Warning: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for episode 6 of Before and all previous episodes.
Apple TV+ Before episode 6 shows the increasingly deteriorating mental state of Eli, leading to several flashbacks that could explain the central mysteries about Noah. The psychological thriller starring Billy Crystal continues to weave strange events, focusing on the mysterious connection between Eli – a psychologist infantile – and his young patient Noah. So far, the show hasn’t been able to answer any of the big questions about what’s going on with Noah.
Rather, it puts the viewer in Eli’s shoes, making him learn information at the same time as the child psychologist. However, the show continued to provide new revelations that provide hints about possible explanations. Some of the biggest revelations so far come in episode 6 of Before, when Eli tries to find out more about Benjamin Walker, a man with a possible paranormal connection to Noah.
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Noah is able to move again after Eli cuts his forehead to remove the worm
Eli’s unconventional treatment gives Noah back his ability to move and talk
This episode of the Apple TV+ show picks up right after the end of Before episode 5, which involved Eli hallucinating about the worm under Noah’s skin and trying to cut it with a scalpel. After the incident, Noah received six stitches in his forehead, but regained the ability to move and speak. There are two main ways to interpret this result.
The more psychological explanation is that Noah suffered conversion disorder because he thought there was a worm behind his eye. Even though Eli didn’t remove an actual worm, Noah perceived the incident as such, so he regained his abilities when the cause supposedly disappeared. This explanation does not fully explain why Eli also hallucinated the worm, as Noah never specified what was behind his eye. Alternatively, something supernatural could be happening, although it’s unclear what exactly at this point in the story.
In both cases, his recovery is positive and also allows other students who fainted to recover from psychogenic symptoms. As Eli explains in Before episode 6, with shared psychosis, the secondary individual’s symptoms usually disappear when the primary individual recovers.
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Eli’s work is in limbo after the scalpel incident
The Disciplinary Board is trying to decide whether Eli should be fired
Although Noah recovers because of Eli’s intervention, the child psychologist doesn’t get away with the situation. He even cut a child’s head without preparation, approval or explanation. Eli had to find a reason after the fact, leaving out the fact that he was also hallucinating the worm. He later attributes his hallucination to exhaustion or transference countertransference when talking to Cleo, his assistant.
When asked to explain his actions, he says that Noah’s paralysis came from the belief that a worm was behind his eye. Even though there was nothing to remove, Eli underwent radical treatment, deceiving Noah into believing that the worm was gone so that he would no longer be paralyzed. The explanation is obviously flimsy and untrue, but your boss supports your explanation to the disciplinary board. However, she sends him home, giving two explanations.
Firstly, he doesn’t look well and she thinks his hand might be infected. Secondly, she tells him she needs to do damage control to see if he can continue caring for Noah, let alone keep his job. At the end of the episode, there is still no answer as to whether the child psychologist still works at the hospital. The fact that he sneaks in to see Noah at the end of the episode, despite being prevented from seeing him until the decision is made, could increase his chances of being fired.
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Eli begins to hear hallucinations of Old Dutch
Hallucinations may be linked to Benjamin Walker
Throughout episode 6, Eli begins to hear screams in his head in the 17th century Dutch language that Noah spoke in Before episode 1. He first hears the voices when he is in the elevator, and they seem to distress him. However, he doesn’t tell anyone about the hallucinations. They appear again a few times in the episode.
Only one of the voices he heard was the phrase that Noah had said; however, the other voice is revealed at the end of the episode to be Benjamin Walker. Future episodes of Before will need to explain why exactly he’s taking on so many of Noah’s characteristics, like the worm hallucination, visible breathing, and archaic Dutch.
None of this can be fully explained by the transference-countertransference explanation he has postulated so far.. Unfortunately, as the series has continued to drag on at a maddeningly slow pace, it’s hard to think that the show will offer any explanations that will be satisfactory to viewers who have continued watching the Apple TV+ original show week after week.
