.
- Reverie: a virtual reality program
where the impossible becomes possible.
Anything you desire, you can find here.
But sometimes people get lost.
Caught between fantasy and reality.
That's where she comes in.
Her name is Mara Kint.
Her job: find the lost ones and bring them home.
And maybe by saving them,
she just might find a way to save herself.
[sweeping orchestral music]
♪
- Previously on "Reverie"...
- When you find this symbol in Reverie,
you're looking at a gateway icon.
Your exit back to the real world.
- Charlie, we're running out of time.
Is she ready or not? - Yes.
She's ready. - Then send her in.
- And how does the Department of Defense
see our product working for them in the future?
- We see potential.
[indistinct chatter]
- Folks, empty your pockets.
Take the laptops out of your bags.
♪
- Step forward, sir.
- Step on through.
Here you go.
[beeping]
Thank you.
♪
- Raise your arms, sir.
♪
- Can I see your ID, please?
- Any keys, cell phones, wallets...
[beeping] - Raise your arms,
shoulder height.
[security wand beeping]
- Okay, sir, come on. Step through.
- Yes. I'm calling to let Mr. Wiggins know
I'm running a little late.
Yes.
[screaming]
[indistinct shouting]
[sirens wailing]
- Mara.
- Did you make a new friend?
- I need you to come with me.
- What's going on? - I'll explain in my office.
- I'm sure this must seem odd,
but I'll get you up to speed quickly.
Just couldn't talk until we were all in a secure location.
- Monica, before we do this,
I'd like to speak with you privately.
- I'm afraid we can't, Charlie.
There's no time. - Okay, I don't understand
I thought you were an investor in Onira-Tech.
You work for the army?
- Defense Department, which is an investor.
We own 30% of Onira-Tech.
Anyone here surprised to hear that?
- I was told we operated independent of our financing.
- Of course you do.
I'm just asking for your help.
- With what? - Preventing a terror attack.
In here, please.
Five hours ago a bomb exploded
in the lobby of the Mercodyne building
in West Los Angeles.
[explosions, screaming]
The causality count right now is 63 killed, 22 injured.
- Why this building?
- Probably the military connection.
A lot of contractors have their offices there.
- Someone calling himself Silas sent us this
45 minutes after the event.
- [distorted voice] Did we get your attention? Good.
Because the people of Doyle County
did not ask to be your dumping ground.
But you still buried your guns and munitions here.
You depleted uranium shell casings.
Now the groundwater is poisoned.
Dozens have died, and more are dying every day.
And why? So you can greedily buy more?
Keep the corporate machine humming?
Pay reparations,
relocate the town's people, and clean up the site.
Or we will visit upon you days and days of reckoning.
[tense music]
- We believe this is the first in a series of attacks.
- So there are more bombs? - Yes.
- Call in the FBI. - We have.
And state and local police and the NSA.
But you can do something none of them can.
- What?
- Talk to the only surviving eyewitness.
Time's short.
I took the liberty of having her
transferred to your medical wing.
- She's here?
- Her name is Denise Lang.
She was one of the security guards in the lobby
when the device went off.
- And you think she can identify Silas?
- According to the surveillance footage,
she and what appears to be Silas cross paths
minutes before the explosion.
She definitely saw him.
- How badly was she hurt?
- Third-degree burns over 60% of her body,
lacerations to her liver and spleen,
and she's in a coma.
Doctors are giving her six to ten hours at best.
You'll have to work fast.
- What? How? You just said she's in a coma.
- Exactly. - Interesting.
- I'll need you to go into her mind
using the Reverie program
to get an identification of Silas.
- You want us to induce a Reverie?
- Our people have looked at the Reverie source code.
They say there are no significant obstacles.
- You have our source code? Did you know about this?
Did you...give it to her?
- This sounds dangerous, Monica.
Putting Mara into the mind of a coma victim.
- Why? She goes into the brain of sick people all the time.
- Yeah, this is different. It's risky.
I mean I don't even know if we can do it.
