Today I am going to recap and explain a recently released Apple TV series, Dark Matter. It is based on the novel by Blake Crouch. Long ago I read this book which intrigued me towards new areas in science fiction. The story revolves around one Jason Dessen, a physics professor who is happily married to his wife, Daniela Dessen, who is a painter and runs a small gallery. They have a son, Charlie. This is a small happy family living in Chicago, enjoying life. Jason is a physics professor at Lakemont College with an iota of satisfaction. So in the beginning we see a guy coming out of a cube-like structure. For convenience, I call him Jaye as he looks exactly like Jason and his name too is Jason. This is a seasoned scientist who invented this breakthrough cube which we see on the front page of this science magazine. We will know about this cube in detail in episode two.
Jason and Daniela were living happily with their son Charlie who had a crush on a girl at school. He was a terrible driver and Jason was teaching him how to drive. These guys were not rich or famous but they were happy in life. Jason in his class gives a lecture on Shrodinger's cat which will be the bedrock of this series. Schrodinger's Cat was a thought experiment by Erwin Shuddinger in the early 20th century where he tried to explain the consequence of the dual nature of subatomic particles. At the quantum level, subatomic particles exhibit a peculiar behavior called superposition. In which they can behave in many ways at a given point in time. If you observe them then they will behave in a particular way and if you don't observe then they will behave differently. Meaning at a subatomic level in a given space and time different realities can be possible. The writer here had taken the liberty of this scientific phenomenon to a larger extent and wondered what would happen if such reality was extended to day-to-day life. The series assumes that there exists a different reality and this guy Jaye has discovered the path to travel between them. For all scientific reasons, this strange phenomenon of superposition cannot extend beyond the subatomic level. If you want to know about it in detail then please check the link in the description, where one person has explained it very beautifully giving an example of a tennis ball.
Calling this book and series a science fiction mystery series is a bit stretch. This is purely fiction just like Harry Potter or the madness of multiverse from MCU. The first guy Jaye was from an alternate reality and the cube he had invented was the instrument through which one could travel between different realities. Here the observer is the guy who is travelling.
In the evening Jason tells Daniela that he is old friend Ryan has won the Pavia award. This is like the Nobel prize with a 1 million dollar cash price which opens up a doorway for grant money and further success. Ryan had invited Jason to celebrate the success and to make him easy the celebration party was at the village tap bar which was near Jason's house. Jason was in no mood to attend this party as he wanted to spend time with his family and also he felt sad as he thought, he too had the potential to this success. It's just that he chose a different path. Daniela insists Jason attend this party as Ryan was a good old friend. These guys were close back in the day but they got separated down the line, due to their choice.
At the Village Tap bar, Jason was greeted by Mat as he was a regular here. Ryan was really happy seeing Jason after a long time. Here he reveals his two intentions. He was a neuroscientist. Apparently, another friend of these two by the name of Andrew Dorab was ready to finance up to 300 million dollars for a Nurotech company. He was recruiting bright minds for the right job and Ryan thought Jason was the perfect candidate. He offers a job in Los Angeles with a good pay scale and research for which Jason has been longing for so long. Jason was not sure about this idea as he had not thought about this in a long time. He had a well-settled life here in Chicago and moving to Los Angeles was not an easy one. Hence he makes an excuse of consulting Daniella before making any decision.
While heading back Jason is attacked by Jaye who kidnaps him at gunpoint. He takes his phone and makes him drive to the abundant underground building. Apparently, he knew Jason's phone's password and asked him about Ryan. Jason was terrified by this sudden change of events and was wondering how this guy knew about him and Ryan. He explains about the new offer he got from Ryan and says I have not made up my mind yet. At the building, Jaye asked him to undress. He took his dress, valet, and hit him hard on his head. Then he injected some chemical into his body which was a strange glowing substance. Jason observed this while shouting and screaming as he was not sure what this guy wanted from him. Soon he was knocked out. Here Jaye leans forward and says, I am sorry I am doing this for both of us.
Next, we see Jason at a secure lab facility called Velocity. He was surrounded by doctors and nurses he was still unconscious as they started checking his vitals and blood work. Finally, he wakes up in a room and a psychiatrist doctor Amanda greets him as if she had known him for years. Jason was completely confused as he didn't know where he was. How he got here and who this lady is. Amanda asks him to take it slow as he is back after many months. Soon these two meet this company's CEO Leighton Vance who was Jason's other old friend. Jason recognizes him but tells him that he has not seen him in years. The news of Jason's arrival spread like wildfire and all the research scientists and associates at the lab gathered quickly to know more from him. Jason was missing for the last 14 months and he was the only one who made it back. In this reality, Jaye was the chief science officer and co-founder. Soon Jason starts freaking out as none of this made him any sense.
Seizing an opportunity he quickly ran from there. Since his and Jaye's biometrics were the same getting past security was no big deal. Leighton's security guys tried to catch him but they were unsuccessful. When he saw the skyline of Chicago it was significantly different, the buildings that were not there were there, and the buildings that were there were not there. He quickly took a taxi and reached his house which which too was significantly different. The internals of the house were completely different, the colors on the walls were different, and different furniture was there. The Charlie's room was a library. All these further enhanced Jason's freakiness as he was not sure what was happening to him. Then he saw Amanda down in the kitchen and wondered how she got there. She said she lived here with him for many years. Then he saw his Pavia award and his photo in the science magazine Discovering the Cube.
So let me tell you what is going on here. In this reality, Jaye had started the neurotic company with Leighton and was researching parallel universes. They had sent many people through the cube but only Jason had returned from it. Jaye had switched his place with Jason at gunpoint.
In this reality, Jason never married Daniela and they never had Charlie.
Back in the original reality, Jaye enters Jason's house and pretends as Jason. Daniela was super upset as she had called many times yet he had not picked up the phone.
He explains Ryan's offer to her and declines it by saying, that only his family and herself make him happy. Nothing else at this point in life. These two later make out where Daniela observes the bandage on his left hand, which was not there a few hours ago. Jaye cryptically evades the topic by saying you wouldn't believe it even if I told you.
Jason in a panic dials Daniela but it goes to the wrong number. The girl on the other side scolds him for calling repeatedly. Amanda informs Leighton who had already dispatched security to grab him. Seeing the guards at his house Jason again runs from there. With this episode, one ends.
In episode two, Jason runs into the village tap bar to hide but to his surprise, the bar attender Mat doesn't recognize him. He said he had not seen him ever. Seeing all this Jason quietly rushes into ER for a proper medical checkup. Their doctors conduct all check-ups and the next morning they inform him that in his system they found a psychoactive compound. Other than that he is perfectly alright. Jason searched for Daniela on the net only to find out that she was a world-famous painter. Leighton's security in charge traced Jason to this hospital yet Jason somehow evaded her. He finally met Daniella at the exhibition where his first question was about Charlie's whereabouts. Daniella was exhibiting his portrait to raise awareness about this missing world-famous scientist. She was naturally very happy to see him. Jason here meets Ryan as well and in this reality, he is not famous or won any award. He is just a normal researcher. After the show, Jason explains his story which baffles Daniella and Ryan. Here these two were in some sort of relationship. Daniella feels sorry for Jason as clearly he needed medical help and as an old friend she was more than ready to help him.
Jaye back in the original reality started settling in. He had traveled worlds to be in this boring life so he was content. Daniella notices small behavioural changes in him like Jaye took her toothbrush for cleaning instead of his. Later he calls Ryan and in a rather rude tone declines his offers. He was angry that Ryan had called Daniella to put pressure on him to take the job. Perhaps he was displeased by seeing these two being close in his reality. Jason with the help of Daniella tricked Amanda to go away from his house. Later these two sneaked into Jaye's house and started looking for answers. Jason found some of his research papers in Charlie's room. In this reality, Daniella and Jason got separated when they discovered Daniella's pregnancy. Jaye here was not ready, he was ambitious and wanted to focus on a career rather than on a relationship. Daniella accepted his decision and terminated the baby. From that point onwards the two realities got separated. Every decision at every point of life here creates a reality meaning realities could be infinite.
After studying the files and Jaye's research finally, Jason understood what was happening. Jaye had switched the place with him. We see Jaye again in the same building where he had stored all his supplies. He had many mobile phones, gear, and equipment with him. It's safe to assume he had traveled many realities before arriving at this one.
Daniella still didn't get it but wondered why would Jaye go to such an extent to find happiness. She felt happy hearing Jason's story as in that they were together with their child. It seemed she always wanted to keep the baby but circumstances forced her to do something else. These two were about to share a romantic night when the main door rang. Upon checking it is the security in charge, Don. She barges in and shoots at Daniella point-blank as she is calling the cops. then she arrests Jason. Leighton's hand was already full with four missing people, if this got out they would be in real trouble. Since Jason was the only one to return to this reality, his data is extremely important. The inter-dimensional travel will be like 1000 times the discovery of the splitting of atoms. Leighton was ready to go to any extent for this. With this episode two ends.
Young Jaye gave career preference over love. He achieved what he wanted to achieve in life. In the meantime, he understood the importance of a life partner. I guess he might have tried to be with Daniella but she after becoming a successful artist, moved on in life. She dumped him. Instead of taking the no and moving on in life with Amanda, Jaye chose to be with Daniella at any cost. He switched places with Jason and destroyed his beautiful life. Now, Jason will have to travel many realities to head back to his original one which will be like finding a sand grain in the heap of sand. Anyway, this series looks interesting and I will recap the remaining episodes as and when they are released. Please check out my blog too as I will publish many more videos there. Thank you for watching.
