The Crowded Room

The Crowded room is a tough watch, it's good just tough. This is a psychological thriller that takes place in Manhattan in 1979. It follows the arrest of a young man named Danny Sullivan (Tom Holland) after a shooting at the Rockefeller Center. An investigator named Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried) starts to unfold Danny's life through interviews. Those interviews start to show a very mysterious past that led Danny to be who he is. Danny himself starts to understand his own mental heath problems and the events that led to the shooting. Emmy Rossum also stars as Holland's mother in this. There's no denying the star power on screen here and all do an excellent job, the writing is lacking a bit but because of the performances the actors give it still makes for a good watch. Playing this character was so emotional for Holland and since he's having such a hard time letting this character go that he's taking a year off of acting to clear his head.

The first few episodes slowly hooked me. Cleverly constructed with many time warps, relying on the audience to work things out.

Of course the "based on" credit is something of a spoiler, but I tried to ignore it. Then in episodes 5 and 6 it became great.

Seeing one of America's greatest screen actresses performing in the background (on a TV), really woke me up. Then I knew why Holland wanted the role. It was a similar part that gave Joanne Woodward her Oscar, and this one could be an Emmy for Holland.

Now he showed his acting chops. Not in-your-face, but subtly. And at last I was genuinley moved, as opposed to fascinated, coming close to tears.

So glad I gave it a chance, and stayed with it.

I just started this and it looks like it's going to be really good. But ... When I was a kid , my mom took me to see Grease. She was extremely annoyed having grown up in the 50s , that the dialogue being used and how they acted was not accurate to what she remembered in the 50s. Of course back then, I was thinking " Geez mom, you're so old. Lighten up!" Now I get it. There are so many shows I have watched recently that are set in the 90s ,80s or 70s. Yet they are using dialogue that didn't exist or the teenagers are behaving like kids do now, not necessarily as they did in the 70s. Use of the word "literally " literally just became popular in the last few years. The word "dude " wasn't an east coast term. I know this because I grew up in California and when I went to live on the east coast in the early nineties, people were fascinated that we called people " dude" . I got made fun of for being a typical Californian . If they wanted to really be authentic, they would only have needed to watch the Brady Bunch. Or another show popular in the 70s. Other than that being a pet peeve of mine. This looks like it's going to be a great show.

This show is so captivating. It has the perfect amount of suspense, mystery, and drama. The acting is absolutely stellar and Tom really delivers. The setting is a little slow at first but it starts getting darker, and more disturbing with the further unraveling of Danny's childhood. I also like the message behind how childhood trauma will psychologically impact people through their adulthood. We do not have enough media representing the horrors of what some children have to endure-and how negatively it affects them. Things like this will help spread more awareness- but in a manner which tells a story. Again, Tom's acting is so good, he is definitely one of the most talented actors we have ever had.

I initially had no interest in watching this due to the terrible ratings it had, despite the fact that I really like Tom Holland. I was browsing for something to watch, and nothing appealed, do I thought I'd give it one episode to see if it piqued my interest. I was invested 15 minutes in and watched all three episodes back to back. It's fabulous! Tom Holland is so believable, so masterful in his performance! Now I understand why I'm seeing news stories about how he's taking time away from acting because the series has broken him. It's intense! While the series is a bit of a slow burn, it's as it should be. The story, suspense, and top notch performances have been riveting. I can't wait til next week!