The Big Picture
Dark Matter
is a solid adaptation of the novel of the same name, even if it isn't quite as focused.- The series is at its best as it travels through many unknown universes and stays true to the book's strengths.
- Although
Dark Matter
adds some padding, it gets back on track near the end, facing down the different paths our lives can take.
It’s probably best if you considerDark Matter, the latest sci-fi series for Apple TV+ to join their rather impressive genre library (already consisting of For All Mankind, Foundation, Invasion, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Severance, and Silo), to be another potential universe in the many worlds created in author Blake Crouch’s novel of the same name. Some changes provide glimpses of potential outcomes and storylines that weren’t present in the original story, but the show still manages to get to the heart of the material.
Although the series' additions can often feel like distractions from the most interesting parts of the story, there are still many thematic beating hearts all running around every which way. As you follow each one down the rabbit hole, the committed performances across the board ensure Dark Matter doesn’t get lost in its own chaos. Now that Apple TV+'s Constellation has wrapped up its first season, this similarly premised series about diverging universes is here to fill the void. It isn’t quite as good, but it still scratches just enough of a similar itch while offering its own, occasionally silly, take.
Dark Matter (2024)
A man is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could've lived, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from a most terrifying foe: himself.
- Release Date
- May 8, 2024
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator(s)
- Blake Crouch
- Writers
- Blake Crouch
- Directors
- Jakob Verbruggen
What Is 'Dark Matter' About?
Dark Matter centers around the many lives of Jason (Joel Edgerton) and Daniella (Jennifer Connelly) Dessen. In the one where we first meet them, they are happy as they raise their teenage son Charlie (Oakes Fegley) in Chicago. Jason teaches college physics and Daniella works at an art gallery, though each harbored ambitions of greater career plans, which they had to put on hold to start a family. At least, that’s what these two versions of them decided to do.It isn’t a spoiler to say that other worlds exist in which each of them ended up in vastly different places.
The trouble starts when another Jason from one of these worlds comes knocking. He abducts the Jason living in this world and proceeds to take over his life. Now stranded with a hazy memory in a world where he did end up becoming a huge success and invented a device that allows him to travel through these different universes, our original Jason will have to find his way back to the life he left behind. The only person who seems to be on his side is Amanda (Alice Braga), while his billionaire boss Leighton (Dayo Okeniyi) wants to use him for more selfish reasons. It takes a while to get going but, for those that haven’t read the book, let’s just say you’ll want to make it past the first three episodes after this is all established. That's where the story takes the leap into all the many places that exist adjacent to us.
Specifically, after piecing together what happened to him and how he can use the box the different him created to get back to his old life, Jason sets off with Amanda through various universes with little sense of how to control where they end up. Every time they take the drug and open a door, they find what initially seems like a random alternative version of Chicago. Many of them are dangerous, but some are quite stunningly beautiful. Even when the effects can be hit or miss,the individual stops along the way are where the story remains at its strongest. Just like the book, the terror of wandering forever through an infinite number of universes is where the show grabs you.
How Does 'Dark Matter' Compare to the Book?
Even when Amanda and Jason start to find their footing a bit more, the grim experience of seeing approximations of a world they know yet will never belong in is still something they can never get used to. As Amanda even says at one point, doing this over and over again is inherently destabilizing. The quieter scenes between Edgerton, who brings the same broken resolve that was felt in the underrated recent film The Stranger, and Braga, always a reliable screen presence as in last year's A Murder at the End of the World, is when Dark Matter is at its best. In many ways, the show would have benefited from paring back all the additions and the frequently iffy CGI spectacle to immerse us in a sense of the unknown as these two characters attempt to make their way through it. Much is different from the source material, both in small scenes and overarching structure, though the book's strengths are thankfully carried over.
Similarly, many of the show's initial flaws can also be connected back to the book, but this series also has one too many episodes where it spells out what has happened to Jason. Some of this has to do with the character reeling from the effect of a drug that will become crucial to his salvation, which was present in the original story. However, the show gets sidetracked from the main thrust of where this is all going and the darker ideas that are lurking in the various worlds. The omission of a striking scene from the book, involving another version of Jason wandering through the box that is crucial to setting up the ending, both thematically and narratively sticks out when it never happens.
Some of this feels like an attempt to make room to flush out the characters of both Leighton and Daniella, with Connelly making the most of what remains a thankless part. However, there is also the brief introduction of a detective looking into what is happening who is almost entirely forgotten about until the story calls for her return. The book was a tight sci-fi thriller that, smartly, kept things mostly focused, but this adaptation adds padding that drags the plot down. Throw in some odd song choices, and it really can start to feel shaky.
'Dark Matter' Nearly Boxes Itself in Before Breaking Out
Even though there is one nearly catastrophic moment where the series almost writes itself into a corner, Dark Matter still manages to get everything back on track for the ending. The worst thing this adaptation could have done was fall into the more superficial binary of people being either one thing or the other based on a single choice. Instead, both the book and now the series effectively undercut this by showing how close every version of ourselves is to a different path. While frequent allusions to the famous Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” play into the seemingly unrelenting misunderstanding about it being a triumphant piece of art about going in a new direction, Crouch’s story is actually about how interconnected all of our potential lives are.
There is both the potential for kindness and the potential for cruelty. This doesn’t excuse the latter or valorize the former. Instead, it just is. While there is a silliness to some of Dark Matter's genre elements, it still manages to tap into that greater truth. Even though the series isn't quite on the level of the flawed yet focused novel, it makes for a mostly serviceable and frequently stellar adaptation. The fact that it appears to leave the door open for more seems pointless, but hey,there are plenty of other universes out there.
Dark Matter (2024)
REVIEW
Dark Matter is an often stellar adaptation of the novel that, unnecessary additions aside, gets to the heart of the story.
- Once we take the leap into the unknown and get into the best part of the book, the series manages to immerse us in the more terrifying experience of navigating a vast multiverse of infinite worlds.
- Joel Edgerton and Alice Braga do a great job in the quieter scenes that step away from CGI spectacle.
- Despite initially seeming like it could fall into being too binary an adaptation, the series gets to something more thoughtful about the potential paths that exist within all of us.
- The series can take a bit to get going and takes one too many episodes to establish what is happening at the beginning.
- Some of the additions, visual effects, and song choices can drag down the experience.
Dark Matter makes its two-episode premiere on May 8 on Apple TV+ in the U.S. with the subsequent seven episodes released weekly.
WATCH ON APPLE TV+
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