‘Dark Matter’ Review – ‘Constellation’ Fans Will Love This Apple TV+ Sci-Fi

The big picture

• dark matter
  it's a solid adaptation of the novel of the same name, even if it's not as focused.
• The series is at its best as it travels through many unknown universes and stays true to the strengths of the book.
• Although
  dark matter
  add some padding, get back on track towards the end, facing the different paths our lives can take.

It's probably best if you keep that in mind dark matterthe latest sci-fi series for Apple TV+ to join its rather impressive genre library (which already consists of For all humanity, Foundation, invasion, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Dismissali silo), to be another potential universe in the many author-created worlds Blake Crouchthe novel of the same name. Some changes offer glimpses of possible outcomes and storylines that weren't present in the original story, but the show still manages to get to the heart of the material.

While the additions to the series can often feel like distractions from the more interesting parts of the story, there are still plenty of thematic hearts beating throughout. As you follow each one down the rabbit hole, engaging performances across the board ensure dark matter it doesn't get lost in its own chaos. Now that Apple TV+ constellation has finished its first season, this series of similar premises about divergent universes is here to fill the void. It's not as good, but it still scratches enough of a similar itch while offering its own, sometimes silly, take.

What is “dark matter”?

dark matter centers around the many lives of Jason (Joel Edgerton) and Daniella (Jennifer Connelly) from When we first meet them, they are happily raising their teenage son Charlie (Oakes Fegley) in Chicago. Jason teaches physics at the university and Daniella works in an art gallery, although each had bigger career ambitions, which they had to put on hold to start a family. At least, that's what these two versions decided to do. It's not a spoiler to say that other worlds exist in which each of them ended up in very different places.

Trouble begins when another Jason from one of these worlds comes calling. He kidnaps the Jason who lives in this world and takes over his life. Now stuck with a blurry memory in a world where he ended up becoming a big hit 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 (Alicia Braga), while his billionaire boss Leighton (Dayo Okeniyi) wants to use it for more selfish reasons. It takes a while to get going, but for those who haven't read the book, let's just say you'll want to get through the first three episodes after everything is established. It is here that history makes the leap to all the many places that are beside us.

Specifically, after uniting what happened to him and how he can use the box he created to return to his old life, Jason sets off with Amanda across multiple universes without knowing 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 alternate version of Chicago. Many of them are dangerous, but some are incredibly beautiful. Even when effects can be hit or miss, the individual stops along the way is where the story remains at its strongest. Like the book, the terror of wandering forever through an infinite universe that's where the show catches you.

How does 'Dark Matter' compare to the book?

Even as Amanda and Jason begin to find their footing a little more, the sad experience of seeing glimpses of a world they know but never belonged to is 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 fractured resolution felt in the recent underrated film the outsiderand Braga, always a reliable screen presence like last year A murder at the end of the worldis when dark matter is at its best. In many ways, the show would have benefited from removing all the extras and the often dodgy CGI spectacle to immerse us in a sense of the unknown as these two characters try to make their way. However, it is very different from the source material, both in small scenes and in the overall structure the book's strengths remain, thankfully.

Likewise, many of the show's initial flaws can also be connected to the book, but this series also has too many episodes where it explains what has happened to Jason. Part 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 strays from the main focus of where this is all going and the darker ideas lurking in the various worlds. The omission of a surprising scene from the bookinvolving another version of Jason wandering around 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 remove Leighton and Daniella's characters, with Connelly making the most of what remains a thankless part. However, there is also the brief introduction of a detective who investigates what is going on and is almost completely forgotten until the story calls for his return. The book was a tight sci-fi thriller that cleverly kept things mostly focused, but this adaptation adds padding that drags the plot down. Throw in some weird song choices and it can really start to feel awkward.

“Dark matter” almost fits in before it explodes

Although there is a near-catastrophic moment where the series almost writes itself into a corner, dark matter still manages to get everything back on track by the end. The worst thing this adaptation could have done was fall into the shallowest binary of people being one thing or the other based on a single choice. Instead, both the book and now the series effectively undercut it by showing how close each version of ourselves is to a different path. While the frequent allusions to Robert Frost's famous poem “The Road Not Taken” play into the seemingly unrelenting misunderstanding that it's a triumphant work of art about going in a new direction, Crouch's story is actually about how all our potential lives are interconnected.

There is both potential for kindness and potential for cruelty. This does not excuse the second or value the first. Instead, it just is. Although there is a silliness in some dark mattergenre elements, it still manages to tap into that larger truth. While the series isn't quite up to the level of the flawed but focused novel, it does a mostly serviceable and often stellar adaptation. The fact that it seems to leave the door open for more seems pointless, but hey, there are many other universes out there.

dark matter premieres in two episodes on May 8 on Apple TV+ in the US with the subsequent seven episodes released weekly.

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