‘Reverie’ Season 1, Episode 3 ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ Recap: Depth [SPOILERS]

The episodes of Reverie revolve around a common theme. To its users, it helps them escape reality. The protagonist’s strong personality dramatically influences how the plot follows through. Tonight’s episode, titled “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” develops how the Reverie operates as well as the protagonist’s strengthening relationship with the supporting characters.

We follow Mara Kint (Sarah Shahi) as she uncovers the reason why a family man, Nate Hallo (Ashley Zukerman) could not leave his bank robbing life in his Reverie. Charlie Ventana (Dennis Haysbert) uses his police connections once more while Paul Hammond (Sendhil Ramamurthy) gives Mara insight on how the Reverie works to help her free Nate. Meanwhile, Alexis Barret (Jessica Lu) works on a stressful board presentation.

L-E-R-I

After speaking with Mara, Paul goes to Alexis’ office, but Charlie stops him, saying that she was in a nasty mood, not wishing to be disturbed. That evening, while Mara waited for Charlie to call her back, Alexis enters the canteen. Mara asks her about her preparations for the board presentation. While Alexis said that it was alright, Dylan negates this, telling them how stressed Alexis was. Mara gives her advice in the form of acronyms: L-E-R-I which stood for Listening, Empathy, Repoire, and Influence. Mara makes an example of how it works by using it on Alexis without her realizing until their conversation ends.

Home Invasion

Colleen Hayes/NBC

Amanda Hallo (Paton Ashbrook) comes home to her husband, Nate, still using the Reverie. She decides to file a lawsuit against Oniratech because of her husband’s addiction to it. As she and her lawyer, Daniel Baez (Philip Anthony-Rodriguez) talk to Charlie and Mara at the Oniratech Headquarters. Mara asks them to give her a day to pull Nate out, and they agree.

Colleen Hayes/NBC

As Mara enters Nate’s Reverie, she finds him robbing a bank. She tries to talk to him, but he escapes on a helicopter. Mara needed something else that would grab his attention, so she asks the design team led by Casey Hathaway (Sasha Compère) for help. Her second attempt at pulling him out sends her back to reality promptly as Nate locks her in the armored van she brought with her.

Once she was awake, Mara decides to visit Nate’s wife. She finds out that they experienced a robbery a few months ago, but she does not think that it was related to how Nate has been feeling. Mara calls Charlie help her find the suspect responsible for the robbery, thinking that it could be the key to pull Nate out. She arrives back at Oniratech then she asks the design team for help once more.

Colleen Hayes/NBC

Paul advises her to try a different approach towards Nate, telling her to make him chase after her. Upon arrival, Mara sets Nate’s car on fire. Nate chases after her as she leads him to a dead end. This strategy almost works as Mara convinces Nate to go back to his family; but a mysterious, tattooed man appears out of nowhere. The man chains Nate to his motorcycle, and then he drags him away.

Mara tells Paul what happened at her last attempt; then he gives her an explanation for what Mara saw, saying that it is part of how the program works. Paul takes her to his Reverie to further explain what he meant. They were at Paul’s childhood home. He tells Mara that the program helped him deal with his fear and anxiety. This feature manifested itself in something that the program made on its own. A door that was not part of the house appeared. Paul tells her a story about how his greatest fear was his father before he opens the door. He sends his father away after he tells Mara the rest of his story.

Colleen Hayes/NBC

When they both wake up, Mara realizes what she has to have Nate do so she could pull him out. Charlie enters the office, presenting Mara, a sketch of a robbery suspect. He also finds out that Nate never reported back to the police. Mara tells Charlie that the person on the description was not the person she saw who took Nate away. She gives her details that Charlie uses in his next run-in with the police.

Charlie hands a folder that contained the information from Mara to the detective in charge of the case, Detective Jeanine Bregman (Elena Campbell-Martinez). Charlie gives Mara a call, telling her that they need Nate pulled out immediately. Mara finds Nate at a bar. They talk things through. Mara encourages Nate to face his fears, citing her own experience. Eventually, Mara convinces Nate to wake up and deal with his problems personally.

The next day, Nate goes with the police to where they arrested the robbery suspect. Nate confirms that they have the right suspect. When he comes home, he is comforted by his wife as they shared a hug.

Derealization

Mara calls Charlie from Amanda’s house while he does some digging in Mara’s house, fearing for Mara’s safety on the job. Later that day, when the case was finished, Charlie confronts Mara about her derealization. She admits that she was not following Paul’s instructions. Charlie tells her to go home and get some rest.

Colleen Hayes/NBC

Mara takes some pills before heading to her sister in law’s house; where she and her daughter, Bran (Madeleine McGraw) got killed. Mara does this to confront her fears the way Nate did. As she entered the house, memories of the day of their death flooded Mara’s memories. Mara enters the living room, and she finds Bran there. She was confused since she took the medications, but she talks to her niece, nonetheless. Suddenly, everything around her started to fall apart.

Reverie continues Wednesday, June 20th, with “Blue Is The Coldest Color” at 10/9c on NBC.