NOC Recaps ‘Dark Matter’ S2, E4: Won’t Tell

Another Friday, another Dark Matter / Pearl Jam mashup. However, this is the point in the season where the album track listing diverges from the episode order a bit. We’re skipping to track five, “Won’t Tell,” to match up with episode four, “Stars, Hide Your Fires,” mainly because track four on the album is the titular title, “Dark Matter,” and while we won’t break down that song, you should know that its chorus is essentially the premise of the whole series.

It’s strange these days
When everybody else pays
For someone else’s mistake
This blame takes shape
Still everybody else pays
For someone else’s mistake

That “someone else” is Jason2, whose machinations to steal Prime Jason’s life set off the chain of events that has led us to this episode. And of course, it’s everybody else who has to pay the price for his mistakes. But more on that in a minute.

The episode starts out with Leighton in the plague world we saw last episode, watching an alternate version of his grandfather in the hospital. We then follow a contemplative Leighton in the corridor, echoing the lyrics to “Dark Matter,” reflecting on the same mistakes that led him to this moment. When he opens the door, though, he’s in Earth One where MacNamara’s DARPA agents have set up a basecamp after following Jason2, Amanda, and the Ryans. Panicked, Leighton slams the door and opens another one, this time to the retro world.

This leads us back to the climactic end of last episode. Now we know how Leighton — and more importantly, which Leighton — ended up in front of the Dessens’ home. Picking up where we left off, Jason confronts Leighton, thinking his peace is about to be shattered by one of the villains who destroyed his life. But just as Dayo Okeniyi told me in an interview last week, Leighton isn’t the bad guy. Instead of a violent confrontation, Leighton apologizes for everything that has transpired, telling Jason that he also lost everything because of Jason2’s actions and his misue of the Box.

The encounter with Leighton has Jason so shaken that he implores his family to move out of Chicago — but not to San Francisco! Daniela and Charlie are having none of that, though. Charlie has finally found a life here and Daniela wants to be friends with Retro Blair¹, of course. Meanwhile, Jason2, Amanda, and the Ryans are getting testy inside the Box corridor after narrowly escaping MacNamara’s agents. Unsure if they should continue to trust Jason, they end up deciding to return Ryan X back to his world.

Jason2 leads the way — he kidnapped him from this world, after all — and we know they make it back because they stop in at a bar² and the bartender refers to Ryan’s “disappearance.” When this reality’s Ryan announces his triumphant return to Chicago, he makes up a story about seeking out his long-lost twin, which is prompted by our Ryan showing up too³.

While the Ryans bond with the bartender, Amanda and Jason2 retreat to a booth for a heart-to-heart. This is where the references to the fifth track off Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter album really come into play. First, some background on the song itself.

“Won’t Tell” is a bit of a departure from Pearl Jam’s signature sound. It’s arguably their most pop-sounding song, owing a lot to the likes of U2 and The Cure in its melody and composition — even its outro riff is a vibe straight off of The Cure’s 1989 classic, Disintegration. Bassist Jeff Ament reportedly wrote the song based off a dream he had about Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. The song itself is very evocative of its dreamlike origins, where the speaker shares secret messages with a mysterious woman. It’s in the chorus, though, where the song really mirrors the conversation between Amanda and Jason2.

Can you heal? Can you feel
The change in my heart?

Like Leighton earlier, Jason2 uses this opportunity to ask forgiveness for the wrongs he’s done. At first, Amanda isn’t buying his change of heart. They were lovers in their reality, and her heart was broken by Jason2. She eventually sees through his pop psychology speak — she’s the professional, after all — and calls him out on his own selfishness and lack of self-awareness, telling him to “fucking try” to be a better person. For the time being, it seems like her words have made a difference, and Jason2 will attempt to atone for his mistakes. He even convinces them to let him have his own batch of lilac wings and get back in the Box on his own⁴. Ryan and Amanda decide to return to the Utopia world and make it work.

Speaking of self-doubt creeping in, Oluko is trying to quiet Leighton’s mind, but he’s too distracted by his encounter with Jason1 and his own potential change of heart. Oluko — aka, Yogi Leighton — still gives off the creepiest vibes, telling his alternate self how much it means to finally “meet” himself, to “see the monster” and to “love him.” Villain origin story loading…

Back in the retro world, our Jason is continuing to have Box-induced PTSD, seeing visions of his travels with Amanda and all the death and destruction they witnessed. Speaking of Amanda, we learn that Charlie’s best friend Eduardo flips burgers at a joint run by his mom, also Amanda!

At the Art Institute of Chicago, Daniela has her own Cameron Frye moment of existential dread in front of the iconic Georges Seurat on display.

She then joins Charlie in front of Edward Hopper’s classic “Nighthawks” painting, but instead of connecting to the people in the diner, she’s focused only on the door behind them. And if that metaphor isn’t obvious enough, Charlie points out that she isn’t supposed to connect to the people in the diner because they’re cut off from everyone else. And suddenly we’re all filled with that same existential dread.

Her eyes were soft and sympathized
A vision so uncompromised floated in

After Charlie leaves to meet his friends, Daniela is greeted by another one of her Retro World doppelganger’s friends, and like with Blair, she plays along until she’s distracted by a potential Jason stalking by. Is it a false alarm or have other Jasons finally found them? Well, after Jason1 finishes his shift at the bar, he finds a Jason tailing him as well. Or so we think. Turns out, everyone is hallucinating Jasons⁵.

A few days later, after dropping Charlie off at university, Daniela continues to deal with her trauma by going for a jog. During her run, she finds the store her father used to own when she was a kid. In this reality, her father might still be alive. This revelation, as well as all the events they’ve endured up to this point, lead her to conclude that it would be best if she left.

For in my dream you told
Me to let the longing go
Oh, and the promise I still hold
Won’t tell a soul

It was an illusion for them to believe they could have a normal life. And though they will always be each other’s “person,” they can’t continue to function as a couple while all this doubt and uncertainty remains. After Daniela leaves, Jason is left alone with his thoughts… and quantum entanglement notes. Is he going to jump in the Box and find a world where Daniela doesn’t leave him?

One place Jason definitely won’t be able to visit is the Utopia world. Seems like that place isn’t quite a utopia anymore. Some time after Ryan and Amanda left, something bad must have gone down. You see, when they finally return to their world — Amanda’s Brazil sticker confirms they’re in the right place — instead of living happily ever after, they’re surrounded by CDC officials in hazmat gear. They’re immediately ID’d and told to be taken into custody for “breaking quarantine.”

Did Leighton accidentally unleash the plague virus on his travels through the multiverse?

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this final verse from Pearl Jam’s “Won’t Tell” that is another parallel to the stories of Dark Matter.

Oh, I’d open the door, I’d let you in
I would open it if you came
But if it’s not you knocking
It’s staying closed

Who’s the next person to come knocking on the Box’s door? Guess we’ll have to tune in to find out next week.

New episodes of Dark Matter drop every Friday on Apple TV.

1. I still think this is a huge mistake which will come back to bite the Dessens later this season, btw. ↩︎
2. Pretty sure this is the same bar in every reality. ↩︎
3. I swear these reality hoppers do a piss-poor job of keeping a low profile. ↩︎
4. I’m sure that won’t be an issue at all. ↩︎
5. One Star Wars easter egg: when Jason comes home, their safe word is “Tatooine.” Of course, Joel Edgerton’s other iconic sci-fi role is as Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen in the prequels. ↩︎