NOC Recaps ‘Dark Matter’ S2, E9: Got to Give

After last week’s very special detour into parental figures and lessons on letting go, episode nine, “How to Build the Box,” thrusts us back into the main narrative and lays the groundwork for an interesting finale. We’ve taken quite a few twists and turns, but since this is the penultimate episode of the season, something has — like the corresponding track on Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter album says — “Got to Give.”

The episode begins in Earth Prime where Agent MacNamara and his DARPA goons are still trying to figure out how the Box works, unable to discern any power source. This will be important later. They even have the Box raised with one of the agents underneath it like a mechanic, and even though I haven’t gotten to the Pearl Jam parallels, I couldn’t ignore this “Got to Give” lyric:

A broken engine busted, lifted up on blocks

I swear Blake Crouch and co. had the same Pearl Jam idea when they broke season two. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to ask him¹ soon.

Meanwhile, Jason (the one who was arrested way back in episode one) is doing his best Steve McQueen in The Great Escape impression as he gets interrogated by MacNamara. Back then, he thought the Jasons were a result of a cloning experiment. His theories have since morphed to thinking of the Box as a hack magic trick (The Prestige style) before realizing Jason is a quantum physicist. He almost gets it right, but rather than a Box that allows multiversal travel, he assumes the Box is some kind of teleportation device and that the Jasons are just “glitches” that get spit out — oddly, also Prestige-style. When Jason doesn’t give MacNamara the answer he wants, another agent throws a black bag over his head and, presumably, takes him to get tortured again as we cut to credits.

This gives me a chance to do a quick deep dive on one of the deeper cuts on Dark Matter, the album. “Got to Give” is one of the least talked about songs from the record and wasn’t played live much on the accompanying tour, only seeing the stage four times over the course of a year. Having the second-to-last track be an afterthought is kind of on brand for the band. None of the penultimate songs on previous albums are standouts, though they are known for their closers to be bangers. That said, the song happens to be one of my favorites on the album. I love how it builds from its folksy acoustic intro to straight up arena rock by the time it hits its first chorus. It also has some of Eddie’s snarkiest lyrics:

Whoever said, “Love is a compromise” knew you

And while it reads like a breakup song, it ends on a more hopeful note with the narrator realizing that despite their differences, they’re better together than apart. To bring it back to the themes of this season of Dark Matter, the show, we’ll see if it rings true for Jason and Daniela.

We can believe that we are better
Together, you and me, yeah

When we come back from the intro, though, it’s time to resolve the cliffhanger from episode 7, when Jason2 confronts Jason1 at home. Is there going to be a massive throwdown between the two? This is, after all, the first time Jason has faced his abductor since he and his family escaped their world in the season one finale.

Jason2 claims he’s there to make amends, but Jason1 doesn’t buy it. Instead of throwing hands, though, they end up sharing a whiskey and talking. Jason2 genuinely seems to want to know how his counterpart chose to be a good man, which is ironic because his actions this season — driving away his loved ones due to his growing obsession with the Box or his willingness to condemn an innocent man to the horrors of the multiverse — demonstrate that Jason1 is becoming more and more like his Earth-2 self.

Should’ve made the turns when the road got rough, but who knew?

To that end, Jason1 admits that the “happy” life he chose was indeed filled with frustrations at not achieving the accomplishments that Jason2 had, though even that didn’t make him whole. These two could really benefit from listening to Laurel’s Jason and stop chasing their respective what-ifs.

Speaking of chasing a what if, Charlie finally emerges from the Box in a universe where Max is alive. Not only that, it seems the Dessens of this world are living the perfect life. Jason’s wearing designer suits and driving fancy cars indicates he has both the family and success that escaped Jasons 1 and 2. With that world’s Charlie away at university, Charlie1 is able to fake his way into family dinner. Thing about this universe is that it really seems like it’s the closest to their original world in all facets.

Charlie passes by photos of family trips, birthdays, etc. that all feel familiar, aside from Max being present in all of them. As the brothers wait for dinner to be served, Charlie is able to convince his long lost brother from the same mother in another dimension that he is not the Charlie of this world.

Finally, after all these years, he’s able to embrace Max. After dinner, the brothers sneak out to go for a drive along Lake Michigan and share their histories with one another. Charlie, especially seems to heed the words of advice he received from the Jason of Laurel’s house, about being able to let go and move forward.

