Dark Matter: Worldless Show Only
May 29, 2024 7:18 PM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe
As they learn more about the Box, Jason and Amanda see alternate versions of their lives. Jason2 begins training a potential investor.
I thought the water splashing out into the corridor the moment it appeared was a nice touch.
posted by Catblack at 3:58 PM on May 30
posted by Catblack at 3:58 PM on May 30
Yeah, between that and the kind of nod to how this is effectively Schrödinger's box in this episode or the last one - you can't quite open a door to _anywhere_, it has to be somewhere you could have existed, so it's not a Tardis, you're always going to end up somewhere capable of supporting human civilization until not too long ago, etc etc. Nicely thought out little bits of the implications, y'know?
That said, I kind of want the story to start getting on a little bit, but I'm not sure how it gets there other than Jason1 finally ending up home with his wife going "who the fuck are you, weirdo" to Jason2. Like, I suspect this is one of those things that probably doesn't translate well to a TV show if we're only just past the halfway point and I'm kind of waiting for them to get going. 2-3 more episodes of the Jason and Amanda Trying to Slide Their Way Home show feels like it's going to get repetitive, and I'm already kind of bored of Jason2's antics with Daniela and Rich Leighton.
posted by Kyol at 7:46 AM on May 31
That said, I kind of want the story to start getting on a little bit, but I'm not sure how it gets there other than Jason1 finally ending up home with his wife going "who the fuck are you, weirdo" to Jason2. Like, I suspect this is one of those things that probably doesn't translate well to a TV show if we're only just past the halfway point and I'm kind of waiting for them to get going. 2-3 more episodes of the Jason and Amanda Trying to Slide Their Way Home show feels like it's going to get repetitive, and I'm already kind of bored of Jason2's antics with Daniela and Rich Leighton.
posted by Kyol at 7:46 AM on May 31
I was completely baffled by the new character living in the wasp world's refusal to use the box to go somewhere better. You'll be dead soon lady, you live in the wasp universe!!! If you are that resigned go and get eaten by wasps.
I feel like they're not taking enough advantage of the multiple universes thing in their attempts to find their way back to Jason's home reality. There's got to be a possible world where "bad" Jason sent "good" Jason through the box, but then got hit by a car or struck by lightning and Jason is just a missing person and he can go back and everything is normal. If there are infinite realities there is a reality that is the same as his up until the moment he disappeared with no bad Jason. So go back there, everybody wins. (I realize that dramatically that would not be very satisfying since we're all dying for the Jason-Jason confrontation that this is building up to).
But then with any kind of multiple realities thing if you think about it too much it ruins it. I guess I'll just try and vibe with all the possible world fun here.
posted by dis_integration at 10:40 AM on June 2 [2 favorites]
I feel like they're not taking enough advantage of the multiple universes thing in their attempts to find their way back to Jason's home reality. There's got to be a possible world where "bad" Jason sent "good" Jason through the box, but then got hit by a car or struck by lightning and Jason is just a missing person and he can go back and everything is normal. If there are infinite realities there is a reality that is the same as his up until the moment he disappeared with no bad Jason. So go back there, everybody wins. (I realize that dramatically that would not be very satisfying since we're all dying for the Jason-Jason confrontation that this is building up to).
But then with any kind of multiple realities thing if you think about it too much it ruins it. I guess I'll just try and vibe with all the possible world fun here.
posted by dis_integration at 10:40 AM on June 2 [2 favorites]
Yeah, it's easy to kind of fall into a nihilistic trap in a proper multiverse where there's an infinite realm of possibilities, where every decision spawns more infinities. In that case, does any action matter? Daniela lives in this universe, she dies in this branch of universes, either way is an infinity. That's probably a little deep for a prime-time streaming show, though.
And I kind of took Blair's refusal to join up with them as sort of a subtle hint that she's seen even worse shit out there than a dead world of wasps, which again - fine? But could also make the show drag out if we spend another 2-3 episodes sliding to different realities, each worse than the last.
posted by Kyol at 5:02 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]
And I kind of took Blair's refusal to join up with them as sort of a subtle hint that she's seen even worse shit out there than a dead world of wasps, which again - fine? But could also make the show drag out if we spend another 2-3 episodes sliding to different realities, each worse than the last.
posted by Kyol at 5:02 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]
I started getting stuck on the fact that in these multiverses the same handful of people are friends or know each other, or the worlds have radically different climates. Is it some kind of meta joke about people just never leaving Chicago?
posted by snofoam at 7:39 PM on June 4 [3 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 7:39 PM on June 4 [3 favorites]
> I'm half expecting that it's going to turn out that jumping into a reality that you already exist in is Hard™ for narrative reasons, and they're going to keep kind of stumbling along until they discover that.
Eh, in one world, Jason's in prison, but not noted as dead. Also, Jason mugged Jason in the first ep.
> Otherwise this has a nice little pandemic fear
Plague world hit me hard.
> Yeah, it's easy to kind of fall into a nihilistic trap in a proper multiverse where there's an infinite realm of possibilities, where every decision spawns more infinities. In that case, does any action matter? Daniela lives in this universe, she dies in this branch of universes, either way is an infinity. That's probably a little deep for a prime-time streaming show, though.
See also: Rick and Morty
posted by Pronoiac at 9:03 PM on June 17
Eh, in one world, Jason's in prison, but not noted as dead. Also, Jason mugged Jason in the first ep.
> Otherwise this has a nice little pandemic fear
Plague world hit me hard.
> Yeah, it's easy to kind of fall into a nihilistic trap in a proper multiverse where there's an infinite realm of possibilities, where every decision spawns more infinities. In that case, does any action matter? Daniela lives in this universe, she dies in this branch of universes, either way is an infinity. That's probably a little deep for a prime-time streaming show, though.
See also: Rick and Morty
posted by Pronoiac at 9:03 PM on June 17
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
It keeps itching some vague old sci-fi memory, I dunno if it was Niven or Heinlein, with a door to multiple worlds, but I can't remember the author or book.
posted by Kyol at 7:25 PM on May 29 [2 favorites]