Superposition – The episode begins with the imposter Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) admiring Daniela Vargas Dessen’s (Jennifer Connelly) latest piece, a self-portrait. He raises his earlier proposal about her quitting the gallery and returning to painting full-time. Her response is to wait to see how his deal turns out. He tells her that the deal has already gone through and shows her the proof in his account. They don’t get much more time to discuss future plans thanks to the arrival of Charlie Dessen (Oake Fegley), requesting a ride to the skate park. Given that he has an errand to run, Jason opts to take him. After dropping Charlie at the skate park, his errand is revealed as dropping the ampoules off to Leighton Vance (Dayo Okeniyi). Although Jason doesn’t respond to Leighton’s ensuing questions, Leighton has apparently already worked out that Jason’s return to this world was inspired by Daniela. Their brief meeting ends with Leighton reminding Jason that, ‘his guy,’ Anthony (Bassam Abdelfattah) will be in touch.
Charlie is not only upset that Jason is late to pick him up, but his plans with Brooke didn’t go so well thanks to Liam. Jason encourages him to take action against Liam and attempts to improve Charlie’s mood with ice cream, which appears to work until Charlie nearly dies due to his peanut allergy. Despite the Epinephrine injector doing the trick, Jason takes him to the hospital where they are joined by a frantic Daniela. She appears stunned by Jason’s carelessness with Charlie’s allergy and grows even more frustrated with his odd behaviors when they return home.
The original Jason and Amanda Lucas (Alice Brag) are nearly halfway through their ampoules and his theory about writing common denominators from his world appears to only be half working. It’s not long before they are halfway through their already halved supply, with little success to show. After several unsuccessful trips, they both grow frustrated and decide to not return to the box. Instead, they get a posh hotel and treat themselves to a feat fit for royalty. During the evening out, Jason learns that this world’s Amanda is a White Castle manager. They soon end up in a spirited discussion about what it is that fundamentally makes a person who they are until Prince’s ‘Raspberry Beret’ comes blaring through the speakers. Despite Jason’s reluctance, Amanda manages to drag him on the dance floor. Jason’s mood appears to lighten as he and Amanda dance the night away. Despite winding up in bed together, nothing happens thanks to Jason asking her to return to the other bed. He does so by telling her that he doesn’t want her to go but feels that he needs to make the request.
The imposter Jason not only attempts to get to know this world’s Amanda, but he seeks her out for therapy. As he does this, Daniela seeks similar guidance/comfort from Blair Caplan (Amanda Brugel). In a series of back-and-forth scenes, Jason discusses how achieving his ideal life has turned out much different than he thought while Daniela discusses Jason’s strange new behavior. Blair sarcastically plays down Daniela’s worries by pointing out how Jason’s changes are positive. Her attitude changes once Daniela mentions seeing the track marks on his arm. Blair ultimately advises Daniela to follow Jason rather than confront him.
Later that evening, the imposter Jason shocks Daniela again with an impromptu evening out to the charity auction that she arranged with the gallery where she works. She immediately appears apprehensive and when he reveals that he’s commissioned to have her portrait displayed, she demands to leave. The entire ride home is an argument about how Daniela was humiliated. Despite Jason’s best attempts, it appears that Daniela doesn’t feel her talents are adequate and the gallery only agreed to showcase the portrait because she is an employee. He merely drops her off without a word when they return home, giving her the perfect opportunity to follow him. This leads her to the storage locker, where she discovers a vial of the ampoule. Daniela later shares her discovery with Ryan Holder (Jimmi Simpson), who immediately defends Jason while simultaneously claiming to know nothing of the substance. Despite this, he agrees to sequence it.
The original Jason is thrown for a loop when Amanda suggests they spend the apart. After agreeing, he visits Daniela at the charity, who not only doesn’t recognize him but is now a blonde and turns down his offer for coffee. Amanda spends her time spying on herself with what appears to be a happy husband and son. They soon reunite at the box and spend another night in a hotel where the reality of their dwindling supply of ampoules turns into a slight argument. Although Jason agrees to let Amanda look at the journal he’s been recording his thoughts in, he clearly doesn’t want to discuss it and finds an excuse to leave when she tries. He ends up standing in the pouring rain, watching another version of himself interact with Daniela.
By the time Jason returns to the hotel, drenched, Amanda is in a bit of a frantic state due to his prolonged absence. His reassurances that he would never abandon her do little to settle her and they spend the next several minutes over the unrealistic odds of him getting back to his Daniela. She ultimately tells him that she doesn’t expect him to give up hope but he has to be willing to attempt a different approach.
During another session with Amanda, the imposter Jason appears surprised when she tells him that he acts like a man who’s afraid of commitment, despite his being married for 15 years. Later that night, he’s verbally accosted by Ryan who immediately accuses him of stealing his compound. They wind up at the Village Tap to finish the discussion. Jason continues to maintain the claim that he didn’t steal the formula but Ryan clearly doesn’t believe him and even mentions getting lawyers involved. Jason eventually asks him if his formula works and what the application is. As it turns out, Ryan’s formula does work and the application is a safer alternative to general anesthesia. When Ryan asks about Jason’s formula and application, he offers to show him.
Ryan’s reaction is similar to that of Leighton’s as Jason briefly educates him on the box and administration of the ampoule. Once in the box, Jason spends a few minutes stressing the importance of remaining calm and thinking positive thoughts before opening the door to what looks like the Orleaiu Borealis (Northern Lights) streaked across the Chicago skyline. As Ryan ventures out, Jason tells him they don’t have much time and offers to take a photo with Ryan’s phone so he can always remember the visit. Jason ends up stranding him in this bizarre new world.
The episode ends with the imposter Jason meeting Anthony to seal up the box.
Dark Matter Review
To start, I can see how anyone who has invested time in the previous 5 episodes would enjoy this one. Many might even say that it was the most significant one yet, being that it mainly focused on the imposter Jason. I did enjoy that, but for me, it was a bit dull and slow. Most of the episodes are generally filled with what I would describe as filler but this one felt over abundantly stuffed with it.
Despite all this, I felt that it did an adequate job of showing what a megalomaniac Jason is and I felt Joel did a decent job of getting that across. The episode did end on a bit of a high note. I just hope the sealing of the box doesn’t get dragged out until the finale. Whether it is going to happen or not, I hope, plays out in the next episode. Despite the critical review, I’d give the episode a 5.4 out of 10. Without going too far into it, I still find some of the theories confusing/questionable.
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