NOC Recaps ‘Dark Matter’ S2, E8: Something Special
When I first set out to recap season 2 of Dark Matter while simultaneously running down the tracklist of the 2024 Pearl Jam album, also called Dark Matter, I was most worried about how I’d pair the song, “Something Special” to whatever might happen late in the season. But, just like every other time, there are a lot of parallels between the eighth episode, “The Basic Oneness of Everything,” and the ninth song on the album.
The most obvious one is that — like the song on the album — this episode might prove to be the most polarizing one of the season for some fans. For starters, it’s another bottle episode that once again diverges from the main storyline to follow an alternate Jason. The last time they did this, three episodes ago, a vocal minority were displeased that it disrupted the main narrative of the season1. How are they going to feel to find another detour so close to the finale? Especially after last week’s cliffhanger ending.
Similarly, the ninth song off Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter, “Something Special,” faced criticism from long time fans because it was such a departure from what they were used to. Add to the fact that Dark Matter was supposed to be a return to their harder, edgier sound after the more experimental Gigaton in 2020 or Eddie Vedder’s solo outing, Earthling, in 2022, having one of the final songs on the album be a jaunty lullaby from a dad to his daughters caught many off-guard.
If you could see what I see now
You gotta know I’m looking up oh so proud
The one I used to hold is oh so special
All that said, there’s more to the connection between the song and this episode than just how they split their respective fanbases, so let’s get into it.
Our first hint that this is going to be another bottle episode is the lack of cold open. Just like in episode five, we start with the credit sequence before we’re met with the title card “Two Years Ago,” and see Jason and a wounded Amanda emerge in the Corridor2. I don’t think our Amanda was ever impaled by a tree, but I do seem to recall a scenario where Jason and Amanda encounter different dangers in their travels3. In desperate need of help, Jason closes his eyes and makes a wish.
The next door he opens leads to a massive bang, as if they’d just crashed the Box into someone’s house. That someone is Laurel, played by Margo Martindale4, but instead of the sweet old lady that Charlie met, she welcomes them by brandishing a shotgun. Luckily, though, Laurel is a nurse by trade and decides to help the strangers, turning the couch into a makeshift hospital bed. After some harrowing field surgery, they’re able to stabilize Amanda amongst the living room rubble.
The next morning, Jason tries to explain the Box and how they crashed into her house. Amazingly, she believes him because his story is “too dumb and wild to be fake.” In turn, she tells Jason about 5/20, the day that universe’s Chicago was hit with a dirty bomb in the early 2000s. Her home became a refuge for victims in the immediate aftermath. Later, we learn that American society became authoritarian and she ultimately became a recluse. The worse news, though, is that Amanda will need, at minimum, several weeks to heal from her injuries. Jason, desperate to get back to his family, considers leaving her behind but decides to stay by his companion’s side until she’s better.
Until then, Jason cleans up the mess they made when they arrived and learns a little more about the history of this alternate Chicago. Laurel, a military veteran, opposed the government’s response to the dirty bomb attack. The paranoia that gripped the nation turned neighbors against each other and the authorities began cracking down on dissent. Ever since, she stopped trusting others — especially strangers — that is, until Jason and Amanda came along.
Afraid to fail, oh, same as afraid to try
These are the days to accept all the invites
Weeks go by, and Amanda is finally able to walk. She encourages Jason to go back in the Box and find his world, but he wants her to know she isn’t “disposable” since that’s essentially how Jason2 saw her. He stays by her side, missing Charlie’s birthday, as the three start to become a sort of family. They even surprise Laurel with a new couch — after staining her original one with Amanda’s blood. Laurel is upset because Jason had invited someone outside their bubble into her home — a violation of her trust.
She later explains to Amanda that she’s been this way ever since the government abducted her husband for “possession of banned materials” where he eventually died in custody. It’s implied that he was turned in by one of their friends, so from that point on, she’s refused to let anyone close. Amanda tries to convince her that the world outside her door has changed and is not quite as dire as Laurel remembers.
Once Amanda is fully healed, she and Jason return to the Box and bid adieu to their new friend. Laurel has really grown to love them in the time they spent together and is sad to see them go. Some time later, a new person emerges from the Box, but it isn’t Jason or Amanda. Instead, it’s a Leighton, but not any of the ones we’ve been following this season. This is Leighton from Earth One, the trust fund baby who ended season one with a case full of ampules and no destination in mind.
When Laurel hears the name, though, she assumes it’s the Leighton that built the Box and pulls her gun on him. She heard all the stories from Jason and Amanda and is protective of her new friends. Fortunately, he’s able to convince her she’s got the wrong guy, and they end up becoming fast friends5.
Leighton gets the idea that Laurel’s home could be used as a sort of waystation for Box travelers. She’s hesitant at first, but you can tell she actually likes the idea. These multidimensional beings are becoming her family, and she will be there when they need help.
Mm, and when it gets fucked up, you need a helping hand
Do it yourself, you’re not the type to need a man
After Leighton, the next person we see emerge from the Box is Blair2. She’s still shaken from her isolation in the murder hornet hangar, and is very distrustful of this old white lady with a “Welcome Traveler” sign. But we see Laurel quickly ingratiate herself. It’s here in Laurel’s home that allowed Blair to become herself again. Not only does she learn how to talk to people again, we see Laurel, too has started to open up, offering to introduce Blair to her friends on the outside. The experience with the Box travelers has allowed Laurel to open up to her neighbors once again.