- Oh, we can do it.
- The question is, should we?
- Why not? It's a great technical challenge.
And a perfect test case for Reverie's expansion.
- We don't have her consent. - And we never will.
She's dying.
What happens if Mara goes in and Denise dies?
- I don't know. There's no precedent for this.
I mean we do know that Reverie can't exist without the mind.
- Then we're not sending Mara in.
- Maybe she should speak for herself.
Mara?
- You're certain there are more bombs?
- 100%.
- You left these here on purpose for me to see.
Don't think I didn't know that.
I'll go in.
.
- Noradrenaline. - Yup.
- It's all about the noradrenaline.
- What is noradrenaline? - Dylan?
- Noradrenaline is a hormone that stimulates
the amygdala, where memories are formed.
- The stress increases noradrenaline.
The more your brain makes, the less you remember.
But the right amount can help
store memories leading up to a traumatic event.
- If she has the memory stored in her brain,
we might be able to get her to recall it
through the Reverie program.
We have the surveillance video.
It shows us exactly what happened.
- So if we use the surveillance video
as a blueprint for Denise,
it'll be like a replay of her memory.
- And creating this memory will get her
to remember Silas's face?
- Maybe. We can build the space and an avatar of Silas.
But she's the only one who saw his face.
We're hoping the Reverie prompts her
to fill in the rest. - Okay, so say she sees it.
Then how do I?
- Each BCI links the client's brain to the program.
In Reverie 2.0, your brain is connected with the program
and the client's experience.
- We're hoping you see it 'cause she does.
- So I'm the sneaky neighbor stealing the cable?
- That's one way to look at it.
- Her neural interface is gonna go haywire.
Everything's gonna be loopy: Voice commands, visual data.
I'll have to tweak the code.
- I'll get people started building the lobby.
- So you're on board with this?
- Not really.
I think it's an invasion of privacy
and a terrible precedent.
Hey, I need everybody in the studio right away.
But if you're gonna go in,
I want to be sure you're safe.
All right, people, listen up.
We've got an hour tops to build this.
So whatever you're doing, stop.
And no, Bruce, I can't tell you what this is for.
But as you may have guessed from the men
walking around with very large guns,
it's classified.
- Paul, I'm placing lobby blueprints
on your desktop. - Thank you, Dylan.
And we have to match
the security video elements perfectly.
The program is pulling data from a variety of sources.
Staged architectural photos, schematics, security video.
Apertus. [computer beeps]
Since we only have partial data
on the people who were in the lobby,
you're gonna have to use some imagination
to render them 360.
You know what, try a Pantone color
in the 2390 range.
No calls, no texts, no emails.
Nothing in or out while we're working.
This is gonna require us to dig deep.
Well, that's gonna need some work.
[oxygen machine humming]
[heart monitor beeping]
[light instrumental music]
♪
We're all set.
Your fail-safe Mandala is near the primary location.
The program will start as soon as you enter.
But it'll be a little while until Silas appears.
We've parachuted Denise into the program
to give her a bit more time to find her bearings.
- Under no circumstances mention the Reverie,
her injuries, anything that would
lead her to think what's happening isn't real.
You'll threaten the connection between the two of you.
And probably freak her the hell out.
- We don't want that.
- Mara.
Just be careful in there. Okay?
- Careful's my middle name.
[tense music]
♪
Apertus. [computer beeps]
[inhales sharply]
Oh, that's an awfully bright exit icon.
both: Oh.
- Excuse me. - Not a problem.
Trudy, let's go.
[tense music]
- [breathing heavily]
- Which way do I go?
- Are you all right?
- I don't know.
I feel so weird.
Do you ever feel like you're not in your own body?
- Well, I--I think we all have those feelings.
- The day's got to get better from here, right?
- Sure.
- Can I help you?
- Oh, um.
No, I'm actually just waiting for somebody.
Are you good? - Yeah.
Thanks.
- You said you wanted to talk.
I had to ask for Mara's help, Charlie.
