Strap in people and make sure you have your thinking caps at the ready as we delve into the latest show from the altogether impressive roster of Apple TV offerings.
Firstly, right off the bat I have to say I feel a little bit cheated. While Joel Edgerton is a perfectly acceptable lead in most things, he's up against my reason for watching this in the first place, the heavyweight acting powerhouse of Jennifer Connelly. So know this in advance, she spends alot (I mean ALOT) less time on screen than her co-star. Even Alice Braga has more screen-time. Again not bad, but still not Jennifer.
When Chicago physicist Jason Dessen (Edgerton) gets mugged on the way home from the pub one night (that's what all the best scientists do, get pissed and fall over a bit), the consequences of his actions are alot more than he, or anyone else, had bargained for.
After becoming this unwitting and surprisingly clueless prisoner of time and I assume quantum entanglement in multiple dimensions and versions of his own life, like the good old days of Quantum Leap, every new door he opens from inside his magical box which defintely isn't a TARDIS, is a new adventure.
Well well, a seemingly endless supply of opportunities spread themselves before the writers here, even if all that Jason wants to do is go home, back to his own dimension, to the woman he loves, his wife Daniela (the erstwhile and underused Connelly). Not so quick Jason, we have nowhere near taken full advantage of your very carefully constructed predicament.
Dark Matter is confusing from the outset and I don't consider myself a stupid person. I actually imagine this is deliberate as to throw you into the same world(s) that Jason finds himself, feeling his pain, as it were. Yet the plotholes and contrivances don't inspire confidence that the writers are doing anything other than literally making it up as they go along, forcing the helpless, witless talent to do the best they can with what's thrown at them. No wonder they spend the majority of the time looking worried and /or concerned. It's just a bit messy, leaving unfinished plotlones strewn like confetti, everywhere it goes.
Worth a watch of course, but prepare to be confused and impatient at times.
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