Little does Charlie know, though, his mother is in the corridor hoping to find the door that will take her to her son. Instead, she opens it to find the DARPA agents of Earth-One. But unlike Leighton did in episode four when he just said “nope” and slammed the door, Daniela engages with MacNamara. Her mistake because rather than helping her locate Charlie, they arrest her and throw her in the cell with Jason.

Inside, after confirming he isn’t the version she chose, she catches this Jason up about Charlie’s disappearance. MacNamara reveals Daniela of Earth One has been report missing for two years — coincidentally, she’s back in her original universe, so there’s that. The agent threatens additional rounds of torture if Daniela doesn’t offer up more information on the Box.

And I can’t stand it, ’cause it’s no way to live
The pain of this every day has got to give
Give me liberty or give me death over you

When she realizes giving up the info won’t guarantee her safety, she and Jason devise a plot to escape² by drinking her remaining ampules and getting back to the Box somehow. Speaking of which, we cut to the Box in the abandoned school of the retro world where Ryan and Amanda emerge after their harrowing escape from the plague-ridden utopian world. Fortunately, Jason was there and is finally reunited with his longtime friend and Box travel companion.

Back at the Dessens’ apartment, Amanda wakes up from the effects of the tranquilizer and is relieved to learn that Jason found his family and is living a new life — he neglected to mention all the marital troubles they’ve been having lately. Blair arrives and now the best friends from across the multiverse are all together again.

After Blair informs them about Leighton’s latest project, the super friends formulate a plan to disentangle the Boxes across the multiverse and stop the tech genius from getting his Pyramid online. Remember when the DARPA agent couldn’t find a power source in the beginning of this episode? That plot point comes full circle when Blair realizes the only way to shut down all of the Boxes would be to disconnect the original Box on Earth-2. Once that one is no longer powered, its quantum connection to the others will also be severed.

One thing they’re not accounting for is that anyone who is currently traveled to another dimension will be stuck. In other words, Jason’s obliviousness about his wife and son’s whereabouts is going to bite him in the ass if he is successful in finally shutting down the Box. Amanda, ever the psychologist, is able to see Jason and Daniela’s marital woes and offers some encouragement. She also tells him her and Ryan’s plan to ask Leighton for a plague cure to return to and save the utopian world.

Back in Leighton’s lab, Jason2 seems to have second thoughts about the Pyramid project. I guess his conversation with Jason1 really did open his eyes. Leighton seems willing to shut the whole thing down if Jason believes it’s the right thing to do³. While Jason2 mulls over the ethics of opening Pandora’s Schrödinger’s Box, Leighton ventures off to other worlds to get more parts for the Pyramid. One of those world’s is the murder hornet one that Blair escaped. During his visit, Leighton stumbles across the same surveillance footage of the hornets emerging from the box that horrified Blair. This is where Leighton’s god complex starts to give.

Castle falling, turning into sand
The high tide is crumbling, on the rocks we sit

As doubt about his good intentions start creeping in, Leighton decides to visit other worlds he thought he had helped only to learn his solutions only brought about unforeseen death and destruction.

Speaking of death and destruction, Jason and Daniela promise Agent MacNamara that they will finally relent, but they have to show him how to use the Box first⁴. Instead, they ambush him with a shot of Lavender Wings to the neck and shut the door to reveal the corridor. After a brief info dump on how it works, MacNamara opens the door to a sunkissed Chicago where all walks of life have gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan.

While MacNamara gloats about his discovery — and fucking promotion — the party-like atmosphere grows increasingly surreal. Tuxedoed partygoers give way to cops shooting up heroin and religious zealots and hospital patients in their gowns. As MacNamara makes his way through the crowd, they start counting down, as if to celebrate the ball dropping at New Year. Instead, they’re counting down to an asteroid that is about to wipe out humanity. Just as the meteor touches down and vaporizes the city, the last thing MacNamara sees is Jason slamming the door to the Box.

I’ll be the last one standing
I’ll be the first to forgive, yeah

1. Just like I recently had the chance to indulge in my David Letterman fandom and ask Jimmi Simpson about what shenanigans Lyle the Intern would get up into if he had access to the Box. ↩︎
2. Shout out Chekhov’s bouncing ball from the opening scene. ↩︎
3. Cutaways to Oluko, though, suggest that the yogi has different ideas. ↩︎
4. I guess MacNamaras are this gullible no matter the universe. ↩︎