Rabbit Hole (Season 1) Episode 7: Previously, ‘Rabbit Hole’ showed John Weir making some major developments in his search for Crowley. He and Ben kidnapped Nora Evers and asked for details on Crowley in exchange for procuring a sensitive file for her. While John managed to sneak the suitcase from men working for Evers, she was assassinated in the end. Instead of putting the Shared Data Bill at risk, Ben believed it would expedite the process of its acceptance.
Besides, after trying to reach Valence despite his death, John finally gets a message on the chat box. As a result, the episode ended with a cliffhanger – Is Valence alive or is it Crowley playing with John’s mind?
Now the latest episode (the penultimate episode of Rabbit Hole Season 1) shows John Weir becoming increasingly paranoid and unsure of what is real and what isn’t. While still on the lookout for Weir, Jo Madi stumbles upon some crucial pieces of evidence that can change the trajectory of her professional life.
*spoilers ahead*
Rabbit Hole (Season 1), Episode 7 Recap:
Episode 7: Gilgamesh
In the wake of the assassination of Senator Nora Evers, the Shared Data Bill received widespread support and was renamed in her honor. Due to this bill, three private companies were about to get access to US citizens’ private data and government records. One of these firms is Arda Analytics. The head of Intraverse sitting in the Arda Analytics office smiles at the mere thought of it.
Because of all the shocking developments in his life, John Weir (Kiefer Sutherland) becomes increasingly paranoid. With a text from Valence (Jason Butler Harner) in a chat box, John becomes perplexed and starts looking for clues in their past. In an incident from their childhood, Valence stopped John from getting into a fight with a classmate who said some bad things about his father. They both were obsessed with The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Back in the present, John, Ben (Charles Dance), Hailey (Meta Golding) and Edward Homm (Rob Yang) see that there is no questionable video in the suitcase as Nora told them. John believes she lied to them and used them to know what is inside. Homm looks at a rather disappointing collection of data and believes that the Kompromat was not sexual, but financial. Ben sees it just as a distraction from their actual mission.
Anyhow, John wants Homm to decode the numbers. Ben says there is not enough time to stop the bill from getting passed. It frustrates John how little Ben cares about it. He also assumes that Ben is working with Crowley. He has worked as per Ben’s wishes for over five years and now he is tired of doing so. In the chat box, he sees Valence telling him that Ben is lying to him.
Unlike Ben, Hailey is concerned for John’s sanity. She feels that at least one of them needs to check on him. By then, he leaves the safe house to talk further with Valence. Hailey, Ben and Homm notice that he left. Hailey checks John’s chat box with the last message from Valence – ‘This chat is burned. Get away. Move to an encrypted app.’ However, she does not share this interaction with Homm or Ben.
John enters a computer store and inserts a USB drive into one of the laptops. Hailey decides to go out and find John. She believes he may have gone to his ex-wife – Liv Bonen’s (Alexandra Castillo) house. Meanwhile, John establishes communication with Valence and tries decoding the alphanumeric data shared on the chat. Valence says that ‘Ben used us’. By then, Hailey calls John and starts recording their conversation. He says that he wants to find some answers on his own.
The cashier recognizes John as the prime suspect behind Homm’s murder. He alerts the security guard, which puts an alert to law enforcement. At the same time, the Intraverse head also learns about John’s presence and wonders why he is out in the open, without making even an effort to hide himself. He thinks John wants to get noticed. Meanwhile, John detects that the security is onto him and sneaks out of the store.
Hailey meets John outside. Turns out, she recognized his location with an announcement in his background. He takes her to an alley but notices a car standing at the end. He fears it is someone tailing him, and thus, gets Hailey on to keep her safe. Turns out, it was just a random car, and his paranoia made him suspect otherwise.
We see Valence walking in the city, hiding his appearance. He later enters an accommodation. The man inside says that he is late. He gives Valence some gloves to wear before touching the contents of a briefcase. On the other hand, Morgan Shaw, the podcaster (Matthew MacFadzean) makes a celebrity out of Homm. Morgan also says that finding Weir would reveal the dirty secrets of the authorities – which is why they are not pursuing the case as efficiently. Anyhow, Homm gets chuffed by his rising popularity.
Back in the safe house, Homm figures out what the stuff in the briefcase means. It is a roadmap to Crowley’s operation. It has data about shell companies, bank accounts, routing numbers, and social security numbers of everyone that Crowley owns through his corrupt ways. Ben says that Crowley does not care about money but control. Hailey believes they should deliver the data to someone and get him exposed. But it won’t work since they all are bought by Crowley.
Agent Jo Madi (Enid Graham) gets a photo of Weir’s employees lying under the elevator sent to her home. Later, in her office, Rasche visits her to get control of files on John Weir. He threatens to get her exposed if she is hiding any information. She does not pay heed to his threat. In her cabin, she finds a gift basket with a note asking her to meet to talk about Weir. She goes there to find Hailey and recognizes her as ‘the woman from the car’.
Hailey introduces herself as John’s well-wisher. Jo feels that he Svengali-ed Hailey into believing in his lies. Anyhow, Hailey shares proof to conclude that Weir did not commit any murder. Later, Jo meets her senior – Wilhelm Morello (Stephen Bogaert). He appreciates Jo’s persistence and believes she found something important. She shares files from the drive that Hailey shared with her. Since it contains some incredibly revealing details, he asks what Jo wants in return to keep it hidden. She asks to get her back to her old department and put her on the investigation case about John Weir.
Liv gets a package on her doorstep from Valence. At the time, John was at a church in the confession stand so he could open up, but anonymously. Liv calls him and tells him about the package. So, he goes there to find a piece of Gilgamesh that Valence talked about before his death.
Later at night, Kyle aka The Intern (Walt Klink) beats John from behind and takes him to his boss, the Intraverse head. He reveals his knowledge about John’s last name not being Weir, but Wilson. He brings a theory to John’s notice that Ben has been playing him all this time. John beats him in anger and then notices a bug in his ear. Through that, John contacts, possibly Crowley, who asks for his help. This person makes John question all that Ben told him about reality. He says that this was Ben’s plan all along to take control in his hands. He also says that Ben lived three blocks from him (John and his mother) for all these years as Dr Benjamin Wolff.
Rabbit Hole (Season 1), Episode 7 Ending Explained:
John returns to the safe house with a piece of Gilgamesh. He recalls its connection with the story that he and Valence obsessed over when they were kids. Subsequently, John looks around the apartment and finds a gun under Ben’s mattress. He approaches Ben, intent on killing him. He even pictures a scenario where he actually commits this murder. John says that Crowley found him and said that Ben is the real threat. Ben accepts that he was living as Wolff for a brief period but denies working for Crowley or using him (John).
By then, Homm breaks open the Gilgamesh into two pieces and finds a chip inside. He inserts it into his laptop and brings John’s attention to it. Apparently, Valence recorded a message before jumping down from his office floor. Valence said that he was told by Crowley to kill John. Before that, Valence tried to make Crowley trust him for a while. But Valence still could not work out a way to steer Crowley away from his plans. So, in order to save John, he gave up his life.
John recalls a few lines from Gilgamesh – ‘When two go together, each will protect himself and shield his companion. And when they fall, they’ll leave an enduring name.’ ‘The trembling will leave from your hand – Let your courage be roused by the battle to come’. Homm figures out that Crowley communicated with John through Valence’s chat box. It finally hits Ben how the free will of American citizens is at risk if Crowley succeeds. So the father and the son plan to do whatever it takes to stop Crowley from creating this irreversible threat.
