Before: Season 1 Episode 8 “When We Dead Awaken” – Recap and Review

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Category	Details
Originally Aired	December 6, 2024
Network	Apple TV Plus
Director(s)	Jet Wilkinson
Writer(s)	Joseph Sousa
Character	ACTOR’S NAME
Eli	Billy Crystal
Jackson	Robert Townsend
Jane	Hope Davis
Noah	Jacobi Jupe
Denise	Rosie Perez
Cleo	Ava Lalezarzadeh
Benjamin	Will Hochman

Storyline Recap

A Downward Spiral That Has To Lead Somewhere – Eli, Jackson, Jane, Noah, Denise, Cleo, Benjamin

Eli has to justify his increasingly erratic actions. Right now, he is at the point where he is banned from the hospital, with future privileges under review. He can’t see Noah, and his assistant, Cleo, is trying to find that farmhouse that has become his obsession. As all that happens, Jane is prepping Noah to move to Ithaca, and Denise is about to lose her son as he becomes a ward to the State.

Eli tries to connect with her again, but her hesitation is understandable. But with Noah hitting his head against the wall and this leading to Eli suddenly bleeding, he proves his connection to the kid isn’t purely in his head, so while the two aren’t on the same page, she believes he isn’t just a madman with a conspiracy theorist wall. However, it is still hard for most to take Eli seriously, including Jackson, who has known Eli for years.

But what do you expect from a man who seems to be struggling not only against time but unchecked medical and psychological issues? Cleo gets dragged into them as she finds herself helping Eli find the farmhouse where he has another episode. In it, he and Benjamin are running around a pool; Dutch children are involved, and as usual with “Before,” everything ends with a major cliffhanger as Eli says he killed Lynn after he wakes up in a hospital.

Other Noteworthy Information

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Review

Trajectory (67/100): Decline

It is starting to become clear that Billy Crystal playing against type was supposed to be the hook of “Before,” but here is the thing about using such a hook – it still needs good writing. Crystal is giving an engaging performance, but you can’t say it is good because his efforts aren’t put into a story and dialog that is consistently engaging.

Instead, we get a story that meanders, and despite only having to fill a half hour, it often feels like it doesn’t know what to do with that. Thus, setting up, in the worst formula we’ve seen for a show, the audience to wait till the end for the information that matters as it gives you nothing of note for nearly the entire episode.

Low Points

Burying The Lead

I’m just trying to understand the goal here. I get things aren’t meant to be cut and dry since this is a mystery with a fantasy element to it – if not spiritual. Also, I get that there could be this idea that the audience doesn’t need hand-holding, so why over-simplify feelings like guilt, grief, and trauma? But, with all that said, often with “Before,” it can feel like there is a word salad going about, not with medical jargon, but enough things to say to fill up the episode.

It’s like when we record video reviews, like for this show, we sometimes say stuff that doesn’t make sense because our idea was not well thought out or we couldn’t develop a point. More often than not, we cut that, but I feel that, at this point, “Before” decided to leave it in, and it is becoming worse due to that.

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