We're trying to save lives. - Don't give me that.
You wanted Mara so you could show off your new toy.
Let your bosses at D.O.D. see what they invested in.
- That's not true. We're in the middle of a terror attack.
I'm trying to contain it before it becomes a disaster.
And that means availing myself of every option.
- You're risking her life on a wild goose chase.
- [chuckles]
You underestimate her.
I think she's going to surprise us all.
And yes, I do want the people I work for to notice.
They think Reverie 1.0 is a toy.
And I want them to see that 2.0 is a tool.
To enter another person's mind?
To talk to them in their dreams?
What Mara is doing is a revolution.
The treatment for PTSD alone could be transformational.
Not to mention training, strategic planning--
- Intelligence gathering.
- Of course.
At the end of the day,
Mara knew what she was getting into.
Maybe if you were as concerned about the people
we're trying to protect as you are about her--
- Don't try to guilt me
when you know good and well-- [cell phone buzzes]
- Yes?
And you're certain?
Thanks.
- What's the matter?
- LAPD says the real Denise Lang
just identified herself to the authorities.
She's been out on medical leave for a month.
- But the badge. - Someone forged it.
Borrowed her identity.
- So if this other woman is Denise Lang,
who is Mara with?
♪
- If we use the surveillance video
as a blueprint for Denise,
it'll be like a replay of her memory.
- And creating this memory
will get her to remember Silas' face?
- Maybe.
♪
- Silas!
Come back.
.
- The coma patient is named Ashley Trent.
She's 20 years old
and was born in Santa Barbara.
- Why wasn't this picked up earlier?
- Well, Denise Lang's work status
was never updated by the security company.
We were working fast and missed it.
Ashley Trent used Denise's identity
to get into to the building to make sure
Silas got through security with the bomb.
- Well, didn't anyone notice that Ashley
you know, wasn't the real Denise?
- The security company works dozens of buildings.
The guards cycle through them all the time.
Nobody knew Denise at Mercodyne.
- It's not her.
Callously taking scores of innocent lives.
That just doesn't feel like the person that I met.
Whatever her name is,
she's not killing people.
- I don't understand. Why are we still talking about this?
We did what you asked. Aren't we done?
- We don't have Silas.
And there are still more bombs out there that will go off.
But we do have a connection with someone that may be
able to give us information.
So, no.
- To be frank, that sounds like your problem, not ours.
I'll be in my office.
- I could go back in.
Talk to her. - You sure you want to do that?
- Like she said, we still don't know where the bombs are.
Maybe I can find out.
- Look, the doctors say she's right on the edge.
You don't want to be in there when she crashes.
- I'll be okay.
But I need more information about Ashley.
- We can get you that. What do you need to know?
- Who she really is.
- Alexis.
[indistinct chatter]
Alexis.
- What?
- Anything you want to say to me?
- No, other than I feel like
I'm on the outs in my own company.
She's ordering us around.
You gave her the source code and you didn't even tell me.
How could you do that? - It was part of the deal.
You never want to know the details so I took care of it.
- Well, I don't want it that way anymore.
It's my company.
I want to know the truth about what's going on.
- You want it to be your company, then act like it.
- I rewrote 300 lines of source code
in 20 minutes this morning.
It's my company.
- There's more to it than that. - Really?
I don't think Steve Jobs ran Apple
based on his people skills and mature personality.
It was his vision. - You need more than vision.
You need to look up and see people.
The people affected by your product,
the people that make it. You need--
We're going for a ride.
- Where?
- Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, Mrs. Trent.
I know that this is
an incredibly difficult day for you.
- No, I'm flattered by the attention.
You're the belle of the ball when you give birth
to a suspected terrorist.
They'd like to talk to me about Ashley next.
- I want to help her, but I need to know more about her.
What's she like?
- The Ashley I knew was...
Wasn't always so angry.
Ideological.
My Ashley was...
spirited, clever,
and funny.
Then her father decided to swindle the life savings
of a lot of people.
