Reverie, 'The Key' - August 2

The penultimate episode of ‘Reverie’ S1 was upon us. ‘The Key’ was everything that we’ve seen in the ‘Reverie’ S1 so far and more, as this episode had actually tackled two separate plot lines, with both of them coming to a head next week in the season’s finale: firstly, Mara is finally dealing with the truth of her family’s demise, (and also the revelation that she isn’t as nice as she thinks that she is), while Oliver is finally going into the supervillain territory, as he kills his security officer minion and prepares to burn ‘Oneira’ with the reverie-manifesting machinery to the ground.

Is there a twist? Well, Oliver was intended to be relatable to us…or he would have been, if he had appeared in more than just two episodes of S1. (This is his third appearance in the show so far). For a long time, he did not have a backstory, as several villains of AoS did; he was the backstory, especially of Alexis and Charlie, which makes it hard for the audience to relate to him: he was cast as a villain from his start, so it is only natural that he is now revealed as one properly. No, what one rather feels in regards to Oliver is relief: at last ‘Reverie’ has its proper villain, so now it is up to Mara, (next week), to see if he can be redeemed or not.

Here’s a thing – unlike AoS, where the main cast members often had conflicts between themselves and had to resolve them to move the story line forwards, ‘Reverie’ is much more straightforward and simple: every week, until ‘The Key’ – this week’s episode – we had a…patient of the week with a problem, (usually with a subtle connection to one or another character from AoS), and Mara went into the reverie and helped sort it out with the help of the rest of team Oneira. There were some minor variations from one episode to the next, but in general? This is how it went – but now it does not. Now Mara and Paul need to actually take the initiative and resolve Mara’s conflict with her ex-brother-in-law as well as within herself, while also resolving whatever crazy-ass plan Oliver got for ‘Oneira’ and the reverie – but we’ve been there before.

Possibly, Mara’s revealed viciousness, (and Charlie’s, and maybe also Alexis’), is the AoS-like twist in ‘Reverie’, but somehow it only makes Mara – as a character – more rounded and human. Until now, the characters in ‘Reverie’ were more two-dimensional than those of AoS, for example, or of ‘Runaways’. Now, however, they are becoming more rounded, with the plot becoming more intriguing and exciting than it did before, so it can be safely proclaimed that ‘Reverie’ does everything right, ‘by the numbers’, as far as the shows go, so their big question currently is: was it enough? Are there enough people who give a damn – or even more – about ‘Reverie’ and its’ characters? Because if there is not, ‘Reverie’ falls flat, and since there are no news about it receiving renewed for a second season yet…this is not encouraging. We will just have to wait and see what will happen next.

…This is it for now, see you all soon!