Before
This article contains a discussion of suicide and mental illness.
SPOILERS for Before episodes 1 and 2 are ahead!
With Billy Crystal at the forefront, thecast ofBeforewas bound to bring in many viewers.
Unsurprisingly, the show jumped to number 6 on Apple TV+s TV Show list within the first 24 hours.
This is one of the most shocking and horror-esque scenes in the first two episodes.
WhenBilly Crystal’s Elijolts awake, its wipe the sequence was a nightmare.
Custom Image by Dani Kessel Odom
This doesnt change how alarming the scene is.
When the therapist brings it up, she points out that he never dies in the nightmares.
The show fills in these blanks quickly intoBeforeepisode 1.
Prior to the start of the show, Elis wife, Lynn, died by suicide.
Suicide is never the answer.
Its unclear how long ago it happened, but Eli refuses to confront his grief about the tragedy.
Unfortunately, the grief manifests in other ways, like imagining her everywhere he goes and having anger outbursts.
The question about his corporeal form continues when he shows up in Elis bedroom, watching him sleep.
He doesnt speak either, making the situation more mysterious.
The child psychologist asks Noah whether he knew the apartment or if it reminded him of somewhere.
However, this is while the young boy is nonverbal, so he never receives an answer.
The likelihood ofBeforeanswering this question in a future episode seems high.
Hes seeing visions of murky water.
They typically start in the top corner of a room, as seen with his bedroom and his classroom.
However, the water quickly starts dripping down the walls and moving towards him.
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The water isnt without disturbing elements.
The water that comes toward Noah in his classroom takes the form of a tentacle.
However, he eventually decides to help because the social worker keeps hounding him.
Before that, he was just a strange little boy who appeared at Elis house.
Additionally, Eli would never have realized he had a peculiar, as-of-yet-unknown connection to the little boy.
However, he drops it when he sees the dark water in the corner of the room.
His facial expression is one of pure, unadulterated fear.
When the water gets to the ground, it takes tentacle form and wraps around his classmates neck.
Believing it to be real, he grabs a pencil from the ground and stabs the tentacle with it.
Consequently, Noah is admitted to a hospital as he is a danger to himself and others.
However, this scene explains to the audience a potential source of his aggression and anger outbursts.
However, he quickly started having screaming episodes, where he wouldnt be able to speak.
Eventually, he stopped using this mode of communication altogether.
The exact reason hasnt been revealed in the first or second episodes of Apple TV+sBefore.
In episode 2, he speaks for the first time in months, shocking everyone.
He says the sentence, I want to go home.
From this point forward, hes shown speaking more frequently, though only around Eli.
He also doesnt say a lot without prompting.
Further episodes may show him feeling more comfortable verbalizing through spoken language instead of other manners of communication.
It also seems probable that Before will explain why exactly Noahs ability to speak out loud regressed.
As shown with Eli, the psychologist starts with minor annoyances and continues progressing toward therapy-relevant answers.
While traditional thrillers entertain viewers with impressive action, disturbing psychological thrillers get to the heart of human nature.
Unfortunately, what is a relatively ordinary therapy session in Noahs hospital room turns tense.
The little boy then has a nosebleed and starts screaming, ending Before episode 2 in a disturbing way.
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