A lot of people, so,
he'll be in prison for the rest of his life.
- How did she respond to that?
- I did my best to keep her out of it.
I said as little as I could.
She was 13.
But...she knew.
- Yeah, I mean, kids--
they know way more than we give them credit for.
- I tried to delay the inevitable.
Spare her the scar, but then the civil suits began.
And they took everything away from us.
Every single thing.
- Well, that must have been devastating
for the both of you.
- They were especially cruel to Ashley.
Vicious at her school.
So that's when she began running away.
So eventually I sent her to a wilderness camp,
where you learn to conquer your anger, but, um...
she didn't.
- Mrs. Trent.
When was the last time you saw your daughter?
- It's been over a year.
[crying]
My poor baby.
- According to Dylan,
Edith Leonard is one of the few people
Ashley communicated with.
I thought we'd talk to her.
- You can. I'll stay out here.
Wh--Hey!
- You're on this thing too much.
- I was working. - You were hiding.
That's why I brought you out here.
So you can interact with real humans
in the real world.
- This is pointless. - You want the truth?
Here's some.
We took money from Shaw and the D.O.D.
We both agreed to do that. - Because we needed it.
- Yeah. - To add extra developers.
To push forward on the rollout--
- And to move into that fancy building.
And to step up development of 2.0.
- That's right.
- Well that money came with strings.
We both knew it. Now we're dealing with it.
You want to be protected? Want me to keep lying to you?
Stay here and play with your phone.
You want to take some responsibility?
Get out of the damn car.
- May I help you? - Hello, I'm Charles Ventana.
This is Alexis Barrett.
We were hoping to speak with Edith Leonard?
- Are you cops? - Oh, no.
We want to speak with her about a friend of hers.
Ashley Trent. It's an emergency.
- Well, she's napping right now,
but if you want to hang here I can go get her.
- Sure. Thanks.
Ah, I didn't catch your name?
- Margaret.
- Thank you, Margaret.
- Why does your face look like that?
- I don't think her name was Margaret.
- Why not?
- She thought about it before saying it.
[tense music]
Hello?
Margaret?
- Charlie.
Look.
♪
Edith!
We just want to talk. - No.
- Edith.
- [yelps] [thud]
- Whoa. - Stay away from me.
♪
- Just lower the gun.
- Do you think I'm stupid?
- Your friend Ashley is dying.
- I don't believe you.
Because Ashley's already dead. Silas told me.
She sacrificed herself, and she took all those
obedient sheep with her.
- Innocent people, Edith. - There's no such thing.
And their deaths pale in comparison
to the people who die every day due to military indifference.
The rain of fire begins today. It's gonna burn you out.
- No! [gunshot]
♪
.
- They're combing the house right now.
Obviously the timeline has tightened.
- Mara.
- I know this is tough
considering what just happened.
But we have to keep working. - I know.
How much time do you think we have?
- Based on what Edith said? Hours.
- We need to you to go back in right now.
- I know. I'm ready.
Actually, I have a plan.
- You know, I--I'd, um,
I'd keep conversation to a minimum.
We were flying blind on her voice.
Be safe. Good luck.
- Thanks.
Apertus. [computer beeps]
[inhales sharply]
♪
- Edie?
Edie, is that you?
It is you.
Oh, my God.
Wha--
Wha--what are you doing here?
- What's wrong?
- Nothing feels right.
Everything is just wrong.
I can't open any doors. My phone doesn't work.
All these people are, like, weird.
They don't know anything.
I'm totally tripping right now. - Okay, chill.
- There's something I need to you look at.
- What? - Please.
- What?
- Open it and tell me what you see.
♪
[birds chirping]
[bird wings fluttering]
Well, what do you see?
- A closet.
- It can't be.
This is wrong. This is...all wrong.
We're being punished. - What?
- We shouldn't be doing this, Edie, any of this.
Silas was wrong.
- We can stop it from happening.
There's still time.
We can go to the police. - I don't feel good.
- We can tell them where the bombs are.
