1 week ago
5
By
Chris Klimek,
a writer who covers movies, popular music, theater, and books.
Photo: AppleTV+
The seminal British spy-fi series The Prisoner, which ran for 17 episodes successful 1967-68, was an oddity that formed a agelong shadow, influencing galore better-remembered weirdo TV bid that came later, including Twin Peaks, The X-Files, and LOST. Each occurrence began with a lengthy rubric series wherein co-creator and prima Patrick McGoohan’s unnamed quality angrily resigns from immoderate unspecified high-security occupation and is past gassed and abducted, waking up to a unusual beingness successful a surreal colony he’ll walk the duration of the bid trying to escape.
That’s besides much oregon little the mode the caller Apple TV+ series Dark Matter begins, albeit with respective caveats. For 1 thing, we’re privy to substantially much accusation astir the quality played by prima and co-producer Joel Edgerton earlier helium gets drugged and forcibly ejected from his day-to-day: His sanction is Jason Dessen, and helium teaches physics astatine Lakemont College, a fictional but undistinguished instauration of higher learning. He’s joined to assemblage proprietor and triathlete Daniela, played by Jennifer Connelly, and they unrecorded successful a gorgeous location successful Chicago’s Logan Square vicinity with their delicate 15-year-old lad Charlie (Oakes Fegley). Finally, erstwhile Jason’s assemblage pal Ryan (Jimmi Simpson), a neurologist, calls to accidental he’s won the Pavia Prize — a fictional but evidently very distinguished million-dollar subject grant — we intuit that Jason has occasionally second-guessed his long-ago determination to prioritize household beingness implicit his research. “It should beryllium you,” Ryan tells him, suggesting it was Jason who was erstwhile poised for greatness.
So we person a reasonably complete dossier connected Jason by the clip helium gets kidnapped by a masked antheral with a weapon connected his mode location from the Village Tap — the un-fictitious and evidently well-loved Logan Square watering spread wherever helium reluctantly joins Ryan’s Pavia Prize solemnisation 1 rainy night. That’s one major difference between Dark Matter and The Prisoner. Another 1 would beryllium that the creators of Dark Matter almost surely cognize wherever they’re going, arsenic writer-producer Blake Crouch is adapting his eponymous 2016 novel. The Prisoner, by contrast, much oregon little disintegrated arsenic it became evident that prima McGoohan, communicative exertion George Markstein, and financier Lew Grade all had precise antithetic notions of what their amusement was astir and however it should end. (My person Glen Weldon and I did a full podcast about it.) One of its astir satisfying episodes was “Schizoid Man,” wherein McGoohan’s quality faces disconnected against his doppelgänger via some crisply executed Parent Trap-style split-screen gimmickry.
Those vaguely Prisoner-esque fingerprints are the main crushed for my involvement in Dark Matter, a thriller wherein Edgerton’s Jason is menaced by an alternate mentation of himself. Even wrong this aviator episode, Crouch and manager Jakob Verbruggen marque small effort to fell that Jason’s tormentor is, successful fact, different Jason, trespassing from a magnitude wherein helium made antithetic choices. Choices he’d present similar to revise.
By the extremity of the 46-minute hour, Jason A and Jason B, let’s telephone them, volition person gone full Freaky Friday on 1 another’s lives. A confused and terrified Jason A volition fly immoderate backstage aesculapian installation wherever his colleagues — each strangers but for 1 Leighton Vance, whom this Jason hasn’t seen since assemblage — archer him he’s conscionable reappeared aft a mysterious 14-month absence. Jason B, the designer of this trans-dimensional switcheroo, will make himself at location successful Jason A’s location and marriage.
The aviator occurrence explores the duality of its premise successful clever ways … and clumsy ones. I appreciated the aboriginal country wherever Jason allows Charlie, his 15-year-old, to thrust himself to schoolhouse portion Jason observes from the rider seat. Charlie misses a reddish postulation airy and astir plows into different car. As this happens, Jason asks Charlie if the lad has yet recovered a mode to archer a miss named Brooke astir his affection for her, mildly advising his lad that it’s unhealthy to support one’s strong feelings concealed for precise long.
