‘Reverie’ Season 1, Episode 2 ‘Jane. Jane Bond.’ Recap: Closure [SPOILERS]

NBC’s Reverie best shows what “Reverie,” the virtual reality program made by the company Oniratech, can really do. It enables the user to live out any story they want. The main plot presents the dangers that may result from the abuse of using the Reverie. Also, the sub-plots have an interconnected theme that could be assumed to be the link between the main and supporting characters.

In this week’s episode, Mara Kint (Sara Shiha) helps Rachel Kauffman (Anna O’Reilly), a client, bring her life back together to save her from being addicted to a “Jane Bond” fantasy. While she does this, she experiences unexpected side effects of her version of Reverie; something that Paul Hammond (Sendhil Ramamurthy), one of the developers, says is normal.

Closure

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Rachel Kauffman looks at a photo of her parents on her laptop. Desperate to escape her reality, she opens the Oniratech website, signing up for a subscription to Reverie. The next day, Rachel talks to a sales representative and eventually starts using the Reverie. She finds herself in a casino. Keystone (Jeff Marlow) introduces himself, giving Rachel her mission. He points the targets to her, and they immediately start firing. She is surprised at her skill when she was able to eliminate one of the men. When she chases after them, she finds her target who looks exactly like her father.

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Mara tries to go back to sleep. She thinks about the one time she saw Brynn (Madeleine McGraw), her deceased niece, in her house who disappears almost immediately. She receives a call from Charlie Ventana (Dennis Haysbert), telling her about a situation that requires her immediate attention. Apparently, Rachel’s vitals have suddenly dropped, and they have found other problems that could be fatal to her health if not addressed, so they needed Mara to bring Rachel out of the Reverie. After reaching her new office, Mara gets to work.

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Mara finds Rachel being escorted by two armed men into the comfort room. She follows them; then she talks to Rachel. One of the men strangles Mara, giving Rachel the chance to knock them out. When they leave, Mara tells Rachel about her condition, but Rachel does not believe her. Rachel continues to follow the trail that the clues she acquired from the men, so Mara chases after her. They reach a room and Rachel finds another clue. She completely ignores what Mara is saying. The men catch up to them, but Rachel kills them. She runs off, telling Mara to leave.

Mara talks to Dylan (Kai Scott), the artificial intelligence that the company uses in their computers. He helps her get a lead on how she could help Rachel out of her Reverie. At some point in their conversation, Dylan says something about Alexis Barrett (Jessica Lu), something that catches Mara’s attention. They find someone who could help them: a man named Anton Deray (Konstantin Melikhov), so Mara has Dylan send her Anton’s number

At that same day, Anton comes over to Oniratech Headquarters. Mara interviews him, asking him about Rachel. He tells her about Rachel’s personality as well as what has recently happened in her life. He points out that there was a sudden change in her behavior when she returns from cleaning her recently deceased aunt’s house. Shortly after this, he leaves, saying that he has to go to work. After a brief conversation with Paul, Charlie comes in her office, telling her that she needs to go back into Rachel’s Reverie immediately.

Mara finds herself on a yacht. She catches up to Rachel, who was preparing to eliminate four armed men. Mara kills them before Rachel does, telling her that she used to work with the police. After this, she tries to talk to Rachel again. She finds out Rachel’s main target. Mara continues to attempt to talk Rachel into revealing her real motives in playing out her Reverie. She threatens to shoot Mara if she does not get off the yacht, so she leaves.

The next day, Mara does a background check on Rachel’s mother, Miriam Kauffman. She died at the age of 31 due to cervical cancer. After this lead becomes cold, she tells Dylan to search for anything related to “vater.” While she finds nothing directly related to Rachel, Dylan tells her that “vater” was a German word for father. Maybe Rachel was looking for her father.

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She tells Paul about her findings regarding “vater.” This makes sense to him, and he notes the possibility of the program incorporating this into Rachel’s Reverie. When Rachel thinks that the program is leading her to her father, Paul replies that since the program is designed to give the user their desires, it is possible, but the program would need data about him. This leads her to Rachel’s laptop.

