2 days ago
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There are no major spoilers in this post, link to source has spoilers.
Dark Matter is an apple TV scifi series, available now in full, starring Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga and Jimmi Simpson. It’s based on a book by Blake Crouch about a scientist who invents a way to travel the multiverse. Edgerton plays both the scientist and the mild-mannered professor whose life the scientists could be living if he made other choices. In the multiverse, both men exist and the scientist tries to impersonate the professor so he can take over his genteel family life. To tell anything more would give away too much of the plot, which can take some time to get used to. I was invested by episode three though, and so much of that was due to the performances and the relationships between characters.
In a new interview with Decider, Edgerton talked about how he approached the material (he’s a big fan of Crouch’s work and campaigned for this), how great it was to work with Connelly and Braga and how he explains the show to his friends and family who invariably ask about it. It’s a lovely interview that confirms my positive impressions of him. As Kaiser and I talked about on the last podcast, he is a leading man and should be more of a star. Here’s part of that interview, with more at the source (spoilers for that link, but I’ve cut those out of this excerpt):
“Blake Crouch called those final two episodes some of the “coolest viewing experiences” he’s ever had. What has it been like for you and your loved ones [to watch]?”
[Laughs] Blake’s causing me to have to deal with all the confusion of my family and extended family. They’re like, “I’m confused what’s going on here.” My mom’s latest text message to me: “Watched Episode 4 and 5 of Dark Matter. It is so complicated. But when you walked through the snow, how did that happen? And how did you do the underwater scene? Scary.” [Laughs] My mother-in-law watches it. She’s asking me all sorts of puzzling questions. And what I realized is that it forces people to really focus on what’s happening — the shifts between the different parallel realities — and keep track of things. Blake is super intelligent, obviously he’s built this incredible puzzle of a story and each one of us as human beings has a different capacity to understand things. So I think he’s done a nice job of holding the audience’s hand to a certain degree. I know for some people, they’re like, “I totally get it, I’m a little bit ahead of you.” Other people are left in the dust going, “Hold on, I need to catch up a little bit.” So most of my conversations with friends and family are asking to explain [something] to them, or they’re fascinated by how we made it happen. A lot of people are very excited by the world building and visual effects of it all. Some people are fascinated by the psychology. And still — I turned 50 yesterday…
On working with Braga and Connelly
I was very lucky to go to work each day and know that for the most part I was sharing scenes with either one of these two incredible actresses — plus Jimmy and Dayo and everybody else. I just think Alice’s character evolves throughout the show as we learn more about her and her true feelings and her past and selfless approach to life.
On a potential season two
I think everybody’s sort of open to it, for sure. I think everyone had a wonderful time. I know I did and I felt that from everyone around us. I think generally there’s a world right now talking about multiple universes. There’s a world of a multitude of television, which is a buffet that caters for all sorts of people’s tastes and the algorithms and all that stuff. I think that if there’s a world where people want more of Dark Matter and there was enough of an audience that was out there watching it and saw it through to the end, I think they’ll definitely do more.
Happy belated birthday, Joel! Dark Matter is complicated, but it’s not annoying or confusing. I have questions about it because I’m genuinely curious, but there aren’t glaring plot holes. I didn’t come away frustrated or mad, like with Westworld or any Christopher Nolan film. In fact, John David Washington (Tenet) and multiple Westworld stars have said they don’t fully understand their shows and can’t explain them. That’s not what’s happening here. Dark Matter is clever and audacious, but it doesn’t expect viewers to grasp rules that only exist in the writers’ heads or worse, that change depending on the plot requirements. This multiverse establishes the rules and makes sense.
Edgerton said that he hopes there will be a second season. I do too, it’s one of the most unique and engaging shows I’ve seen in some time. Given the twist toward the end, there are so many possibilities for where this can go. Edgerton’s performances are a large part of that. You believe he’s a different version of himself and he never overplays it.
Photos courtesy of Apple TV Press, Backgrid