We also see it was Blair, the engineer, who built the walls around the Box. Not only does it spruce up the place, it’s also a metaphor of how the Box has truly become a part of Laurel’s home. Later, Blair is finally able to reenter the Box and attempt to start a new life. And she owes that newfound courage to the time she spent here at Laurel’s home.
After some more time, Laurel finds that Jason and Amanda have returned. It seems they were unable to locate Jason’s original world and are starting to give up hope. It doesn’t help that they’re also running out of ampules. Laurel has a heart-to-heart with Jason about accepting what’s in front of him. He needs to hold on to happiness wherever he can find it. Even if he can never get back to his world. “Everything ends.” But as much as it might hurt, there’s always a new chapter ahead.
And it’s okay, should this life knock you down
The twisted wheel, you know it keeps on spinning ’round
Bet on yourself, your number’s oh so special
She’s talking about Jason, but she’s also talking about herself. She had given up on love and companionship after she lost her husband all those years ago. But the Box travelers have given her new happiness. Speaking of those travelers, she reveals to them that she’s met a bunch of them in the meantime, including different Amandas and Jasons, which is news to Amanda and Jason.
More importantly, Amanda has made the decision to stay in Laurel’s world. She looked up that universe’s Amanda and found she never immigrated to America. She has the chance to start fresh here while Jason can find his family, free from distraction of having her around. It’s sort of a remix of last season when Jason leaves Amanda in the utopian world before he is able to get home. Jason reluctantly agrees, and we cut to Christmas where Amanda is celebrating with Laurel and Leighton.
Not long after, though, Jason returns. He was unable to find his world, but has made peace with that reality. Like Amanda before, he has made the decision to remain in this world, and be a family with Laurel. We also see that Jason and Amanda have fallen in love — which probably explains why he never searched all that hard for his original world. Laurel is happy to welcome him to this reality for good.
Oh, and if the night grows long, you’re not feeling loved
I will be there and not ’cause it’s my job
I work for free because you’re both so special
After all this, we’re met with another title card: One Year Later, catching us up to events from last episode when Charlie found his way inside Laurel’s home. Last week, though, the camera cut away when Charlie was about to meet a visitor coming through the door. Now we know who Laurel introduced him to, his father from an alternate reality.
This brings me back to the Pearl Jam song. One of the reasons “Something Special” is an apt song to pair with this episode is because it’s an ode to parenting. More precisely, Eddie wrote the lyrics addressing his two daughters. It’s also one of the reasons a lot of fans are split on the song. Some fans accuse it of being overly sentimental and corny6. Others, like me, were completely moved by the song. I admit, the first time I listened to it, I cried like a baby. It probably had to do with the fact that my daughter at the time was entering her senior year of high school, and the song reflecting the reality of seeing your children grow into young adults hit me like a ton of bricks7.
Ultimately, this episode is about parental figures offering advice to their children. Laurel was teaching Jason and Amanda and Blair and Leighton how to move on. And now it’s up to Jason to help his son Charlie move forward. That’s the irony of parenting, and why the song is so emotional. The best way to express your love to your children is to prepare them for a life where they no longer need you.
Oh, and someday you
May find yourself in the place that I now do
And someway you, yeah, you’re gonna have to let it go
And I got proof ’cause my heart
It aches and breaks, but I believe in you
It’s the truth
This is essentially the advice Jason gives Charlie. Nevermind the fact that this Jason was resigned to never see his family again. That is what gives him the ability to offer Charlie the advice he needs to hear. Don’t always look back. The Box is filled with an infinite amount of regrets, but he can’t let that define him. It’s fine to want to see Max, his late twin brother, but he has to know his choices will eventually lead him to the life he is meant to live.
Mm, remind yourself and find what makes you free
It’s goal to go and time to find out what you seek
And in between, avoid the Devil
And in the ultimate display of Jason practicing what he preaches, he is able to say goodbye to his son and send him on his way. Like any good parent, he’s done his job to give his child the tools he needs to make his own choices.
Oh, out of everyone, you’re not just anyone
You’re the one and only you
We done all we can do
In the infinity of the multiverse, each Charlie or Jason or Amanda or Dark Matter bottle episode is something special.
- I should also state that many fans absolutely loved it and felt it was one of the best episodes of the series. I definitely did! ↩︎
- Not to be that guy, but the timestamp threw me for a second. “Two years” comes up a lot — last episode, Leighton explained that’s how long he was in the retro world — but I feel like the Dessens spent more time on the run, and subsequently in their new world. Not that big a deal at the end of the day. ↩︎
- Disclosure: the screeners I got don’t have the “previously on” so I’m fuzzier on the specifics. ↩︎
- I guess they did name her last episode. I just missed it. ↩︎
- You almost get the vibe that they might be more than friends, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down. Where all the Laurel/Leighton shippers at?! ↩︎
- The venn diagram with these fans and the ones who think they peaked with Ten and Dave Abbruzzese is a circle. ↩︎
- I also understand why fans who could never let Pearl Jam grow up have a hard time with the song. If Eddie is perpetually the angry-angsty 20-something with daddy issues, it’s cognitively dissonant to listen to him sing fatherly advice to his daughters. However, the song works for me because I’ve aged alongside my favorite band. ↩︎
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