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To be honest, I never expected “Dark Matter” to get a second season. Upon release, the Apple TV series adapted from Blake Crouch’s novel of the same name, by the author himself, didn’t earn much praise from critics or attention from awards voters. Ratings are a question mark, since Season 1 didn’t chart on Nielsen and Apple is stingy with viewership data, but the nine episodes seemed to come and go without much fanfare.
Even more pertinent: Season 1 covered the events in the book, leaving a potential Season 2 without a clear path forward (despite a loose end here or there). Crouch’s science-fiction study of the road not taken, in which a physics professor at a community college is tossed into another dimension where he became a famous scientist (but never got married or had kids), seemed to reach a natural endpoint. Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) comes face to face with the life he didn’t live. He doesn’t like it. He misses his old one. So, having learned to appreciate what he previously took for granted, he makes his way back to the family he loves, and bingo bango, it’s the end of the road. Story’s over. If you need more on the subject, there’s always “Sliding Doors,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” or “The Family Man.”
Yet here we are, back for more “Dark Matter.” And wouldn’t you know it? Season 2 doesn’t have much to say — about the sad dad still anchoring the story, about the moral responsibility of scientific discovery, or about the city of Chicago’s awe-inspiring beauty. (OK, I guess it does have more to say on that last point, given how giddy I got spotting beautiful brickwork in my old neighborhood.)
Instead, “Dark Matter” runs in circles, regurgitating former personal dilemmas that have already been solved and buzzing the tower of topical talking points (like the rise of A.I.) without engaging in the dogfight. Applying movie sequel logic to a TV season that often felt like a long movie, Season 2 is more of the same but bigger, and like the vast majority of serialized TV shows that operate like films, it doesn’t work.
It’s also a mess. A big mess. It’s such a mess, that it’s kind of useful as an example of TV’s shifting tides. “Dark Matter” Season 2 may not be worth watching, but it still has something to tell us (and hopefully Apple) about how to make better television — especially considering how invested the tech giant’s streaming division is in the science-fiction genre.
Let’s see if I can connect the dots without getting into spoilers. Believe it or not, Season 2 does not begin with Episode 3, “Everything Beautiful, Everything Terrible.” Crazy, right? All seasons should start with the third episode, not the first episode, but it’s particularly weird that “Dark Matter” Season 2 doesn’t. Episode 3 opens with a scene detached from the ongoing narrative, in which one of the many Jasons drops in on his old physics professors’ regular happy hours to pose a question: If something can be done, should it be done?
What Jason is really asking is whether his invention — a “box” that allows people to move between dimensions — is ethical; whether he’s right to build it, to use it, and to introduce it to humanity at large. His fellow scientists are neither comforting nor discouraging. They cite former advancements (ships that can cross oceans, the atom bomb, the internet) as evidence that Jason’s invention “would bring forth everything beautiful and everything terrible” at once.
“If it can be done, it will be done,” they say. “Humans, we just can’t help ourselves. … There’s no stopping advancement because there’s no stopping the human ego. Combine that with the curiosity and desire to explore, and we are unstoppable. If we can imagine it, we will create it, and the consequences of our creation will be a reflection of humanity itself.”
If that’s not the series’ thesis statement, then “Dark Matter” doesn’t have one. Crouch, who co-writes every episode with his partner, Jacquelyn Ben-Zekry, lays it out there with enough gravitas to resonate as the rest of the labyrinthian season unfolds and Jason bears witness to the beauties and horrors of his ambitions and abilities. Is it a broad thesis? Sure. Is it forced exposition? You bet. But it’s helpful, and Season 2 could use more structural support like it.
Did I mention this scene, which could be dropped in at literally any time during the season, doesn’t roll out until Episode 3? That’s because “Dark Matter” pads its first two hours with plot threads that never pay off. It’s kind of table-setting, which sci-shows often need, but it’s largely expendable, and when you finally see how certain set-ups play out, it’s irritating. Poor Jennifer Connelly is once again trapped in supportive wife mode, despite Daniela getting an arc that literally separates her from her family in order to work on her own issues. (Said issues just happen to relate to PTSD inflicted by her husband’s screw-up, and thus never feel authentically hers, so much as they’re consequences of his actions.)
Amanda Brugel and Dayo Okeniyi in ‘Dark Matter’Courtesy of Sandy Morris / Apple TVRyan (Jimmi Simpson) and Amanda (Alice Braga) are similarly futzing around, running a meaningless mission related to another Ryan until their core arc can start in Episode 4. Leighton (Dayo Okeniyi) and Blair (Amanda Brugel) get more screen time in Season 2, but they’re not removed enough from Jason’s perspective to function independently. (Much like the should-be-opening happy hour, whenever the scientists get together to talk, their dialogue becomes interchangeable.) And I’m always thrilled to see Chris “This Guy Fucks!” Diamantopoulos, but I’m less thrilled to see his multidimensional cop wasted in holding pattern after holding pattern, treated like a fool, and only trotted out whenever someone needs to nudge a main character into another dimension.
Even if “Dark Matter” had started with a proper framework to appreciate the season’s big-picture designs, there’s not enough actual entertainment to make the return trip worthwhile. The series remains perpetually glum, refusing to project any light behind a conceit begging for a few laughs. Sure, it’s diverting to see all the different worlds the box can take people to, including a Chicago overrun by A.I. chatbots, a Chicago about to be engulfed by tornados, and a Chicago upended by the sudden loss of gravity.
