PremiumDark Matter Season 1 review: Joel Edgerton’s multiverse thriller doesn’t quite stick the landing
Dark Matter Season 1 review: Dark Matter is based on a novel by Blake Crouch that he has adapted for the big screen. All 9 episodes are now available on Apple TV+
Last Updated: 01.18 PM, Jun 26, 2024
Dark Matter Season 1 story: On his way back home after a party to celebrate his friend Ryan’s (Jimmi Simpson) scientific achievement, physics professor Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) is kidnapped and drugged. When he wakes up, Jason finds himself in a reality where it’s him and not Ryan who’s the science genius. He’s used Schrödinger’s cat theory of superposition and built a box that gives him access to multiple dimensions. Who kidnapped Jason and why? Can he find a way back home to his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and son Charlie (Oakes Fegley)?
Dark Matter Season 1 review: Have you ever wondered how your life would have been if you hadn’t made certain decisions earlier on? What if there is a different version of you somewhere in the vastness of the multiverse who had made other choices? This is pretty much the idea behind Blake Crouch’s sci-fi novel Dark Matter that he adapted for the screen as a nine-part series, all episodes of which are now available on Apple TV+.
At the start, Dark Matter is about two Jasons (Edgerton) – one who gave up on his scientific pursuits when he realizes his girlfriend Daniella (Connelly) is pregnant, and chooses a life of married bliss with her and the other who ran out on Daniella and domesticity for scientific glory. Jason 1, the one with a family, is then abducted by Jason 2 and sent to the latter’s world, because Jason 2 wants to now play home with Daniella. Jason 2, as it turns out, had continued working on his little science project and built a box that allows him access to multiple universes and it was the one with Jason 1 he liked the most. But then, Jason 1 loves his world too and is desperate to return.
And that’s where Dark Matter becomes cumbersome to watch. Unlike Jason 2, who has pretty much mastered how his box work – on account of having been away from his reality for a year and checking out the various directions his life could have taken – for Jason 1, it is about trial and error, a path along which he is aided by Jason 2’s now ex-girlfriend Amanda (Alice Braga). A major chunk of the narrative is then dedicated to Jason 1 and Amanda figuring out the workings of the box, exploring different worlds – some good and others not so much. Eventually he does find his way home and it is all fine as long as the plot is between Jason 1 and Jason 2.
But no, it’s not just these two who are vying for Daniella; each time Jason (at this point, I am not sure if it is 1 or 2 or both), made a decision inside the box, it spawned a version of him that had a different journey, but the same end goal – come back home. There are just too many Jasons at this point that if you weren’t already feeling disengaged, you will now.
Like most series that skirt with the 6 – 10 episode format, Dark Matter too suffers from being stretched and bloated. As magnificent as Alice Braga is as Amanda, her expeditions with Jason to explore some of the worlds they visit, the urge to find out what their versions there are up to and how they are doing in life, takes away from the urgency of the plot. For much of the mid-section of the show, it felt like there was really no progression to the plot, and you see stuff over and over again... whether it is Jason 1 and Amanda negotiating the box and the infinite possibilities it presents, or Jason 2 giving a few others a tour of the box he’s built.
Edgerton and Connelly give it their best – they are delightful (in each of the universe they inhabit) - but it’s just not enough to elevate the show. And while most of the other characters are severely limited in scope, Braga lucks out with a role that is, perhaps, a few shades better than Connelly’s.
Dark Matter Season 1 verdict: Dark Matter is not a bad show; it’s got a decent premise, but one that’s unfortunately painfully slow – a story that could have been told in 4 or, say 6 hours, is stretched to over 9. In fact, now that all the episodes are out, if you were to watch the first three and then jump to the last 2, you’d still figure out the plot.