'Reverie' episode eight recap: 'Despedida'

On episode eight of Reverie, Mara helps an elderly woman relive an important life moment in Reverie, while Paul and Alexis try to figure out how Mara sustained physical harm in Reverie.

Previously on Reverie, Mara and the team helped save a young man who was being tortured as a suspected terrorist. In the Reverie, Mara was shot and was bruised and sore when she came back to the real world.

“Despedida” opens on Mara and Chris the morning after they sleep together. They discuss if they’re moving too fast, and agree they both want their relationship to move forward.

An older woman named Pilar Simonet takes her daily medicine at a retirement home and stares at her appetizing lunch. She goes into her bedroom gets the tablet out to enter Reverie. A nurse comes in and asks what she’s doing, but Pilar immediately enters the program. Inside Reverie, Pilar is a young woman again and happily chats to people in a town. She spends some time with four young girls, then she meets with a man named Joaquin and the two spend time together.

Charlie introduces Mara to director of Shady Pines Assisted Living, Jack Selve. He tells them Pilar has lung cancer and didn’t receive her treatment today because she’s still in Reverie. He doesn’t agree with Pilar using Reverie because she’s not engaging in the real world or taking responsibility for her health. Selve reveals Pilar bribed one of the facility’s former workers to take her to get the BCI. Selve says Pilar will be removed from the home and placed in a state facility if she doesn’t leave Reverie.

Mara enters Pilar’s Reverie and talks to Pilar about Selve’s ultimatum. Pilar is upset because she doesn’t want to get sent to the state facility. Gunshots ring out and Pilar tells Mara she has to go and take her second chance. Mara’s confused and follows to see Pilar getting in a vehicle with a group of people while men with guns surround the building.

Mara tells Paul about Pilar’s Reverie, saying it was somewhere in Central or South America in the 70s. She believes the Reverie is based on a true event from Pilar’s life. Charlie shows her information about a trip Pilar took in 1973 to various countries. Dylan helps them narrow it down to Chile. Charlie tells them about a military coup that happened during that time. After Charlie leaves, Paul tells Mara he’s concerned about her getting hurt after coming back with a bruise during her last assignment. Mara declares she’s not worried and confident the team will figure it out.

Back in Reverie, Pilar meets with the young girls she talked to before. Mara watches, then sees Pilar meet Joaquin and watches them kiss. She tries to talk to Pilar, but the woman bends over in pain. Mara explains the pain she feels in the real world is bleeding into the Reverie. Pilar won’t listen to Mara and walks away.

At Orina-Tech, Paul and Alexis argue about the physical ramifications of Reverie. Paul’s worried Mara might actually get physically hurt because of the program. Alexis continues to say it was a random occurrence. Paul says they should talk to Oliver Hill because he brought up the idea before. Despite Paul’s offer, Alexis says she will talk to Oliver and calls him moments after Paul leaves.

Mara thinks about the previous night with Chris and sends him a text asking to get dinner. She tells Charlie and Paul about Joaquin. Dylan tells them Joaquin was professor and part of the resistance movement in Chile. Pilar never got to see him again and Mara thinks she needs closure. She asks Paul to help her set up a romantic moment between the two.

Mara talks to the Reverie characters and asks them for Joaquin’s location. She brings Joaquin to Pilar, but to her surprise, Pilar is upset. She says Joaquin should be leading the raid and she’s upset with Mara for making assumptions. The soldiers come and start dragging the girls from a building. Both Mara and Pilar are unable to stop them from being taken.

Mara sits down with Pilar and asks her what happened when she was in Chile. Pilar explains that in real life, she was able to save those girls while Joaquin led the resistance fighters. She wanted to experience the moment again.

Alexis meets with Oliver at a restaurant and tells him about Mara’s bruising from a Reverie gunshot. He says it’s possible that it’s just because of the crossed Reverie’s that the BCI was messed up and caused physical issues. He gives Alexis the location of some safeguards he made. Oliver realizes the government has the Reverie code and gets angry. The customers look at him and she tells him to calm down. Alexis tenses back up and tells him it’s her choice what to do with her program. He manages to control himself, but the damage is done and she says goodbye.

Mara asks Selve to let Pilar leave the program and start it over, but he refuses. He talks about the amount of people they take care of and how he cannot put Pilar’s wish to stay in Reverie above her safety. He reminds Mara of her deadline to get Pilar out of the program. Mara looks around Pilar’s room and finds momentos Pilar kept of her time in Chile.

Mara goes back into Reverie after talking to Paul and Charlie. She tells Pilar what Selve said and says they are going to rescue the girls. Mara uses an explosion to cause a distraction and they break into the building. The find the girls and lead them outside to a van. The military sees them and starts shooting, but Pilar drives past them and out of town.

Pilar and Mara get the girls to the border and Mara asks what happens now. Pilar says she lost touch with the girls and couldn’t find them later on. She says she would rather stay in Reverie with the girls than go back to the real world. Mara reminds her these girls are “echoes of real memories,” not the girls she saved. She says the real girls would have wanted Mara to live, not focus on the past in Reverie. Pilar says goodbye to the girls leaves Reverie.

Back at Shady Pines, Pilar stares at her bland lunch until Mara appears. Mara and Pilar chat about their adventure in Reverie. Mara asks Charlie to come in, and he brings a woman and her granddaughter along. He introduces the woman to Pilar and it’s Elvia, one of the girls she rescued. Pilar cries and hugs Elvia. Pilar is overwhelmed as Mara explains Charlie found all the girls. Eliva introduces Pilar to the granddaughter they named after her and Pilar is suprised. Elvia shows Pilar pictures of her family, saying Pilar is the reason they all exist.

Oliver meets with a man and says he will pay him the twenty thousand dollars he owes. Oliver opens the bag and uses a Reverie tablet to enter the program. He drops to the floor and people around the bar rush to see if he is okay.

Mara comes home to find Chris waiting. She’s shocked to see him, but he says he still has a key from when they were originally dating. Moments later, Mara’s phone rings and it says Chris is calling. She asks Chris if he accidentally dialed her number, but he shows her his phone. Mara answers the phone and hears Chris on the line. She stares at the Chris across from her as she questions the Chris on the phone. Tears in her eyes, she asks Chris when they last met. He says they saw each other a couple days ago, then the Chris in front of Mara begins to break. She drops her phone, staring at the Chris in front of her as she realizes he’s not real. The image of Chris turns into Ray and then completely disappears.

I thought this was a great episode of Reverie. Pilar’s story was interesting and the ending was very touching. I also thought the Golden Girls reference to Shady Pines was fun. The ending was surprising and I am very interested to see what happens next.

Reverie airs Wednesdays at 10pm on NBC.