In the sixth episode of Dark Matter, after getting tired of all the reality-traveling, Jason1 and Amanda2 decided to take some time off in a reality which wasn’t trying to actively kill them. And both of them felt a sense of mutual attraction, especially because they had been with each other for such a long time. But, since Jason1 loved Daniela and Daniela alone, they maintained their friendly dynamic and persevered. During a moment of frustration and desperation, Jason1 almost emulated the actions of Jason2 and tried to take the place of a different Jason so that he could be together with a version of Daniela. However, he stopped himself from taking such a drastic step. Amanda2 suggested that they take an approach they haven’t tried yet instead of acting like Jason2. Meanwhile, Daniela started to figure out that there was something wrong with her husband. After Jason2 committed two back-to-back blunders – which involved Charlie’s allergies and forcibly presenting Daniela’s painting at her own gallery – Daniela started to have suspicions about who she thought was her Jason. So, she followed Jason2 to his storage unit, found the ampoules of psychoactive drugs, and asked Ryan1 to test it to see what it was. And when Ryan1 ran to Jason2 with questions about his breakthrough, the latter took Ryan1 into a different reality and left him there. Did Jason2 face the repercussions of his rash actions in Dark Matter episode 7? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Why Did Amanda2 Leave Jason1?
Episode 7 of Dark Matter opens with Detective Mason showing up at the tense Dessen household with the not-so-curious case of a missing Ryan. I assumed that Jason2 knew that Daniela had gone behind his back to talk to Ryan about his shady activities since he had Ryan’s phone in his possession. Apparently, he didn’t. But he does learn that Daniela is suspicious about his actions. Jason2 confesses that he has been secretly working on a project to learn about superposition. It’s surprising that he chooses to tell the truth. That’s probably because he has put a seal on the box, and after his therapy sessions with Amanda1, he is learning to commit instead of lying and running away from a situation that he has ruined. Does this make him a better person? No, absolutely not. One moment of truthfulness doesn’t erase all the lives that Jason2 has ruined. Elsewhere in the multiverse, Amanda2 basically recreates the “The World If” or “How Society Would Look If” meme by traveling to a futuristic utopia where the world runs on empathy and environment-friendly resources. They go to a bar and have some drinks. Amanda2 tells Jason1 to meet her at a posh restaurant. After Amanda2 leaves, a couple asks Jason1 how long they’ve been in a relationship because they look so sweet together, and Jason1 pauses as he starts questioning his loyalty again.
When Jason1 gets to the restaurant, Amanda2 is already sitting there in a beautiful dress, and she asks Jason1 to get into something elegant as well. Jason1 obliges, even though he doesn’t know where all this is going. He ends up having a good time learning about what the versions of Amanda and Jason do in this reality. And while all that sounds great, Jason1 still needs to come back to his original world. That’s when Amanda2 says that she isn’t going with him. She is doing what Blair2 asked her to do a long time ago and settling down in a reality that suits her the best. Amanda2 thinks that her presence is messing up Jason1’s journey. She has been integral to Jason1’s survival, but it’s evident that the box reads the minds of both of the reality travelers even when only one of them is opening the door, and Amanda2 thinks that her thoughts about what she wants are interfering with Jason1’s thoughts about going back home. She has found a world that is perfect, in her opinion, and she wants to part ways with Jason1. She would like it if Jason1 decides to stay with her because she has grown fond of him, but everyone knows that that’s not going to happen. Jason1 understands Amanda2’s stance. Still, he offers her a few ampoules so that she has the option to escape this reality, in case things don’t quite work out for her. Amanda2 says that she doesn’t want them, and Jason1 slips them into her purse. They bid each other a bittersweet adieu, and while Jason1 goes back to the box, Amanda2 starts a new chapter of her life.
Why Did Jason2 Kidnap An Alternate Version Of Ryan?
Amanda2’s theory kind of flops almost instantly because, after spending one of the last three ampoules of the psychoactive drug, Jason1 ends up in a reality which has either been destroyed by fire or a bomb. Jason1 uses the second-last ampoule to go to a reality that does resemble the one he is from just so that he can talk to a version of Daniela. This is a very emotional scene, and Joel Edgerton’s performance is brilliant as he shows how broken and desperate Jason1 is from the inside. While talking to this alternate version of Daniela, he basically expresses how much he misses his wife and he essentially tells the audience to not take the small moments of fondness and affection between you and your loved ones for granted, because you never know when they can be snatched away from you. Previously, Jason1 thought about emulating the actions of Jason2 and slipping into the place of another Jason just so that he could reunite with a version of Daniela. He stalked the couple and watched them from afar, but he didn’t go all the way. In the reality he is currently in, Jason1 gets really close to killing a version of Jason and taking his place. But his sense of shame kicks in, and he proceeds to leave the house. That’s when he comes across what he thinks is this world’s Charlie. But the kid corrects him and says that he is actually Max. So, in Jason1’s reality, Charlie’s twin brother passed away, and that’s why they have the remembrance tree in their backyard.
