Diksha Sundriyal
Multiversal travel makes things more complicated in the second season of Apple TV’s ‘Dark Matter.’ While one version of Jason Dessen may have made it out with Daniela and Charlie to a different world, there are still many other versions out there, either continuing the search for their family or starting a new life altogether. Meanwhile, other people connected to the Box remain involved in their own ways, particularly Leighton2. His idea, from the beginning, has been to bring together the knowledge and tools of different worlds for the betterment of all. However, in the season finale, he concludes that his hubris may have gotten the better of him. Unfortunately, he has to pay the price in the most tragic way possible. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Leighton2’s Change in Self-Perception Sets the Stage for a Major Conflict
Following the events of Season 1, Leighton2 seeks out his own versions in different worlds, believing that they are the only ones he can truly trust. When he meets Oluko, a mindfulness yoga instructor version of himself, he says he no longer trusts anyone but himself. He even goes so far as to say that, even if Oluko betrays him at one point, Leighton2 knows himself well enough to understand, if not condone, the reasons behind that act. In the end, his words turn out to be true, though he never sees it coming. Things start to shift with Blair’s arrival. When Leighton2 spots her at a party, he considers it something of a divine intervention, because what are the chances that after traveling so many worlds, they have ended up in each other’s paths again.
The fact that she is a brilliant engineer also helps his cause, since he needs her expertise with his new project, the Pyramid. Having traveled inside the Box and been thoroughly traumatized by it, Blair is in no mood to create a bigger door. She confronts Leighton2 about the ideas that he used to bring his team together in the beginning, and how the Box has turned out to be nothing but an agent of chaos. She tells him in clear terms that she does not support the creation of the Pyramid and advises him to drop the idea. However, it isn’t until Jason2 reveals he is thinking along the same lines as Blair that Leighton2 begins to wonder whether they are right. He goes inside the Box to retrieve a crucial component that will make the Pyramid work.
But the weight of this decision, of starting a new machine for multiversal travel, makes him travel to the worlds he believed he’d helped. He goes to a world where a volcanic eruption has deprived the country of sunlight, causing crop failure. Leighton2 sent a solution, borrowed from another world, in the form of a shade-resistant crop. He thought it would save that world, but when he actually visits it, he discovers that things have gotten even worse. In the same vein, he visits a world where millions of people died of a deadly plague. He sent the cure, but it turns out that Leighton used the version to fill his pockets. This means only the rich got it, while the poor continued to suffer. This opens his eyes to the reality that he is not the savior he thought he was.
Leighton2 and Oluko’s Differences Lead to a Shocking Crime
Leighton2 returns to the world of the Pyramid with a doubtful mind. When he shares these feelings with Jason2, he is told to act on this change of heart and shut down the Pyramid. Oluko, however, has had no such revelations, which is why it feels like a betrayal by Leighton2 to him. Before his parallel version came to him with the idea of becoming the messiah who will fix all the worlds in the multiverse, Oluko had been living a meaningless life. He had already lost all the wealth that came with the Vance name and was at the lowest point. He dreamed of a life much bigger and better than that, and Leighton2 came in with that promise. He brought purpose to Oluko’s life while also infecting him with his own hubris.
Over time, Oluko invests himself entirely in the Pyramid and the idea of saving worlds, though he never really follows up on the worlds he saves. So, when Leighton2 reveals he wants to kill the Pyramid and maybe even the Box, Oluko loses his purpose. He fears regressing to the life he lived before his parallel version came to him. It is unacceptable to him, and his anger worsens when he discovers that Leighton2 discussed the whole thing with Jason2 before coming to him. This means Leighton2 no longer has the same trust in Oluko. His anger turns violent when he accidentally hits Leighton2 with a heavy object. As Leighton2 falls to the ground, Oluko is shocked at what he has done, but instead of fixing his mistake, he doubles down.
Oluko chokes Leighton2 to death because he knows if the latter lives, he will once again go back to being a meaningless yoga instructor operating out of a basement. He hides Leighton2’s body in the office, and he fires up the Pyramid, knowing he cannot stay in this world anymore. Later, the body is found by Jason2, who is devastated to see the tragic end his close friend has met. By that time, Oluko is in the wind, and nothing can be done about it. In the end, Jason2 cremates Leighton2 by the river, closing the chapter on the man whose ambition started it all.
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