Trip Of A Lifetime – The second episode opens with Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton/Joe Dioletto) finding himself on the run once again. Ducking into the ‘Village Tap,’ he learns that Matt (William Smillie) not only claims to have never seen him before but he denies there being a party there earlier. Jason almost convinces himself that Matt is merely playing tricks on him after he encourages him to go get his head checked out.

Jason takes the advice and visits the ER where he is given a CT scan after explaining his symptoms to Dr. Randolph (Peter Sipla). A nurse (Kathryn Acosta) later gives him a shot of Lorazepam that floods him with memories of Daniela Vargas Dessen (Jennifer Connelly). When the nurse later wakes him, he learns that his CT scan didn’t find any signs of brain damage, but the tox screen revealed a psychoactive compound that she has never seen before. Reading from a tablet, she not only tells him that Charlie (Oakes Fegley) and Daniela Dessen don’t exist in Chicago but he’s been presumed missing for over a year. Taking the tablet, he does a quick search for Daniela Vargas which later leads him to an art exhibition. Although he agrees to her requests to consider hospitalization, he’s shown unhooking his IV lines when she leaves.

Amanda Lucas (Alice Braga) and Leighton Vance (Daya Okeniyi) discuss a strategy for finding Jason, but when Amanda mentions going to the police, Dawn Lawrence (Marquita Brooks) asks how smart it would be to put more attention on Velocity. This leads to Amanda asking where a man of science would go, and Dawn provides the right answer, the hospital. At about the same time, Jason is shown leaving the hospital, dressed as a doctor.

The alternate Jason appears just as out of place as awkwardly makes his way across campus. Locating the right room, he discovers that his teaching assistant Violet (Missy Fierro) has already got the class started with a lecture on thermodynamics. Although he sits in on the lecture, it only takes him a few minutes to become frustrated by the student’s lack of attention. This leads to him taking over and bursting into a tirade about how boring and depressing their lives will likely be in the next 5 years.

By this time, Amanda has gone through her entire address book without any results and Leighton has been equally unsuccessfully. Dawn did manage to find the hospital where Jason spent the night, but as for his condition and presence, both a fleeting. Across town, Jason arrives at the art exhibition where he’s stopped by the woman at the door (Beacon Bowman). Much to his surprise, announcing himself as Dr. Dressen not only gains him entrance but he’s given an envelope with three cards. He’s told to choose one and give it to the receptionist. After doing so and going through the exhibition, he learns that he’s the subject of her work.

Shortly after this he manages to locate Daniela and mentions Charlie but before any more can be said they are thwarted by Alesia Cheney (Tara Mallen) and Ryan Holder (Jimmi Simpson). Before Daniela is rushed off and leaves Ryan and Jason alone, she tells them about a small gathering at her apartment. Both agree to attend. Ryan questions Jason about compounds and the work he did for Velocity and becomes angrier the more Jason pleads ignorance. Jason’s attempts to discover more are soon interrupted by Daniela, who is now addressing the crowd with a thank-you speech.

Elsewhere, the imposter Jason is just learning about the exhibition and Daniela’s plans to fly out to see it. She appears to be thrilled with his offers to tag along. Further discussion is interrupted by a text from Ryan and then by Charlie’s announcement that he’s going to the skate park with Drew, Michelle, and Brooke. On his way out the door, Daniela encourages Charlie to share his feelings with Brooke. Much to everyone’s surprise, Jason advises against this.

Jason and Ryan attend Daniela’s small gathering which just turns out to be the three of them. While getting high, Daniela asks where he’s been for the last year. Rather than directly answering, he proposes a hypothetical about a man with the perfect life visiting a bar, only to return home later that night to find that his entire life has changed. Once they realize he’s speaking about himself, Daniela tells him about the time he visited her before he went missing. He had basically told her that their choices could create different worlds, and since people made tons of different choices, there are virtually infinite worlds. This eventually leads to him telling them about their other lives but this only angers Ryan and he storms off after receiving a text.

With Ryan out of the way, Daniela extends an overnight invitation to Jason. After he showers and gets accommodated, they continue to discuss his visit to the hospital. He tells her about the psychiatric recommendation as well as the strange substance found in his system. He continues to maintain the belief that he isn’t suffering from a break.

The imposter Jason throws Daniela for a loop when he embraces her rather aggressively and warmly as she’s leaving for her Friday training session. He later surprises Ryan with an aggressive phone call where he informs him not to contact Daniela about the job. Jason assures him that he enjoys his life in Chicago and will not be taking the offer. Although Ryan is courteous and apologizes for overstepping, Jason hangs up on him.

The original Jason enlists the help of Daniela to break into his house. Once inside he attempts to get her to remember how things were arranged differently in their life together. He becomes extremely distraught when he discovers what should be Charlie’s room is now filled with prestigious awards and scientific magazine covers. This leads to Daniela telling him in her version of their life it was the pregnancy and his insistence to not have a kid that led to the failure of their relationship. Not only that but it’s alluded that she was pregnant and got an abortion. After stealing what appears to be random research material, they return to her vehicle where he assures her that their life played out differently. She claims to believe it.

While the imposter Jason pays a visit to his storage locker of paraphilia, the original is back at Daniela’s going over the research he stole from the house. He soon suspects that the imposter Jason not only figured out a way to time travel but traveled to his world and swapped places with him. Despite the huge revelation, Daniela poses a more intriguing question. Why would he do this to himself? Later that evening over dinner, she admits that he’s glad he found her. Even later that evening, she joins him in the basement to inquire more about their ‘other’ life together. Although it’s true, he makes their life together sound amazing. She appears to be happy with what she’s hearing. The episode ends with them in the throes of passion when they are interrupted by a knocking at the door and a ringing phone. Daniela answers the phone while Jason slowly makes his way to the door. The caller hangs up and Dawn soon bursts through the door, shoots Daniela in the head, and hits Jason with a stun gun.

 

Dark Matter Review

I cannot say that the two Jasons swapping roles was a shocker, although I am not sure it was intended to be. I can, however, say that I find the series incredibly fascinating. It reminds me of the first few seasons of Alias when JJ Abrams was a writer. If I remember correctly, it seems like they had a cube or some similar device. Anyhow, as an individual of limited scientific understanding, I can appreciate the simplistic approach, or there lack of, to the time-traveling theories. I’d give this episode a 6.

Kudos to the acting crew, as everyone appears to do a fairly decent job. Despite Dawn’s sometimes annoying ‘thug’ mentality and lingo, her character is equal parts ruthless and essential. There are plenty of dull moments and the episode felt ‘draggy’ at times but compared to contemporary TV, I feel this is head and shoulders above.

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