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Eli tries to get more information about Benjamin Walker
Eli talks to Benjamin Walker’s brother about the man’s past
In Before episode 5, Eli finally figured out what the “BW” in the farmhouse photo meant. The initials stood for Benjamin Walker, Lynn’s ex-boyfriend. After being sent home, Eli decides to research Benjamin to learn everything he can about the worms, the farmhouse, and his possible connection to Noah. Cleo finds information about her living relatives after searching for information at Eli’s request.
The main character of Before goes to the last house where his relatives lived and meets Benjamin’s brother. The two separated before his death, despite having a close relationship when they were younger. The brother explains that Benjamin stole his valuable collection of baseball cards so he could sell them for drugs, an incident that separated them.
During the visit, the brother confirms that Benjamin suffered from night terrors, but knows nothing about him having hallucinations. He also answers Eli’s question about whether anyone spoke Dutch with the hilarious response: “Dutch? Are you kidding me now?” which implies that Noah’s 17th-century Dutchman didn’t come from his mysterious connection to Benjamin Walker. He also asks his daughter Barbara, while they are ice skating, if Lynn ever said anything about Benjamin to her, and she doesn’t know much other than the fact that her ex used to do drugs.
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A flashback shows how Eli met Benjamin and Lynn
Benjamin died in the hospital the day Eli and Lynn met
Before Before episode 6, it seemed like Eli had never even met Benjamin, much less knew anything about Lynn’s ex. However, the show makes a shocking revelation about how Eli and Lynn met. Years earlier, Lynn took Benjamin to the emergency room when he had a seizure while driving to photograph a farmhouse. When they arrived, Eli was the psychiatric doctor on duty. Because of Benjamin’s substance use disorder, it is implied that substance overdose or withdrawal triggered his seizures and hallucinations.
Eli goes out to the waiting room to talk to Lynn, and she has an anxiety attack explaining what happened. They connect emotionally after he helps her calm down and offers to buy her food from the vending machine. When Noah is called back to the emergency room, Benjamin is in crisis and his heart is not beating. In one of the most unrealistic parts of this bizarre psychological thriller, no one but Eli even thinks about giving Benjamin CPR. As such, Benjamin dies while Eli performs chest compressions on him.
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Denise sees Eli’s wall of papers about the Noah conspiracy theory
Denise’s trust in Eli was shaken after seeing his wall
Throughout Before, Denise has given Eli a lot of trust, but she begins to worry about how he is treating Noah after the scalpel incident. She asks him to ensure he has a plan before leaving the hospital early Before episode 6. However, she decides to go to his office to talk to him about Noah’s treatment plan. When she gets there, only Cleo is present, and she says she can pass on a message. Before Denise gives Cleo a message, her eyes are drawn to the wall full of papers.
When she sees Noah’s photo, she knows it has to do with her adopted son. She gets scared and decides she doesn’t want to talk to Eli anymore, running out of the office. Denise’s discovery of the conspiracy theory wall could very well influence Eli’s work at the hospital. She has been a strong advocate for her son and could very well speak to those responsible about removing Eli from Noah’s case.
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Noah realizes that Noah’s birthmark matches a wound on Benjamin’s chest when he died
Noah’s birthmark suggests a possible explanation for the strange events earlier
After Eli is flooded with the memory of Benjamin’s death, he remembers that he broke the patient’s ribs while administering CPR, flooding his chest with blood. The location, shape, and color will look familiar to Before viewers. Noah has always had a peculiar birthmark on his chest. Eli sneaks into Noah’s hospital room and lifts the child’s shirt to discover that Benjamin’s wound is identical to Noah’s birthmark.
This revelation promotes the theory that Noah is the reincarnation of Benjamin. It is a widespread belief among communities that believe in reincarnation that birthmarks correspond to a person’s injuries or cause of death in their past life. The idea is so widespread that scientists have even carried out studies on the phenomenon. The story of reincarnation would explain why Noah and Benjamin had hallucinations of worms under their skin in Before and why the little boy keeps drawing the farmhouse.