Summary
Dark Matter once again slows to a crawl, this time to set up the final two episodes, and the tedium is really beginning to set in at this point.
The last thing Dark Matter needed was an even slower-paced breather to get the pieces into place for the big finale, but that’s exactly what Episode 7, “In the Fires of Dead Stars”, ends up being. Yay!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some meaningful developments here. Amanda seems to get a personal climax that’ll probably keep her out of the rest of the show, and Jason finally gets back home. But things aren’t exactly going swimmingly in his original universe thanks to innumerable other Jasons, though you’re unlikely to care anyway since the whole thing’s as dull as dishwater.
Jason2 Is Such An Idiot
The most inadvertently entertaining aspect of the show remains Jason2, whose exploits are just ridiculous slapstick nonsense at this point. First, he almost killed Charlie with nuts. Then he locked Ryan in an alternate universe. He moaned about how hard he was finding it to steal an entire life and family and sulkily blocked up the Box to prevent Jason from returning home.
Here, in a bit of a panic since the police are looking for Ryan and fancy Jason2 as a suspect since he was the last person to see him, Jason2 opens the Box back up again to bring in another Ryan – I think it’s another one, anyway – and accidentally opens up a way for Jason to return home.
Oh, and it isn’t just the police who are thoroughly onto Jason2 at this point. Daniela has also cottoned on to his deeply weird behavior, and the best excuse he can come up with is basically implying that he’s smacked up on the ampoules of experimental research-related narcotics. That’ll do it!
Amanda Retires
Meanwhile, Amanda wants to take a breather, which is understandable since 29 straight days of universe-hopping is a little mentally and physically taxing. However, it’s not that understandable in a show that has already struggled for pace. This whole subplot, in which Amanda decides to retire from the quest, moves at a snail’s pace.
I get why Amanda wants to stay in the near-perfect world where she and Jason have dinner. Likewise, I understand why he doesn’t want to stay with her, despite her asking him to. He’s a married man. And that’s her point, really – he’s looking for home, but she doesn’t have one, being unable to return to her own world. She needs to settle somewhere, and if Jason won’t settle with her, then it might as well be here.
Jason does leave two ampoules with Amanda, so she has the facility to return to the story, but this isn’t a bad place to end her arc if that’s what it comes to.
Armed to the Teeth
With his final ampoule and reserves of will, Jason is able to focus fully on the moment he met Daniela and return, finally, to his own world.
But the ending of Dark Matter Episode 7 is a big tease. In it, Jason visits a gun store to arm himself for the coming battle with… well, himself. He doesn’t have the right documentation for a firearm, so he instead settles on some Mace and a knife, which will certainly get the job done.
Seconds after he leaves, Jason2 arrives in the same store for the same reason. The cashier mentions having just seen him. Jason2’s a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them (okay, it kind of is, but you know what I mean.) Jason2 realizes that Jason is back in town, just in time for the final two episodes.
Blimey, it seems like we’ve taken an awful long time to get here, doesn’t it?
RELATED:
