Reverie Season Finale Review: Point of Origin
Dale McGarrigle
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Well, that was almost a clean ending.
This season's big bad, Oliver Hill, got handled on Reverie Season 1 Episode 10.
He had been cut down to a ghost in the machine, with his body slowly dying.
The ratings for Reverie make it unlikely to get renewed, despite its likable cast and cutting-edge premise. That's what happens when a show gets launched in the doldrums of late spring/early summer.
But it's hard to say with NBC. This is the network that brought Taken back for an unnecessary second season for some reason, yet canceled the far superior Timeless after its second season. (Granted, NBC gave neither show timeslots that gave either any chance to succeed.)
In other words, don't use logic as a yardstick when it comes to NBC renewals. Maybe Mickey Fisher should have titled his show Chicago Reverie.
Related: Reverie Season 1 Episode 9 Review: The Key
Anyway, it appeared that Fisher and the Reverie brain trust had accepted their show's fate, filling the finale with plenty of closure.
That didn't happen quickly, however.
First came Mara's closure. It turned out that the man that she had spent too much time hating was just an overwhelmed husband who turned to a gun to solve his family crisis.
Rather than Ray telling Jamie about his lost job, she found out on her own and decided to take Brinn and leave him. Then he overreacted because he felt a lack of control. A weak excuse for his actions.
At least Ray let Mara off the hook for his attempted suicide. He wanted to die, but he just did a bad job of it. That was why he was still hanging around in a coma a couple of years later.
Being the goodhearted person she is, Mara ultimately forgave herself and Ray. She presented him with the photo of Jamie and Brinn, whose faces he had forgotten, and that gave him the closure he needed to let go and die.
Of course, Mara was also the savior of both Alexis and Onira-Tech. Not bad, considering she was ready to walk away on Reverie Season 1 Episode 9.
Related: Reverie Quotes: Season 1 Episode 9
Alexis couldn't even celebrate her 25th birthday without drama. For someone who doesn't like to talk, she sure manages to set people off.
She went home and confronted her parents about the lack of Dylan's presence in their home. Instead, there was just that shrine to Alexis.
Her parents were trying to be conscientious of Alexis's feelings since she blamed herself for Dylan's death. They miss Dylan just as much as she does.
Frankly, Dylan's death was a tragic accident. Dylan just wanted to play with his twin sister. Like a kid, he took a risk he shouldn't have to see what Alexis was up to. Even back then, Alexis was too focused on her work, ignoring those around her, including Dylan. Even if she had heard the crash, it probably would have been too late.
At least, by episode's end, she was at peace with Dylan's death and even made a grownup Dylan into Onira-Tech's new AI.
Unfortunately, Alexis couldn't escape the ghost of Oliver quite as easily.
All this episode proved was that Oliver was a brilliant but crazy arsonist.
If you don't want people thinking you're nuts, don't murder and kidnap people while putting thousands of innocents at risk. No one is going to overlook that, including your ex-lover and your former coworkers.
Why everyone thought that Oliver was going to crawl back into the woodwork was hard to say.
Oliver had a well thought out if manic scheme: kidnap Alexis and stick her inside his Reverie, first to prove his point about military use of the program and second to distract everyone at Onira-Tech.
That certainly worked, with Mara going into Reverie to rescue Alexis and Charlie and Monica searching for where Oliver had hidden her body.
Paul was left to mind the fort, which Oliver easily breached with Alexis's security key. A cyber attack was the logical gambit for Oliver because no one really knew for sure how much of a firebug he was.
It was Mara who put together that Oliver had burned down his old school based on the fiery creatures she encountered in his Reverie.
Related: Reverie's Sendhil Ramamurthy Q&A
Mara also delayed Oliver long enough for Charlie to wound him, causing him to rush his arson before escaping into Reverie. It also gave Paul time to pull more people out of Reverie and allowed the firefighters to contain the damage.
So, in the end, there were only a couple of things hanging: Where's Oliver, and what does he have to do with the psycho Mara that Paul discovered in Reverie? Here's hoping we get to find out those answers.
Hey, NBC, if you can't find room in your dominant schedule, how about moving Reverie to Syfy? Keep it a short season again, in a more natural environment.
To review the season one more time, watch Reverie online.
When did you figure out Oliver's plan? How did you feel about Dylan's death? Would you want to see more of Reverie? Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.