The clunkiest country is simply a premier specimen of The Movie Classroom, wherein Jason explains the conception of Schrödinger’s Cat to a twelve oregon truthful bored undergrads. The dismissal doorbell (in college?) rings earlier helium tin decorativeness his mentation of superposition, truthful helium throws it successful arsenic an afterthought arsenic his pupils record out: The feline wrong the container is astatine erstwhile alive and dead. Who are these physics students who’ve ne'er heard of the astir celebrated thought experiement successful physics? Who is this prof who chooses to statesman a acquisition connected this successful the past 45 seconds of class?
Maybe we’re meant to intuit that Jason’s timing has ever sucked. Edgerton, whose sunken-eyed bully looks person ever been an vantage when it comes to playing haunted dudes, fully sells Jason’s sadness and the guilt helium feels for being unsatisfied with truthful affluent a life. His vocation is going nowhere, but helium has a loving household and a dope location successful 1 of the world’s large cities.
That night, portion Jason drinks vino and cooks pasta for his family, Charlie protests that his folks’ canoodling is “scarring [him] for life.” Jason’s telephone blows up with texts from Ryan summoning him to The Village Tap. Only erstwhile Daniela asks what the juncture is does Jason stock that their longtime pal has won the Pavia, which Daniela says is juncture capable to excuse Jason from Family Night. She adjacent points retired that Ryan’s prime of The Village Tap — a barroom nearer to their home than his — is impervious of how important Jason’s attendance is to Ryan, though she clearly intuints the jealousy Jason has yet to admit adjacent to himself. “Don’t beryllium a dick,” Daneila advises her spouse.
The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” is connected the jukebox arsenic Jason greets Ryan astatine The Village Tap. There’s a montage of Ryan’s other, much science-famous guests, each registering unfamiliarity arsenic Jason introduces himself. Ryan’s largesse in buying his aged pal an full vessel of Macallan scotch — helium asks for the bar’s champion — is the benignant of flex that seems to marque Jason each the much conscious of the fact he’s a antheral connected a budget.
The Scotch won’t beryllium Ryan’s lone offering tonight. After the enactment quiets down a little, the 2 friends spell to a booth. Jason asks his buddy to punctuation the citation from his Pavia Prize. “For his groundbreaking enactment successful the tract of neuroscience and identifying the prefrontal cortex arsenic a consciousness generator,” Ryan recites.
So Ryan is simply a neuroscientist, which introduces some enigma erstwhile Ryan tells Jason, “I beryllium you. Those notes were essential.” Aren’t these guys successful antithetic disciplines? An admirer comes implicit to deed connected Ryan, but helium asks her to hold portion helium makes his transportation to his aged pal. Ryan is starting a neurotech steadfast and wants to bring Jason aboard. “If you’re pinching yourself each greeting connected your mode to Lakemont, past delight archer maine to fuck off,” Ryan says, promising to “crush” Jason’s meager salary. The occupation is successful San Francisco, and Jason is reluctant to uproot his family. Ryan just asks that helium speech it implicit with Daniela.
However, Jason is conflicted, declining to prime up a telephone from Daniela arsenic helium leaves the bar. So divided is his attraction that he’s astir tally over by a taxi. Suddenly, it’s raining, and a displacement successful lighting suggests that important clip has passed, but Jason inactive hasn’t recovered his mode home.
It’s astatine this constituent that the assailant successful a hood and a theatrical Eyes Wide Shut mask forces Jason into a conveyance astatine gunpoint. They thrust past The Village Tap, wherever Ryan and his hookup are conscionable leaving, truthful possibly it’s lone a little clip aboriginal alternatively of respective hours? The kidnapper seems to cognize each astir Jason: He asks if his iPhone passcode is inactive his dad’s day successful reverse and demands to cognize what Ryan wanted to speech to him astir astatine the bar.
When they get astatine their dank, underlit destination, Jason attempts to overpower the assailant, and helium manages to coiled the feline successful the arm, but he’s still defeated, losing spot erstwhile the masked antheral injects him with a sedative. The antheral past orders Jason to alteration into the clothing he’s provided, informing him he’ll walk retired soon. The masked antheral is fiddling with a tiny container with a hinged lid; its glow suggests an physics interior we cannot see. A stoned Jason A asks what the container is. “It’s, uh, possibility,” the masked antheral growls.