Mara requests Alexis to hack Rachel’s laptop for her. Alexis points out that other people could do this for her, but she insists that she’s the best. Alexis eventually agrees to hack the laptop, which she finishes in a matter of seconds. Before she left Alexis’ office, she asks her about Dylan. Alexis tells her that Dylan is artificial intelligence, so what he says is irrelevant. Mara opens the laptop, and she finds the photo of Rachel as an infant with her parents.

Mara presents what she has found to Charlie in his office and asks for help from him so she could return to Rachel’s Reverie. There she meets Rachel, tells her that she would not leave her, and enter a mansion.

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Charlie has Dylan’s help in looking for a lead to reach Rachel’s father. Dylan runs facial recognition on the photo that Rachel found, and got 310,000 hits. Charlie zooms in on the hand of a person wearing a high school ring. Dylan reads the writing, giving Charlie what he needs.

Rachel and Mara enter the mansion. Vater (John Brotherton) acknowledges their presence, and he has Rachel sit beside him. Rachel asks him numerous questions, but he was not able to answer them. This is when Mara comes in, telling her that it is time for them to leave and that she would see her on the other side. When Rachel wakes up, Mara sits on her bedside.

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In Mara’s office, Paul congratulates her for her success in rescuing Rachel. While they talk about Rachel’s condition, Charlie comes in, alongside Elliot Harrison (Andy Forrest), who knew both of Rachel’s parents. He tells them about an agreement that Allen, Rachel’s father, and Miriam had. Apparently, Miriam did not want Allen to be with her as she raised Rachel. Rachel overhears this and is overjoyed when Elliot hands her father’s number.

Mara decided to thank Alexis for helping her with Rachel. She also mentions how she should be proud of the program. Shortly after this, Dylan tells Alexis that it was time for backgammon. As Mara left, she meets Paul in the hallway. Paul says that Dylan was Alexis’ twin brother who died when he was just ten years old. Also, Alexis has never told anyone about what had happened to him.

Rachel finally meets her father in person. She talks to him and says that she would understand if he did not wish to talk to her. He asks her to wait for him, and a few moments later, he comes back with the same photo that she had found in her aunt’s house. He says that he has been waiting for this day. Also, he expresses his desire to have her meet his family, and she agrees. He then introduces her to his family.

Side Effects

Paul debriefs Mara when she returns back to reality. They discuss what had happened, and she points out how the characters in Rachel’s Reverie did not ignore them; they even engage her compared to the last time she tried to intervene when the characters simply froze. Paul becomes happy when she says this, telling her that the program now recognizes her so she could do her job easier. She was still visibly confused after Paul had left.

After Rachel finishes talking to Dylan, She looks out of her office and sees Brynn for the second time. She follows her, only to find a different little girl. She apologizes to the girl’s mother and leaves. Charlie happens to be in the lobby, so he witnessed everything. Rachel just finished interviewing Anton when Paul approaches her, telling her that they need to talk.

Paul asks her about hallucinations or anything weird that she has experienced lately. when she confirms this, he tells her that the version of Reverie that was injected to her was far more powerful than the previous version. Because of this, she would be experiencing side effects such as hallucinations. He gives her medicine for her to take whenever she experiences any of the side effects.

On her way out of the headquarters, Mara meets Charlie who introduces her to Monica Shaw (Kathryn Morris), one of their investors. Monica compliments her for her success on her previous mission. Charlie then talks to her in private, asking about the side effects. She assures him that she will be fine, then he tells her to be careful with her Reverie. Also, he mentions that Rachel’s condition has been stabilized. When he sends her home, Monica asks him why he was so concerned about her, but he does not answer her query.

At home, Monica hears footsteps as well as her niece’s laughter. She takes some of the medicine. She also keeps photos of her with her niece as well as her niece’s favorite stuffed animal inside the drawer, following Paul’s advice.

After rescuing Rachel, Mara rests at home, using her laptop. She hears footsteps once again. She brings out her medicine but she does not take it. Instead, she takes Brynn’s photo out of the drawer. Suddenly, Brynn appears in front of her.

Reverie continues Wednesday, June 13th, with “No More Mr. Nice Guy” at 10/9c on NBC.