In the fifth episode of Dark Matter, Jason1 and Amanda came across Blair2, who suggested that they find a reality that’s somewhat habitable and settle down there, instead of repeatedly trying and failing to get back to Jason1’s reality. According to Blair2, reality-traveling can take a toll on one’s psyche and cause them to break down and get lost in the multiverse. Jason1 and Amanda didn’t pay much heed to Blair2’s advice and exhausted their ampoules in their search for Jason1’s reality. And they paid the price for it by watching the most horrific stuff imaginable. Meanwhile, Jason2 essentially sold his box, the psychoactive drugs, and the multiversal corridor to Leighton1 for millions of dollars, in the hopes of living a lavish life with Daniela and Charlie. However, as soon as Jason2 learned that Jason1 had entered the multiverse and was looking to return home, he made up his mind to send Leighton1 into the corridor and then permanently seal the door to Jason1’s reality. Does Jason2 go ahead with this plan in Dark Matter episode 6? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Jason1 And Amanda Take Some Time Off In An Alternate Reality
The sixth episode of Dark Matter opens with Jason2 vehemently urging Daniela to leave her job at the gallery and focus on her painting. He even shows how much money he is going to make by selling the multiverse to Leighton1 so that Daniela feels secure about quitting her job and painting full-time. He gets Charlie on his side, too, by taking him to the skating park. And then he proceeds to give Leighton1 the keys to the multiverse. Leighton1 assures Jason2 that his close associate is going to help him seal the box if he really wants to go ahead with it. Leighton1 gets into the box, says his goodbyes, and vanishes into the multiverse. Jason2 goes to pick up Charlie and makes a huge blunder. He gives him ice cream which is filled with nuts. Now, Jason1 is obviously aware of Charlie’s allergies, but Jason2 isn’t. Charlie is hospitalized, and this incident, as well as the track marks (caused by the psychoactive drug injections) on Jason2’s arm, causes Daniela to wonder what’s up with her husband. In complete contrast to this part of the plot, we see a montage of Jason1 and Amanda hopping from one reality to another and failing to get to the one Jason1 is from. So, they decide to take a break and get some good sleep, that too in a proper bed, because they’ve been sleeping in the box all this while.
After replenishing their energy, Jason1 and Amanda go out and have dinner, where they talk about how all the versions of themselves may seem different, but if they are boiled down to their essentials, they are all the same. However, according to Amanda, while the key components of their alternate selves can be the same, they are shaped by the life they’ve lived. And while it’s nice to see these two having some fun, I can’t help but wonder where they’re getting the money from to sleep in a hotel and eat proper food? Jason2 said that it’s impossible to take money from one reality and spend it in another reality because the cash from each reality is unique to that specific reality. If it’s taken to another reality, then it’s treated like counterfeit money. They can’t exactly use cards from different realities, too, because I don’t think if you swipe a card in one reality, it’s going to extract money from the bank in the reality the card is originally from. Maybe this will be answered in a future episode. Anyway, after a night of revelry, we get a scene which proves that Jason1 is the most loyal man in the multiverse because he doesn’t cheat on Daniela, even though he is tempted and knows that he is probably never getting back to his reality.
Jason1 And Amanda2 Feel Defeated
In a previous episode, I had predicted that as soon as Jason2 realizes that hijacking Jason1’s peaceful life isn’t going to satisfy him, he is going to leave because he isn’t cut out to live a family life. We see the seeds of that feeling take root as Jason2 visits Amanda1 (the version of Amanda who is in Jason1’s reality) as he says that he isn’t seeing the payoff after working so hard to get from his reality to the reality he is in currently. Well, he doesn’t say it that explicitly, but as a viewer who has seen all the episodes of Dark Matter till now, I know what he is talking about. This conversation is juxtaposed with the discussion between Daniela and Blair1 about Jason2’s behavior. And, well, the general idea is that both of them are unsure about each other but they don’t know how to deal with it. The situation is a lot more confusing for Daniela because she is unaware of the fact that Jason2 isn’t actually her husband and she thinks that her husband has randomly started to act weird. Jason2 decides to fix this whole situation with a grand romantic gesture, even though Amanda1 tells him that he needs to be sure that that’s something that Daniela is comfortable with.
Jason2 doesn’t concern himself with Amanda1’s words of wisdom and goes ahead and displays Daniela’s (probably unfinished) painting in her gallery. When Jason2 surprises Daniela with this gift, the whole plan backfires because Daniela feels humiliated. She was slowly getting comfortable with the idea of returning to painting and Jason2 jumped the gun. If Daniela had hinted that she wanted to display her work and Jason2 had fulfilled her desire, maybe it would’ve worked. However, Jason2 is so thick headed that he doesn’t even understand why he is in the wrong. So, instead of talking with Daniela, he drops her off and drives away. Daniela decides to follow him, and she stumbles upon Jason2’s secret lair. She extracts an empty ampoule of the psychoactive drug and takes it to Ryan1 for testing. Daniela obviously thinks that her husband is addicted to drugs, but the results of Ryan1’s tests are going to be startling for her and Ryan1 himself. Jason1 and Amanda2 travel to yet another reality, and she decides to spend the day on her own instead of tailing Jason1 again. Of course, they are in the wrong reality, but they realize that remembering the physical description of Jason1’s reality isn’t enough. They need to tap into something deeper to actually get home.
Why Did Jason2 Seal The Box?
Jason1 starts to get impatient and starts thinking like Jason2. As in, he wants to kill or kidnap an alternate version of himself whose life is similar to his and then take his place. But Jason1 is too nice to do that, and that’s why he wants to continue the process of hopping from one reality to another. Amanda2 reminds him that there are only 10 ampoules left, and they’ve to get a bit more precise about Jason1’s world to open the correct door. Meanwhile, Amanda1 tells Jason2 that he is unable to fit into the life that he has chosen because he is afraid of commitment. Well, Ryan1 inadvertently pushes him in the right direction. He goes and reveals to Jason2 (assuming that he is Jason1) that his company is still working on the compound that Jason2 has perfected already. Ryan1 says that his version of the psychoactive drug is supposed to cure diseases like Alzheimer’s. Jason2 says that the applications of his version of the drug are a little different; and he gives Ryan1 a demo by taking him on a trip through the multiverse.
However, at the end of Dark Matter, episode 6, instead of bringing Ryan1 back and making him a part of his project, Jason2 traps Ryan1 in his dream multiverse. Then he gets Leighton1’s man to seal the box, thereby forcing himself to deal with Jason1’s reality forever. We briefly see Jason2 finding out that Daniela was in touch with Ryan1, which means that his decision to commit to his relationship with Daniela is probably not going to last long, and he might have to break the seal on the box and leave the reality. By the way, I thought that the act of sealing the multiverse-traveling box was going to be something scientific, but Jason2 just poured concrete over it. That means, Jason1 and Amanda can still access the box in Jason1’s reality; they just can’t open it. Well, as long as they aren’t completely cut off from that reality, I’m sure the dynamic duo will be able to accomplish their mission of getting Jason1 home.
