Reverie Review: Bond. Jane Bond (Season 1 Episode 2)

Reverie Season 1 Episode 2 “Bond. Jane Bond” definitely offers us a better idea of the kind of stories this show is capable of telling than its exposition-packed pilot did.

In this week’s installment, Mara is sent into the Reverie of a woman named Rachel, who’s basically dreamed herself into a simulation in which she is a butt kicking female spy.

This is pretty awesome for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which being that Rachel gets tons of skills, smarts and agency while doing so. (And the fact that Reverie gave the “I basically want to be James Bond” simulation to a woman straight out of the gate is fantastic.)

Unfortunately, Rachel also has a previously undisclosed heart condition, and her desire to run around shooting at dudes in her dream world is negatively affecting her body in the real one. Enter Mara.

The spy chase elements of Rachel’s story are as fun as you might expect, incorporating slinky dresses, bathroom fights, ritzy yachts and, naturally, a casino scene.

However, the episode’s action adventure twist is somewhat undercut by the fact that Rachel’s Reverie ultimately turns out to be a way not to explore a new side of her personality, but to emotionally work out her feelings toward the father she never knew.

The clues in her simulation seems to be leading toward a revelation of his identity, and her determination to find this out is why Rachel won’t log off.

Mara, of course, realizes this thanks to her explorations into Rachel’s past, and manages to convince her new friend that no matter how fancy this technology is, it can’t give her the closure she wants. Only real life can do that.

(Of course Mara has already enlisted Charlie’s help to track down Rachel’s real father, and the two share a touching reunion by episode’s end. Awwww.)

The thing is, however, I’m not sure that I really needed this episode to be about emotional catharsis in the same way “Apertus (Season 1 Episode 1)” was.

As a character, Rachel clearly had a lot of anger and abandonment issues so, to me, giving herself a space to work all that out — through violence if necessary — made a lot of sense.

Plus, the idea that Reveries can be about a lot of different personal goals is intriguing, if only because it opens up so many new and different kinds of avenues for the show to explore.

A lonely person wants to experience being popular. A shy woman wants to be a powerful CEO. A childless couple wants to try out having kids.

Reverie users could explore anything: Their sexualities, big life decisions, hobbies, even things they’ve always wanted to say to their friends, bosses, exes. There’s nothing this show can’t try.

(And that variety would ultimately be better for Mara’s story, too. Empathy comes in many different packages.)

Furthermore, at some point Reverie really is going to have to deal with the very large plot hole in the room. And that’s why there’s no failsafe to force users out of the program.

Granted, if such a programmatic hack existed, Mara would be out of a job and we’d have no show.

But it just makes no sense that such a technologically advanced company as Onira Tech would have just blindly accepted the notion that they can’t boot someone out of the program should some kind of emergency arise. (Such as, oh, a potentially fatal heart condition.)

If there’s a reason for this, let’s all hope the show decides to tell us about it sooner rather than later.

However, on the whole, “Bond. Jane Bond” is interesting precisely because it expands what the world of a Reverie can be. These adventures don’t have to involve soppy, sad tales of folks reunited with dead loved ones in order to learn to let go.

They can be anything – and the show’s already much more interesting when it branches out into unexpected areas. Let’s keep it up, shall we?

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• The implication that the Reverie program can not only learn about you, but extrapolate new information based on the things it already knows is terrifying, and I’m kind of shocked Mara isn’t more concerned about where that could all lead.
• I definitely get the sense that we’re supposed to be super intrigued by Alexis’ decision to recreate her dead twin Dylan as Onira Tech’s company-wide AI system, but at the moment her character is so purposefully unlikable I just can’t be bothered.
• Mara’s visions of her dead niece, while clearly traumatic, are very obviously something more than we’ve been told. Sure, Paul, some random anxiety pills will fix it. (Not.)

What did you think of this episode of Reverie? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Reverie airs Wednesdays at 10pm on NBC.

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