We can save lives. We can do that, Ashley.
I know you want to.
Ashley, what's wrong?
Ashley.
[gasps]
- That was close.
- [breathing heavily]
What's happening? - Ashley's lung collapsed.
The doctors are trying to stabilize her now.
Her organs are failing and we-- - What did she say?
♪
- Nothing. - What do you mean?
- She collapsed.
But as soon as she's stable I'll go back in--
- No, there's no time.
One of my teams received a tip about a location.
I was hoping she could confirm it.
♪
- I don't think Ashley wanted to go along with any of this.
- What do you mean?
- Well, just before she collapsed,
she said that Silas was wrong.
Uh, she felt agitated, felt like she was going crazy.
- That could be for any number of reasons.
- But then she showed me a door.
I opened it, and it was filled with a forest.
- Like a doorway?
- There was a cabin right in the middle.
- Spontaneous portal generation
in a traumatized brain? This is fascinating.
- English please.
- Her brain is building an alternate Reverie space
on its own. - But how is that possible?
She doesn't even know she's in a Reverie.
- Well, you said she was agitated.
Maybe her brain isn't accepting the Reverie we built.
So it's building its own.
- Like a refuge. - Maybe.
Look, the BCI reacts in response to powerful stimuli.
If her brain is building this forest and cabin,
it must have great significance for her.
You're gonna go back in, aren't you?
- I have to.
- Mara, she almost died the last time.
You don't want to be in there when that happens.
- It's a risk I have to take.
[knocking at door]
- They took her off the ventilator.
The doctors say it won't be long now.
- Mrs. Trent, I'd love to ask you one more question
about Ashley, if I may.
Did she spend much time
at a log cabin in the woods?
- We had a cabin in Beaverton.
Spent every summer there when she was little.
How did you know about our cabin?
- Well, uh, it's...it's kind of hard to explain.
- We built it together as a family.
Ashley was so proud.
Every night we would roast marshmallows,
and then I would read to her
from "Alice in Wonderland" before bed.
Apparently she still read it.
It was in her personal effects
when the police found it at her friend's house.
She memorized the whole book.
All that time I thought I was protecting her, I...
I was protecting myself.
Exploiting her really.
So I could pretend none of it happened, you know.
[crying]
No wonder Ashley was so mad.
Everyone exploited her.
- No one was giving her what she needed.
The truth.
Apertus. [computer beeps]
[inhales sharply]
[bird wings flutter]
[light instrumental music]
♪
Ashley?
[cell phone ringing]
- Hello, Monica.
- The tip was a hoax. - What?
- Silas put us on a wild goose chase.
We got nothing. Where's Mara?
- I don't know. I'm looking for her myself.
- Well, find her or we're gonna have a lot more people dead.
.
[birds chirping]
[light instrumental music]
♪
[fire crackling]
[door handle rattles]
[door creaks]
- You're one of them.
From out there.
Are more of you starting to come in here?
- No.
No, Ashley, it's just me.
- How do you know my name?
Did you come to get me? Are you even real?
- Okay, listen. Listen to me. - Oh, God.
- You're okay. - No, I'm not.
I'm not okay. - You're right.
You're not. I'm sorry.
- I don't understand what's happening.
I--I'm losing my mind.
I don't know what's real anymore.
- And why would you?
People have done nothing but mess with you.
Your parents.
Silas. Even me.
- Who are you?
- Um...
My name is Mara Kint.
And...
I'm here to tell you the truth.
You've been put into something called Reverie.
It's a computer program that interacts with your brain
to create a virtual environment.
Like this one.
- None of this is real?
It's all in my head? Even you?
- Well, um, I'm real in the outside world,
but in here...no.
Everything here is created.
This is all fantasy.
Even when I pretended to be your friend in the lobby.
- That wa--wasn't Edith, that was you?
- Yes.
And I shouldn't have done that.
I took on her form to get something from you
and that wasn't fair.
I'm very sorry.
- And I created this?