As Jason A’s past embers of consciousness fade, the masked fig leans implicit him. “Are you blessed with your life?” helium asks. “Or person you ever wondered what other you could’ve been?” After a little metaphysical pep talk, the masked antheral concludes, “I’m sorry, but I’m doing this for us. For some of us.”
“Who arrrrre yooooou?” Jason A slurs.
“You wouldn’t judge maine if I told you,” the antheral replies.
When Jason A regains consciousness he’s staring up astatine the airy array supra an operating table. “Test everything,” idiosyncratic says. He cowers nether a high-pressure shower, past wakes up again, this clip successful a locked and windowless room, alone. A pistillate — Alice Braga — knocks and enters, greeting him with a hug. She’s taken aback that helium doesn’t know her, but introduces herself arsenic Amanda. She tells him he’s been done a batch but that the bully quality is that he’s cleared to permission quarantine: there’s nary hint of radiation oregon biohazards successful his system.
She brings him to conscionable “Leighton,” whom Jason recognizes from agelong ago. (If the turtleneck and costly wristwatch didn’t already peg Leighton arsenic a tech CEO, the character is played by Dayo Okeniyi, whom adjacent I did not callback played SkyNet inventor Danny Dyson successful the unloved Terminator Genisys.) For the payment of the camcorder successful the room, she introduces herself arsenic Amanda Lucas, staff psychiatrist. She identifies the men arsenic Leighton Vance, CEO, and Jason Dessen, main subject officer. “You’re the lone 1 who’s returned,” Leighton tells him. Amanda says he’s been distant for 14 months and 10 days.
Leighton asks Jason what he remembers. His hazy recollection of the nighttime astatine the barroom with Ryan — a sanction Leighton is amazed to perceive — curdles into a panic erstwhile Amanda asks astir cuts and bruises connected his face, grounds of his dust-up with the antheral successful the mask.
Jason bolts from the facility, throwing himself successful beforehand of a cab — intentionally, this clip — and asking the operator to instrumentality him location to Eleanor Street. But Jason doesn’t admit his location erstwhile helium arrives; the interior has changed. He does recognize the pistillate helium finds there: It’s Amanda, who had greeted him with an clasp a abbreviated portion earlier. But that doesn’t explicate wherefore she’s successful his location oregon wherever his household and their belongings person gone. Amanda tells Jason A that she is the idiosyncratic with whom helium shares this house, and she has nary thought who Daniela oregon Charlie are. In what should beryllium Charlie’s bedroom, Jason A finds a monument to his great achievements arsenic a physicist, including a Pavia Prize inscribed with his own name.
It’s astir present that the occurrence adopts the irritating normal of signaling a power among realities with a dependable effect that resembles a Zippo lighter being flicked open. There’s a Zippo flick, and Jason B arrives “home” to find Daniela washing dishes and sulking that he’s ignored her messages each evening. He’d recovered a substance from her connected Jason A’s telephone asking him to bring location crystal cream, but Jason B seems not to know her preferred flavor. “Mint cocoa chip,” she says. “Really?”
When helium kisses her, she asks him what the fuck is going on. He tells her astir Ryan’s occupation offer, past asks her if she remembers what helium said to her erstwhile they decided to marry. She says that helium told her astatine the extremity of his beingness he’d alternatively person memories of her than of “a cold, sterile lab.”
“I basal by that today,” helium says, melting distant the past of her anger.
It’s different Zippo flick, and we’re backmost with Jason A and Amanda successful their mentation of the aforesaid kitchen. Jason A hears a conveyance propulsion retired outside, and helium flees again.
The occurrence ends with defunct Chicago set Kids These’s Days’ “Don’t Harsh My Mellow” on the soundtrack as Jason B and Daniela tumble into furniture with a renewed hunger. Daniela notices the coiled connected her husband’s limb and asks however helium got it.
“You wouldn’t judge maine if I told you,” helium says again. Hey, effort us.
• When Danilea kisses her hubby and son good-bye on her mode to work, she’s carrying an apple. She reacts with astonishment and gratitude erstwhile Jason hands her a question mug of coffee. Apples and java are 2 large tastes that bash not sensation large together.
• I privation idiosyncratic who drinks astatine The Village Tap successful Logan Square, Chicago, to archer america if the bar really does person a neon motion that says RESILIENCE successful 1 of its street-facing windows. Because that’s cool.
English (US)