Diksha Sundriyal
Apple TV+’s ‘Dark Matter’ continues the multiversal story of Jason Dessen and his many versions, who are trying to get home to their wife and son, Daniela and Charlie. The first season ended with a fight among dozens of Jasons, in which a few died, and the others accepted that Daniela had chosen one version and would prefer to continue her life elsewhere with him. While they enter the box with the hope of finding a new world for themselves, the others are still left behind, especially the ones who died. Their bodies are found by the cops, who are shocked and confused, because not only do all the dead look the same, but there are still others who look like them, too. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Another Version of Jason Catches Up With the Dessens
To solve the mystery of the many Jasons, Agent Mitchel McNamara from an unnamed not-necessarily-government agency is brought in. He is used to working on black sites and bleeding the truth from his subjects, and he presents the living Jason before him with a choice. He can either help the agent figure out what is going on or die. McNamara thinks that the Jasons are all clones, and Jason doesn’t refute his theory. Instead, he offers to get him all the answers from Jason2, whom he holds responsible for all the mess that has unfolded. Meanwhile, Jason1 has spent the last six months with Daniela and Charlie, living in a world where they are safe and settled down. But just when it looks like this is the world for them, another Jason shows up.
Daniela tries to tell him that she has made her choice, but he wants her to make a different one. The interaction ends with her shooting him. When Jason1 comes back, he helps Daniela get the body out so he can bury it. Since this new Jason was not from the world they are currently in, no one would miss him, so there is no reason for them to displace themselves again. The plan sounded good and would have worked had it not been for a cop coming around to ask questions. The other Jason stole a car, which created a trail that led the cop right to Jason1’s house.
To make matters worse, he sees the dead body and calls for backup. This destroys Jason1 and Daniela’s plan of staying in this world. They overpower the cop, tie him up to a tree, get their go bags, pick up Charlie from school, and drive straight to the box. Their son has no idea why this is happening, and he is confused as to why they are suddenly leaving a world that was perfect for them. But then Daniela tells him the truth, and he has to comply with his parents’ choice, even though he is not happy about it. Once again inside the box, they continue their search for another good world, but their mental state is so turbulent that they end up in a world ravaged by an apocalypse.
The Dessens’ Search for a New World Leads Jason to Familiar Grounds
In the new world, the Dessens almost lose the ampoules, leading Jason and Daniela to step out of the box to retrieve them. The force of the hurricane winds closes the door, trapping Charlie inside, but fortunately, they manage to open it and get back in just in time. (Does this mean a new reality and a new version of Charlie has been created?) The next time, Daniela decides to open the door. Instead of thinking about all the necessary parameters of their world, she thinks about a place where they can get a hotel room so they don’t have to spend the night in the box. This time, the world is more welcoming. They get a room and settle down, but everyone is unsettled. Daniela cries in the bathroom and later shares her feelings with Jason1.
The next morning, they discover they are in a world where Jason and Daniela are married, while he is working at Velocity with Leighton. This is their cue to flee the world again, and this time, Charlie expresses his discontent. He wonders if they’ll keep running for the rest of their lives, since some version of Jason will always come looking for them. Jason1 promises him that once they’ve found the perfect world for them, he will destroy the box and end the story for good. Speaking of a perfect world, Amanda2 and Ryan1 meet, picking up where Season 1 left off. He reveals that Jason stranded him in this world, and Amanda clears up that it was Jason2 who did this to him.
She fills him in on what is going on, which explains a lot. In turn, he reveals that when he was left behind here, he found his sister, Camila. It turns out his version of Ryan in this world has been dead for ten years. He explains the situation to his shocked and confused sister, who takes him in. He starts working in a lab where he recreates the Lavender Fairy, but when he goes back to the box, he finds it has been seized by the government. Now, he is stuck there, leaving him as an alien in a world that is not his. Amanda sympathizes with him, and they soon become friends.
Amanda and Ryan Get a Second Chance at Getting Back to Their World
In another world, a version of Leighton is a yoga teacher who runs classes from a rundown basement but dreams of becoming a cultish leader everyone loves and reveres. His life changes when another version of himself enters it. Leighton1 reveals how he has been traveling across worlds. He wants to bring peace to every version of the world, but he still needs more self-control. He needs to learn to quiet his mind to better access the box. This is why he has sought out Yoga Leighton. Since Leighton1 cannot trust anyone but himself, he thought it best to find a version of himself to get the necessary help. He also knows there is a chance Yoga Leighton will betray him, but in that case, Leighton1 will understand his motivations, and it won’t hurt as much.
Just when Ryan seems to have given up on the box, it is brought back in the middle of Millennium Park. The government thinks this is an artwork left behind by an anonymous genius, and it makes sense for the box to be returned to the public. The problem now is that it is no longer the magical box that helps people cross universes. Amanda theorizes that since the box has been removed from its original location, its connection to other boxes in other universes has been severed, which is why it no longer works. Thus, without the box, they cannot go anywhere, which means she and Ryan have to call this seemingly paradisiacal place of overly polite people their home.
Meanwhile, Jason1 thinks about a good place to take his family. A place where people are kind, and they can have a good life. The thought leads him to the world he has visited before. He recognizes it as the world where he left Amanda2. He doesn’t share this information with his family, but he does decide to leave, believing it won’t be the right fit for them. This impromptu, brief visit creates a new functional box that Ryan and Amanda can now use to traverse other worlds. This also means that even if the box is moved, as long as someone out there thinks about that world, the box will reappear. A connection will remain, which doesn’t really bode well in the long run.
Read More: Dark Matter: How Does the Interdimensional Travel Box Work, Explained
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