But why not let Jason open the door to a Chicago overrun by cats, or reject a world because there’s not enough sunlight (as a joke about the show’s dim palette), or meet an Australian version of Jason (played by actual Aussie Joel Edgerton)? Seeing the disastrous iterations of Chicago begs for the absurd interpretations, but “Dark Matter” has no interest in anything absurd, because it’s always so damn serious. (To be fair, when the Dessens end up in a dimension without computers, which is treated like a good thing, on an Apple show — I nearly fell out of my chair.)
Some levity might help ease the consistent frustration of not knowing who’s who. With multiple versions of almost every character, it’s often difficult to recall one Jason’s backstory as it applies to his current conversation with another Jason. Multiply that by five series regulars, and you’re juggling 10-15 character histories while staring at faces that could correspond to any one of them.
Poor structuring, redundant plotting, zero fun, and ample bewilderment add up to quite the mess, and that’s how it felt for me: a critic who’s paid to keep up with what’s going on. And readers, I really tried: I rewatched the last few episodes of Season 1, read through all of my notes on the first season, and reread my original review before watching and taking notes on every episode of Season 2. Even with all that effort, “Dark Matter” is confusing, and audiences cannot — and should not — be expected to put in the same level of effort.
And yet effort is required when stories this elaborate are told with such long breaks. It’s been more than two years since the first season of “Dark Matter” ended and the second season premiered. In that time, Apple has released ~29 new series — that’s 29 new series; I’m not counting new seasons from series that debuted before May 2024. So even if subscribers are so loyal they only watch Apple shows (a pipe dream, to be clear), that’s hundreds of hours of other stories rattling around in viewers’ brains before the story they already started (“Dark Matter” Season 1) resumes its multidimensional tale (in Season 2).
You just can’t do that with science-fiction this dense and disorganized. The show’s stakes are already fuzzy when you start Season 2 — “What are the rules of the box?” “Which Amanda is that?” “How long have they been in this dimension?” — and then it picks up in the wrong place and introduces more chaos? At best, the dramatic build-up isn’t felt as acutely as it would be under better circumstances. At worst, potential fans will simply give up. There are other shows out there, and they’re easier to enjoy.
This isn’t the first time off-camera production schedules have become an onscreen problem, and it won’t be the last. “Severance” caught a lot of flack for taking nearly three years to deliver its second season, and although it didn’t hurt viewership — “Severance” was briefly the most-watched Apple series ever, before “Pluribus” stole its crown a few months later — it remains a nagging issue. Director, executive producer, and professional Knicks fan Ben Stiller got as many questions about the ending as he did when Season 3 would be ready, and despite assurances to the contrary, the series is already on pace to return well after the two-year mark. (Filming began at the end of July, so following previous seasons’ schedules, Season 3 could be back as soon as… October 2027, or 31 months after the last episode aired.)
Jimmi Simpson in ‘Dark Matter’Courtesy of Apple TVThis isn’t an issue unique to Apple — “Stranger Things” (Netflix) also took three years between seasons, and “House of the Dragon” (HBO) is deliberately released every two years — but it is a consistent problem at Apple. Of the eight science-fiction dramas (including the delightful “Murderbot,” which is officially designated a comedy), at least five them take 18-24 months between seasons. Only “For All Mankind” consistently releases new episodes in a tighter timeframe, and even it took more than two years between Seasons 4 and 5. That’s what happens with VFX-heavy shows. They need (roughly) seven months to shoot and (roughly) seven more months in post-production.
“Dark Matter” is not the best of Apple’s sci-fi shows. (It may even be the worst, although I can’t make that claim without watching “Invasion,” which I’m not prepared to do.) But its rollout illustrates a broader issue for Apple and its obsession with science-fiction. Sure, high-minded series about radical inventions and space exploration fit the brand of a sleek, cool, tech company shilling prestige TV. And yes, big swings on big ideas could lead to a breakout hit (preferably with I.P. wholly owned by Apple, like “Severance”). Blockbuster TV reportedly drives subscriptions, too. For how long? Who’s to say? Maybe Apple will find the next big thing — the next “Game of Thrones.”
Except the next big thing appears to be reviving an old proven thing: classic TV storytelling. At least for now, “The Pitt” is the name of the game, racking up massive ratings while churning out 15-episode seasons that premiere every year like clockwork. Pair that with studios’ tightening their belts and consumers settling for engrossing TV over great TV, and it sure seems like more traditional network-style procedurals are in the offing. It’s what the industry wants, it’s what fans want, and it’s the exact opposite of what Apple is building.
In the third episode of Season 2 — the one that should’ve been the premiere — the group of thirsty professors answer Jason’s ethical dilemma simply: They tell him “to understand the future, we only need to look to the past. We know what will happen because we’ve done all this before.”
In other words, history repeats itself, and historically, great TV is built on characters, consistency, and the connection that ensues from both. That’s the stuff that drives obsessive fans, and those obsessions need to be fed, regularly and well. “Dark Matter” is built on ideas. It’s inconsistent in form and function. That doesn’t mean it can’t be good for Apple — who knows what metrics matter to a company with limitless coffers — but it’s certainly not good for us. And I’d like to think that still matters.
“Dark Matter” Season 2 premieres Friday, August 28 on Apple TV.
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