Well, that was a hell of a cliffhanger.
By the end of Dark Matter (2024) Season 1 Episode 9, the Dessen family was in multiversal transit.
This is frustrating in and of itself since Apple TV+ hasn't announced yet if there will be a second season.
But let's assume common sense will prevail and return to the future later.
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Instead, let's examine how Jason1, Daniela, and Charlie came to find themselves in this predicament.
First off, it's all Jason2's fault.
(If there is a second season, let's reduce the number of Jasons. Or at least dress them significantly differently. Like with Barbies. It would make for a more enjoyable viewing experience.)
Jason1 is indirectly to blame as well. Every door that he opened trying to find his home world created a duplicate of Jason1, with the same feelings and drives.
Jason1 was too busy trying to find those little differences between worlds. It was like those old find-the-differences puzzles in kids' magazines.
The urgency of his mission didn't leave him much time to ponder the consequences. Jason1 was much more concerned about finding his home world before his dimensional-hopping ampules ran out.
Good news: His mission was accomplished. The trouble was that, as two of the Jasons discovered over beer on Dark Matter (2024) Season 1 Episode 8, his travels generated all kinds of Jason1s.
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A good percentage of them had found their way to the original Jason's world with the same goal: To rescue Daniela and Charlie from Jason2.
This made things all the more difficult for the "real" Jason (yes, they're essentially clones, so they're all equally authentic. But the original one has to be called something to distinguish him.).
Anyway, an ingenious plan and a clever safe word reunited the Dessen family.
Thanks to family friend Blair, who didn't ask many questions and later wished she had, they even had an unfamiliar getaway vehicle.
Daniela and Charlie deserve credit for taking their bizarre situation somewhat in stride, even as their phones filled up with texts from the various Jasons.
Making things more difficult was the requirement that any plan come from someone other than Jason since the other Jasons, not surprisingly, think just like him.
Conveniently, Charlie just happened to know of a gorgeously appointed vacation home currently unoccupied.
What a great place to unwind and reconnect as a family while learning the broad strokes of interdimensional travel.
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What enabled the Dessens to reunite was that Daniela and Charlie had known something was off about Jason2.
At first, they loved the attention and gifts that he lavished upon them.
But his arbitrary choices, such as almost killing Charlie with an allergic reaction on Dark Mattter (2024) Season 1 Episode 6, soon wore thin with them.
So, Jason1 being abducted and replaced by Jason2 and an army of Jason1s being caused by the original Jason's journey didn't seem nearly as strange as it should to them.
It beat their husband-father being overwhelmed by some psychosis, a more believable possibility.
The problem was that all those other Jasons were just as intelligent as their Jason, not defective knockoffs. Each was shaped by his experiences, making each behave somewhat differently.
For example, one Jason1, who lost Amanda's moderating effect during his travels, was a driving force in this episode.
He found Jason2 locked in the basement by Daniela and forced him to understand the full impact of his actions.
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He also determined that Blair could track her car. He didn't account for the pepper spray in her pocket, which enabled her to turn the tables on him.
Since Blair had the drop of two Jasons, it must have been Jason2 who convinced her to track her car. Jason2 failed miserably by not accounting for a tracker that brought along some other Jason1s.
But in the end, Jason2 reformed from his selfish ways. He indulged in a what-if, discovering what having a family would have been like.
However, his following this whim the way he did resulted not just in the displacement of one Jason but indirectly in the creation of many, many more.
So, somehow, Jason2 scared up a shotgun and dispatched his earlier captor. Then, he allowed the Dessens to escape. He even packed the car with everything they needed to begin anew elsewhere.
While not forgiving all the lives he had ruined, at least Jason2's recording addressed the motivation for his actions. In the end, he did the right thing.
The freakiest scene had to be that warehouse floor packed with Jasons. What was amazing was that they were there to say goodbye, respecting Daniela's wishes.
It was enjoyable that we got to visit with Amanda, Ryan, Blair, and Dawn, along with less evident characters, one more time. It was frustrating that all we got was a glimpse of them.
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Dark Matter (2024) Season 1 was based on the novel by Blake Crouch, who also served as showrunner.
There is no second Dark Matter volume by Crouch. So, a second season would come entirely from the show's writers' imaginations. They would have all kinds of worlds for the Dessens to explore.
What did you like best about this finale?
Do you feel that Jason2 redeemed himself?
What would you like to see covered in a second season?
Comment below.
