solve the mystery behind it."

The Crowded Room stars Tom Holland as Danny Sullivan, Amanda Seyfried as Rya Goodwin, Sasha Lane as Ariana, Will Chase as Marlin Reid, Lior Raz as Yitzak Safdie, and Emmy Rossum as Candy Sullivan.