- Uh, well,
no.
My company did because you're in a coma.
We put you in this place because we need your help.
- Am I dying?
Yeah.
[crying] Yeah.
I can feel it.
The bomb went off, didn't it?
- Yes.
- Were a lot of people hurt?
- Yes.
- Silas said no people.
We were just going to get attention for what's going on.
He promised me.
- Oh, Ashley, I'm sure he promised you a lot of things.
- He said he loved me.
He said we were family.
- He said what he needed to say to get you to believe in him.
Ashley, he knew about the problems
between your mom and dad, how all you wanted was family.
He preyed on your need for connection
when you were the most vulnerable.
- I felt alone until Silas.
I was going the wrong way, and he--he helped me.
He said I mattered.
I finally felt like I was a part of something.
The truth.
But I'm--I'm just a monster.
- No, you're not.
You've just been lost.
And, honey, your mom doesn't blame you.
She told me.
- You know my mother?
- And out in the real world,
she's by your bedside,
holding your hand.
- I--I never wanted any of this to happen.
I thought all we were going to do was send a message.
That day I had to let Silas in through a side door
so the bag wouldn't be scanned.
I used the guard's key to open the closet
and hide the bomb.
It was supposed to be set for nine hours later.
But when I saw it was set for 45 seconds,
I didn't know what to do.
I froze.
- But you didn't run.
You could have left. You could have saved yourself--
- I guess it doesn't matter now.
- Oh, yes, it does.
You can stop it from happening again.
[rumbling]
Ashley. Do you know where the other bombs are?
If you tell me, nobody else gets hurt.
[rumbling]
- There's one set to go off
at the Sepulveda Federal Building
near the loading docks.
- Thank you.
[rumbling]
- It's happening.
I think you should go.
Mara.
One--one more thing.
One more thing.
.
[rumbling]
- [gasping]
[panting]
Exitus.
[grunts]
[gasps, panting]
[knocking at door]
[door opens]
- She's gone.
- I'm so sorry.
Remember how I asked you about your family's log cabin?
I knew about it because Ashley showed it to me.
- How?
- She built it.
In the Reverie.
And she stopped another tragedy from happening.
♪
- All clear.
- She used her last moments on this earth
to save lives.
- [crying]
- And she wanted me to tell you...
Ladybug loved you.
So very much.
- I haven't called her that since she was a little girl.
We couldn't read "Alice in Wonderland"
until Miss Ladybug was snug in her bed.
- And she wanted me to do one last thing for you.
- [sobbing softly]
- "'Would you tell me please
"which way I ought to go from here?'
"'That depends a good deal on where you want to go,'
"said the cat.
"'I don't much care where,' said Alice.
"'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the cat.
'So long as I get somewhere.'"
[knocking at door]
- Hey.
I wanted to check on you.
What you did with the program saved a lot of lives today.
Don't let anything else that happened make you forget that.
[mouse clacking]
But what I really came here to tell you about
was Sidney Wilks.
He was a friend of mine.
One day, we were 15 at the time...
He just kept saying how he was going to fly away.
Just fly away.
He leapt back, I reached out.
He fell 12 stories.
He was high.
- Why are you telling me this?
- He's the first person I saw die.
I've talked about Sidney for a long time
because it helps.
I'm sorry about what you saw today.
And I'm ready to listen anytime you want to talk about Edith.
- Edith wasn't the first person I've seen die.
- I know.
- Charlie.
Thanks.
[light acoustic guitar music]
♪
- Okay. Well, this day's done.
- Yes, it is. - Anyone for a drink?
- Oh, yeah. - You've earned it.
I'll leave it if you'd rather
be alone. - Don't be silly.
- I'll rustle up some glasses.
- Thank you.
For everything.
- You're welcome.
- Hey. Can I have some?
- Of course. Come over here.
♪
- Here you go.
- I'd like to propose a toast.
Job well done.
- The program.
- To teamwork.
- Steve Jobs.
- To Ashley.
- Hear, hear.
♪