Summary
The opening chapter of Ray is chilling and thought-provoking as we experience a character who is seemingly struggling with memory loss.
This recap of Netflix’s Ray season 1, episode 1, “Forget Me Not,” contains spoilers.
As the opening chapter, this is a mind-twisting story. Let’s recap!
Episode 1 begins with a woman walking around a rooftop luxury bar. She holds her drink confidently, but then she notices a man named Ipsit on a nearby table — it’s been a long time since they have seen each other, but Ipsit claims he does not remember her. The woman reveals her name — Rhea. Ipsit tells her to jog the memory, and she tells him that they spent time together on his 30th birthday in 2017. She has particular memories of when they traveled to a cave, and it is a romantic story. Ipsit states she has got the right birthday, but the wrong man. However, Rhea knew he was engaged when they met and then asks if he married Amala. Ipsit gets angry and tells her to leave him alone. As she walks off, she rings him, and “Cave Girl” pops up on his screen, and he looks confused.
An efficient entrepreneur
When Ipsit returns home, it is clear he has a family life. It then flits to a month earlier, and entrepreneur Ipsit has been running in the rain. He has a busy day ahead. At the hospital, his wife has delivered a baby, and he looks at his new daughter. His wife tells him to get his award for being the best entrepreneur. Ipsit is very efficient — he’s able to visit the hospital and make major business dealings at the same time. After making a deal, he goes out baby clothes shopping with his colleague Maggie. At an awards ceremony, he wins entrepreneur of the year.
His conversation with Rhea irks him
Colleague and old friend Anil comes to a party hosted by Ipsit — in private, Ipsit asks his friend if ever mentioned the caves. Anil remembers and wonders why he’s bringing it up. Ipsit does not seem to remember the details of this trip and the hotels he stayed at. His conversation with Rhea is bugging him, and he’s off his game at work. Later on, at the cinemas, Ipsit leaves his newborn baby at the side and forgets to bring her back into the screening, and he panics — he finds a woman cradling his baby in the elevator. However, this was a nightmare.
Forgetting details
Ipsit tells a professional that he forgets friends, filling his car, the caves, certain dates. He’s losing his mind. The professional brings up early on-set dementia. He storms out and remembers that Rhea mentioned a camera, so he asks his friend to send photos from that camera. He looks through the photos while driving but ends up in a car crash.
Speaking to Maggie
Ipsit wakes up in the hospital. He asks his assistant Maggie to come in, and he brings up something romantic that happened between them for 2 years. She tells him to let it go as she has. He brings up his 30th birthday. Maggie claims they didn’t meet on his 30th birthday and talks about the baby they had to abort — she tells him he was in Ajanta, where the caves are. Ipsit gets increasingly irritated. Maggie stops the conversation as it isn’t easy for her. However, it is then revealed that his wife was waiting outside, and she heard the entire conversation. She isn’t in the mood to talk and leaves.
Losing his mind
Time passes, and Ipsit is growing confused. He cannot concentrate in a business meeting even though he’s on course to hit a billion for the first time. He approaches Rhea at another table which is also at a business meeting. He asks her if he had sex with her, but she tries to tell him to leave as she’s in a meeting. He ends up getting increasingly angry and fighting others. He is restrained as he cries that he’s losing his mind.
To jog his memory, Ipsit visits the hotel that Rhea claims they hooked up, and flashes of memories come back. He then visits the caves, and more memories return as he remembers how excited he and Rhea were. Suddenly, he starts laughing hysterically, and he falls to the ground.
The mental facility
Ipsit ends up in a mental facility, and Maggie is feeding him as he says different numbers. She talks about how she didn’t mind him and his wife, and flashbacks show Maggie looking at her aborted baby. She says they had a good thing going, but he told her to have an abortion. She wonders why a man would take a woman for baby clothes shopping after asking her to have an abortion. It’s revealed that Ipsit believes he’s a hotshot entrepreneur still at the facility. Maggie reminds him of how many friends he has screwed over while talking about different trimesters of pregnancy. As she wheels Ipsit around the facility, certain areas feel and sound like his company.
Maggie gives Ipsit his favorite flowers and then leaves him in his wheelchair and closes the door behind him. In a flashback, Maggie visits a church, and she’s folding baby clothes at a church. She wants to make Ipsit pay.
Let’s reflect on Ray season 1, episode 1, “Forget Me Not.”
It’s likely that in certain periods of this short story that Ipsit was in a mental facility the entire time, but the way Maggie talks about the situation, some aspects of it were real; for example, when he went baby clothes shopping with Maggie for his wife and newborn baby — this must have been real as she asked why he would take her. At some point, Ipsit lost his mind, and Maggie used it as a tool for revenge. Is his situation induced by Maggie? Has she done something to him to put him in this mental state?
Another theory could be that Ipsit was never an entrepreneur at all, and he has fabricated this life to cloud out how he has wronged others, which is why he spends most of the short story struggling with the returning memories.
What did you think of Ray season 1, episode 1, “Forget Me Not”? What is your theory? Comment below.