In this alternate reality, Max has survived because some girl called Holly donated her heart. Jason1 senses that Max has an estranged relationship with his family, and that’s why Max feels like he is a disappointment. Since Jason1 has lived with the loss of the version of Max from his world, he cherishes the fact that, somewhere out here in the multiverse, Max has survived. The kid obviously doesn’t understand the complexity of what Jason1 is going through, and, on top of that, he is dealing with the complexities of his own life. That’s why Jason1 and Max’s interaction ends on a bitter note. Well, hopefully, things will get better between this version of Max and his family. Back in Jason1’s reality, since Jason2 knew Amanda2 very well and since certain details of Amanda2’s life and Amanda1’s life are quite similar, Jason2 gets to freak Amanda1 out when she tells him that he doesn’t know who he is. Amanda1 tells Jason2 to get the hell out of there for being such a creep. When Jason2 gets home, he finds Detective Mason sitting there. Based on her questions, Jason2 realizes that he has to do something about this Ryan Holder situation. So, he breaks the seal on the box, which he had just covered with cement. He enters a reality where Ryan is a failure; he kidnaps him, makes him drink a lot, changes his appearance to match that of Ryan1, and then drops him off at Ryan1’s home. Hence, the official narrative regarding Ryan1’s disappearance is that he went on a bender, Jason2 found him when Mindy (Ryan1’s girlfriend) got worried, and brought him back home.
Did Jason1 Finally Return To His Reality?
Before injecting the last ampoule, Jason1 thinks about the first time that he met Daniela. It’s a genuinely heart wrenching and romantic scene as Jason1 tries to remember how much he loves his wife, how he honestly feels that they are star-crossed lovers who are meant to be together, and that he knows that all the complications of the multiverse won’t be able to keep him away from her. Those who have watched a lot of movies and shows will probably predict correctly that no writer is mean enough to give their protagonist such a great monologue and then make them fail their task. Of course, Jason1 returns to his reality, but it’s the road that he has taken to get back home and the emotions he has injected into his psyche to make the last ampoule count that makes this cliche move seem so heartening. Jason1 is obviously elated to learn that he is back in his own reality. He rushes to The Village Tap to give Matt a hug. He goes home, but he doesn’t enter because he doesn’t know what he is going to say to his wife and son. He knows that Jason2 has taken his place and his family has become used to him. They won’t be able to handle the existence of two Jasons, and Jason1 has to make sure that they know that the version of Jason they’ve been living with for the past few months is actually an imposter and he is the reason why the version of Jason they’ve known all their life was lost in the multiverse. Now, here’s where things get interesting.
At the end of Dark Matter episode 7, we see Jason2 going upstairs to tell Detective Mason that Ryan has been found and then it seems like Jason1 goes to the gun shop to get, well, a gun. It’s totally okay to assume that that’s Jason1 because we, the viewers, know that Jason1 wants to put an end to Jason2 and regain some form of normalcy in his life. So, the guy who we think is Jason1 ends up buying a knife and a bottle of pepper spray and walks away. As soon as he exits, Jason1 walks in, thereby revealing that the version of Jason who bought the pepper spray and the knife wasn’t actually Jason1. Here’s what I think is happening. There’s some time distortion going on via editing, and the concluding moments of the episode haven’t been presented in a chronological fashion. It’s possible that, after bringing in the new Ryan, Jason2 went to the gun shop (we do see him hesitating before entering the house). Soon after that, Jason1 returned to his reality and went to the gun shop. Then Jason2 went home, and Jason1 headed home as well. So, apart from avoiding confusion and chaos, it’s possible that Jason1 didn’t immediately enter his own house because he knew that Jason2 was armed. He didn’t know what Jason2 would do if he just barged in. He could threaten Daniela and Charlie or, worse, kill them. Hence, in next week’s episode, we’ll probably get to see Jason1 take a well-calibrated approach to reclaiming his life. He has been patient about this whole thing. If he fumbles at the finishing line, then his whole journey would amount to nothing.
Alternatively, the Jason that we saw getting a knife and a pepper spray was in fact Jason1. Maybe the concluding moments of Dark Matter episode 7 were presented in chronological order and Jason1 did go to the gun shop to get pepper spray and a knife to deal with Jason2. After he left the shop, a third Jason Dessen made his way into this reality. Why am I saying that it’s a third Jason? Because this version of Jason has an injured pinky finger and neither Jason1 nor Jason2 have injuries on their hands. Other than that, Jason 2 and Jason3 are mostly the same. They are wearing the same clothes and they have similar scarring on their face. So, it’s hard to tell them apart but the pinky finger gives it away. But what the hell is a third Jason doing in Jason1’s reality? Well, if Jason1’s second thoughts, when he was deciding whether or not he should spend a life with Daniela, led to the creation of Jason2, maybe some of his subconscious tertiary thoughts created Jason3. And this Jason3 has probably destroyed his life with the version of Daniela in his reality and now he wants to hijack Jason1’s reality. Yes, Jason1’s reality is evidently very lucrative because everyone craves simplicity in an era of overcomplicated nonsense. That said, it’s unclear how long this Jason3 has been in Jason1’s reality and what has prompted him to go and get a gun. Has he been tailing Jason2 all this while? Is he aware of his dangerous activities and wants to put a stop to him? Well, we’ll get to know all about it next week.
