A So-So Ending Can't Salvage A Disappointing Adaptation Of 'Dark Matter'

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the ending of Dark Matter is neither as exciting as it should be nor as clever as it thinks. But it isn’t all bad. Episode 9, “Entanglement”, manages to hit the broad beats of the book, and even fines a line or two of meaningful dialogue in Jason2’s redemption arc.

All told, though, it’s a perfunctory and oddly sedentary conclusion, spending far too much time idling in place. The stuff with Jason and Daniela is especially tedious, and it hogs far too much screentime relative to the more enjoyably demented business with Jason’s aggrieved doppelgangers.

Jason, Daniela, and Charlie are on the run…

Jason, Daniela, and Charlie spend most of the episode holed up and hiding out, giving them plenty of time to reconnect but giving the audience far too much time to pick fault in their interactions and wish the focus would shift elsewhere.

It’s a good idea that Jason can’t decide where they go next, since all other Jasons would work it out, but that problem is very quickly and unsatisfyingly surmounted with the help of Charlie. In the end, it’s a GPS tracker in Blair’s car that rats them out, which is a bit disappointing in a show about quantum superposition.

While this is going on, MurderJason is holding Jason2 hostage, which adds a bit of intensity but never sat especially well with me since MurderJason’s introduction came a bit too late and his persona is too far removed from what we’ve seen of the Jasons we already know. Sure, Jason2 is nuts, but his crazier aspects are rooted in understandable angst about choosing his career over a family. You can understand his yearning for the more meaningful connections that Jason was able to form. MurderJason is a bit too outlandish to be taken all that seriously.

The Jason Chatroom

There’s a very unintentionally funny discovery in Dark Matter Episode 9 when Jason discovers a chat room populated entirely by other versions of himself who have been displaced by Jason2 and made it back to their own universe.

Between themselves, the Jasons have come up with various solutions to their predicament, which include a lottery system to decide who ends up with Daniela and a shared custody arrangement. I know Jennifer Connelly is beautiful, but this is a bit of a stretch.

Jason2’s Redemption

Things at least heat up a little bit towards the end. After a kerfuffle between MurderJason and Blair, whom he lures to the house in order to force her into tracking her car (which Jason, Daniela, and Charlie escaped in), all roads eventually converge.

MurderJason attempts to murder Jason, somewhat understandably, and it’s Jason2 who comes to the rescue in the nick of time, killing MurderJason and allowing his counterpart to escape with his family. Jason2 saves the day, but his real redemption comes a little later.

Jason2 leaves a voice memo for the gang explaining how his thought process has evolved. Throughout his time in this universe he has learned the mistake he made was not allowing the hopes and needs of others into his life. In a roundabout way he learned his lesson not by gaining a family, as he initially intended, but by having to watch one slip through his grasp due to his own inadequacies.

Dark Matter Episode 9 Recap and Season 1 Ending Explained

Dark Matter | Image via Apple TV+

It’s An Uncertain Future for Jason, Daniela, and Charlie

Thanks to Jason2’s meddling, this reality will never be safe for Jason, Daniela, and Charlie, whose only hope is to escape through the Box and set up in another universe. Armed with a hefty supply of ampoules, they make their way there, only to be confronted by an army of displaced Jasons.

These are the same belligerent doppelgangers who had been moaning the chatroom, one assumes, and there are some mixed reactions when it comes to allowing this Jason to leave with what they all perceive to be their wife and their son. However, a collective decision is made — with some pushback here and there — to allow Jason to escape in order to keep Daniela and Charlie safe, which on a fundamental level is what they all want.

Dark Matter ends with Jason and his family stepping into the Box, their fates uncertain.

What did you think of the ending of Dark Matter? Let us know in the comments below.