Summary
Before really loses the plot in Episode 7, straining credulity to breaking point and trying to be far too clever for its own good.
Episode 7 of Before, “The Power of Belief”, revolves around another unconventional therapy technique that Eli attempts on Noah, and it’s weird that we’re supposed to be shocked by this anymore. This is a guy who has already sliced the kid’s head open and pulled out an imaginary worm. Anything else he does at this point seems like a small affair.
But Eli is still working on the premise established in the previous episode that Eli is connected to – or perhaps even is – Benjamin Walker, his late wife’s ex-boyfriend. And he’s determined to prove this at all costs, even if it means putting Noah through a “transitional” session – in other words, a final session before he’s taken elsewhere for his own good – that causes him severe emotional and physical distress.
Eli doesn’t seem to mind this distress. He’s happy to hypnotize Noah and push him deeper and deeper through his recollections, some of which seem to cause him physical agony. This isn’t a doctor desperate to help his patient; it’s an obsessed man desperate to prove himself right.
Why Jane keeps allowing Eli near Noah is anyone’s guess, and one of the ways in which Before strains credulity, which it does in Episode 7 to an extraordinary degree. Tricking Noah into believing a balloon is pulling his arm into the air is one thing, but excitedly forcing Noah through obvious trauma is just nuts. Confusingly, this sequence is intercut with another of Eli’s house being psychically cleansed, causing a medley of visions – particularly of Lynn’s ghost – that overlap in each disconnected scene. We get it, everything is connected, but there’s very much a feeling of the show trying to be too clever for its own good here.
Lenny Venito in Before | Image via Apple TV+
It isn’t surprising that even Cleo thinks Eli is far too personally connected to this case to be able to consider it from a remotely objective angle. It is surprising that Jane is willing to go along with yet another of Eli’s treatment schemes, this one being to take Noah to Ben’s brother Lawrence’s house. Now, to be fair he doesn’t reveal how he’s personally involved in all this, just his theory that Noah believes he is literally Ben and that addressing that issue might lead to healing Noah, but to be honest it’s improbable that Jane would allow Eli to open a tin of beans at this point.
Nevertheless, Jane accompanies Eli and Noah to Lawrence’s place, where Noah starts combing through all of Ben’s old possessions. Jane is immediately curious about what’s really going on, and it doesn’t take long for Lynn’s name to crop up – Lawrence mentions it when he says that she gave him an envelope full of undeveloped film from Ben’s camera labeled “Farmhouse”. Jane is furious at Eli’s deception – and rightly so! – but Noah interrupts by playing a record. Lawrence recognizes it immediately, and Noah speaks to him as Ben, calling him Lonny. It’s clear that Lawrence believes this is really his brother speaking to him; apparently, he used to play him this song all the time.
When they leave the house, Eli aggressively pushes Noah to recall his connection to the farmhouse, but it causes Noah to freak out as usual, and his arm is suddenly tugged in the air like during the transitional therapy session. In very fragmented visions, we see a little girl falling into an icy lake, and suddenly, Eli vomits gallons of water into the street.
Honestly, if Jane lets him anywhere near this kid again, I’m not sure I can take it.
