'Reverie' episode four recap: 'Blue Is the Coldest Color'

In the newest Reverie, Mara helps a man save someone close to him, and learns about the darker side of Reverie.

Previously on Reverie, Mara learned about Paul’s abusive childhood and Alexis’s vision for Reverie. Mara tried speaking to the hallucination of her dead niece Brynn. She went to the room where her family was killed, but she realized the room wasn’t real.

“Blue is the Coldest Color” opens on the ending scene of the previous episode, with the room collapsing around Mara. She wakes in the middle of a road and is saved by a man named Oliver Hill. He says he will answer her questions.

Mara goes with Hill to a diner and he reveals he co-founded Onira-Tech with Alexis. Hill admits he’s been watching Mara because he found out she’s involved with Reverie 2.0. He says 2.0 is dangerous. The dealization she’s experiencing, he’s been experiencing for much longer. The longer it goes on, the more she will question what is real and what’s a dream. Mara is overwhelmed and tries to leave, but he stops her and asks her to think about what he’s said. He also says not to tell her coworkers that they met or what he said.

The next day at Onira-Tech, security is issuing new IDs because someone stole a BCI. Mara questions why someone would do that when Reverie is readily available to anyone.

A man named Glenn looks at a row of pills before picking up a Reverie tablet. He opens his door to his young neighbor Quincy, who brought him a package. He opens the package to find a baseball card. Quincy's mother Liz comes over and thanks Glenn when he says the boy can keep the card to look at during his doctor’s visit. Glenn goes into Reverie but has issues going into the sun.

At work, Mara looks up information on Hill and finds out he was a co-founder. Dylan is unable to offer any information other than Hill left 19 months ago. Charlie and Paul tell her they’ve found an unauthorized BCI and believe it must be the thief. She goes in and finds herself a Reverie circular room. She opens two doors before finding Glenn in the third door. It’s a warehouse and Glenn is trying to steal something. She confronts him about stealing the BCI tech and he exits the Reverie.

Mara goes to Paul and tells him about the encounter. Using her information, Dylan tells them the warehouse was for a paramedical company called Medivax Research Laboratories (MRL). Charlie reveals one of their techs stole the BCI and sold it for fifty-thousand in Bitcoin. It was sold on Dark Reverie, which is where people go for Reverie tech that allows you to do things the designers find morally reprehensible.

Mara asks why Charlie isn’t calling in the police, and he says they don’t need the publicity. She asks him why he’s keeping things from her and tells him about Hill saving her life. Mara talks to both Charlie and Alexis about Hill, but they say he’s unstable. Alexis claims as long as Mara follows Paul’s instructions, the derealization will stop happening. Mara isn’t convinced by the talk. Later Charlie goes to Mara’s office and talks about how long they’ve known each other. He says he would never have recommended she take the job if it was dangerous.

Mara and Charlie go looking for Glenn based on a fountain she saw in one of his Reverie’s. They walk towards Glenn’s apartment, but Liz stops them and introduces herself and Quincy. She mentions some of Glenn’s compulsions and suggests Charlie hide his blue handkerchief. Liz then leaves to take Quincy to a doctor’s appointment.

Glenn agrees to talk to Mara only. He reveals he’s a freelance computer coder. She messes up his mail and then tells him about a compulsion she had to count cracks on the wall next to the stairs. She ended up spackling the wall. Mara tells him she understands why he would want to use Reverie, but questions why he wants to rob MRL. Charlie knocks on the door, then peers in the windows and Glenn has troubling dealing with him touching the windows. Glenn takes the tablet and goes into Reverie.

They take an unconscious Glenn into Onira-Tech. Alexis says when he wakes, they will remove the BCI and have him arrested. Mara says Glenn can’t handle prison with his OCD, but Alexis is unmoved.

Mara goes to Paul and he encourages her to get Glenn out of Reverie. When she asks about Hill, he shows her Hill’s baseline before going into Reverie. Hill had issues before Reverie 2.0, and it got worse after he used 2.0. Paul assures her that Reverie doesn’t create any problems, it simply shows you what was already an issue. Mara wants to believe her coworkers, but she’s still not completely sure. She talks about how helping others helps your mind focus on an outside problem and realizes Glenn’s goal.

Mara goes into Glenn’s Reverie and confronts him about robbing MRL of a drug that’s in clinical trials for Quincy. He admits to planning a robbery. Glenn tells her how he’s watched Quincy grow up from his window. He sees how the illness has caused pain for Quincy and Liz and wants to help the most important people in his life.

Mara goes to Charlie and tells him Glenn will willingly give up the BCI if they help him rob MRL. Charlie tells Monica Shaw about finding the thief. He says Glenn knows about Dark Reverie and can help them shut down sites if they help him out.

Glenn goes over the plan with Mara in the Reverie. She helps him find ways to help minimize his reaction to compulsions. She has him focus on dice so he can go outside in the sunlight. It works for a minute, but he has trouble so she tells him to focus on Quincy.

Charlie goes to see Hill. He believes Hill contacted Mara to get the attention of Onira-Tech. Hill wants his job back and claims he can fix Reverie. Charlie says they will never accept him at Onira-Tech again. Charlie threatens him if he comes near any of them and repeatedly tells him to take his medication.

Mara waits for Glenn the next morning and they drive to the MRL location. She gives him a communication device and he goes into the building. He makes it through the blue hallway and steals an ID. Glenn gets the medicine in his bag and sneaks across the building to the door. He uses the dice and manages to get outside. He stalls on the stairs and Mara encourages him as he slowly walks towards her jeep. A car goes by and he starts having an episode. He thinks about Quincy and is able to make it out of the building.

Charlie comes over to the truck and takes them to meet Monica and MRL’s CEO, Richard Brewster. Charlie and Monica made it seem like an exercise to show MRL’s security flaws by using Reverie. Brewster reveals he wants to pay Glenn for exposing the flaws in their security. Glenn is able to get Quincy in the trial.

Glenn tells Liz an edited version of what happened and she hugs him, ecstatic. She wants to get Quincy, but Glenn says he will come with her to her home. She’s surprised as Glenn slowly walks outside, trying to focus using the dice.

Hill speaks to an Onira-Tech security guard and offers him thirty thousand dollars for a BCI. When asked what he wants it for, Hill says it’s to live out the fantasy of getting a girl back. The scene changes to Alexis.

Mara goes to see Alexis, who tells her about Hill. Alexis reveals she loved Hill. She says his mental health got bad and he blamed Reverie 2.0 for his worsening condition. After an argument, he tried to set her house on fire. She didn’t call the police. Charlie fired him, paid him, and took out a restraining order. Alexis doesn’t want the investors to find out, thinking they will see her in a negative light.

I enjoyed this episode of Reverie and think the show is getting better. I liked Glenn more than the three previous Reverie clients. The idea of Reverie as a form of therapy is interesting, like in the previous episode with Paul and Glenn this episode. I’m looking forward to watching Mara continue to help people on their journeys.

Reverie airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on NBC. Check out the preview for the next episode below.