Diksha Sundriyal
Apple TV+’s ‘The Crowded Room’ ends with its tenth episode, where Danny Sullivan comes face to face with his most traumatic memory. During his trial, all the odds are stacked against him, and following the testimony of Candy Sullivan in the last episode, it appeared as if there was no way out for Danny. He was so certain that he would be found guilty and go to prison that he slashed his wrists, trying to escape what fate had in store for him. The final episode touches upon something he had been denying for a very long time, giving him much-needed closure and a way to move forward. Here’s what happens to Danny. SPOILERS AHEAD
The Crowded Room Episode 10 Recap
Danny slashes his wrists in his prison cell, which is when his alters start to come back. In his loneliest moment, Ariana shows up again, pushing him out of bed, alerting the guards, and saving his life. Rya receives warnings from her superiors at the university, who advise her to let go of Danny and focus on her teaching career. However, when she hears about his suicide attempt, she can’t help but go to him. Stan Camisa has lost all hope to save Danny, but then, a conversation with Rya allows them to see things in a new light.
When Rya and Stan visit Danny at the hospital, they discover that this traumatic event has brought back his alters, and Jack has become the dominant personality again. This is a major setback for Danny, considering his mental health and the prospects at his trial. Rya tries to reason with Jack, but he has imprisoned Danny inside his mind, and there is no way out. At first, it looks like the end of the road for Danny, but then Rya realizes they can use it to their advantage.
The Crowded Room Finale Ending: Why is Danny Found Not Guilty?
In all the testimonies during Danny’s trial, whether in his favor or against, the prosecution managed to set a bottom line: Danny didn’t have dissociative identity disorder. When Angelo talked about how Danny was not the same as Ariana, the prosecution made him rethink his point of view by claiming that Ariana was just Danny’s way of representing his sexuality, which was otherwise closeted. The only way Stan thought he could help Danny’s case was to get his mother to testify that Marlin Reid had abused him. However, Candy backs out and says nothing of that sort happened to her son.
When Jack takes over Danny, Rya realizes they have ignored a very important clue in Danny’s story. All this time, Danny said that Adam was the one who was abused by Marlin. This was a huge problem because, with this statement, the prosecution proved that Danny never confessed to getting abused himself, which doesn’t support the theory of him going through a trauma so intense that it fractured his mind. But what if they could prove Adam was Danny? Wouldn’t Rya’s argument stand, then?
The only way to prove this was to bring Danny on the stand and have him talk about Adam. More importantly, he needed to realize by himself that Adam was yet another of his alters. On the final day of the hearing, Stan calls Danny on the stand, even though he knows Jack is in control. He starts by acknowledging that this is Jack, not Danny, whom he is talking to, and after a bit of back and forth, poses questions about Adam. Jack gives all the rehearsed answers that Adam was Danny’s twin who died at a young age.
Hearing Adam’s name spurs Danny into action, and he tries to break out of the prison Jack locked him in. As Stan throws one question after another at Jack, he tries to concentrate while handling Danny, who breaks out of the prison and ventures deeper into his mind. Danny ends up in the flooded area where all the dead alters are disposed of. There he finds the corpse of Adam and realizes that his twin brother had been him all along.
The realization jolts Danny back to reality while Jack faces the wrath of other alters. Once back in control, Danny starts talking about the abuse he suffered at Marlin’s hands. He confesses that Adam was his alter who came out to shield Danny from the trauma. Eventually, he was killed and buried in his subconscious because, by that time, other alters had emerged who saw Adam as a threat.
Danny reveals that Adam deliberately gave in to the abuse because he didn’t want Marlin to leave their mother, who would have been lonely otherwise. Danny’s story moves the jury, and it is confirmed that he does, in fact, have several alters. This leads the jury to declare him not guilty on the basis of insanity, and he is sent to a hospital rather than prison.
Is Danny Cured? Do His Alters Go Away?
When Danny discovers he has DID, he wonders what will happen to his alters and if he’ll be able to survive without them. Rya tells him that all his alters are a part of his personality. He has their confidence, their charm, their sense of freedom. He is everything they are, which means he won’t leave behind any part of himself by letting go of them. She mentions fusion therapy, which would merge all his alters into the primary personality, Danny. He will just be Danny, not Jack, Ariana or Jonny, or anyone else.
When Danny is found not guilty, he is sent to a hospital, where he receives the care he needs to be better. At first, Rya hesitates to let go of him, but eventually, she realizes it will be best for him and her. While Danny receives proper treatment and therapy, Rya establishes herself as a therapist. She had been fired from the teaching position during the trial and showed no inclination to go back to it.
After a while, when Danny is better, Rya visits him at the hospital. They talk about how they felt when the verdict was announced and how their lives have been since they last saw each other. Danny reveals that his mother once came to see him, and she confessed she knew all about what Marlin did to him. He asked her not to visit again, but she said she would, even when he knew she wouldn’t. He also reveals that almost of his alters are gone. The fusion therapy has worked rather well, but there is one alter he is still holding on to. He calls it “unpaid debt,” and Rya realizes he is talking about Adam.
While Danny developed a lot of alters during his teenage and young adult years, Adam was the one who stayed with him from the beginning. He might have been the result of the trauma he suffered from his birth father, whom he never met, but he became Danny’s lifeline when Danny couldn’t handle the world as it was. Adam was pushed out even when he was there to protect Danny.
In the end, Danny acknowledges all that Adam did for him. He understands why he needed Adam and how even his memory helped him through tough times. He lets go of other alters but holds on to Adam. One day, he might let go of Adam too, but for now, he seems to be making up for lost time, being with the brother he never had.
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