Warning: Spoilers ahead for Dark Matter episode 3, “The Box.”
Dark Matter showrunner Blake Crouch has rectified an issue that stood out in the original novel, with the arc of the story’s villain becoming much more believable. Originally published in 2016, the Dark Matter book, also written by Crouch, features the interesting story quirk of the hero also technically being the villain. The universe-swapping nature of the narrative requires several members of the Dark Matter cast to portray different versions of the same character. Included among those actors is Joel Edgerton, who is tasked with stepping into the shoes of two different versions of Jason Dessen.
Apple TV+ hasn’t been afraid of making changes to the Dark Matter book, including elaborating on specific aspects of Jason2’s post-swap existence. In the source material, Jason2 integrating himself into his new life doesn’t receive too much attention. When it is focused on, the scenes are often from Daniela’s point of view, so Jason2’s mindset in the book can rarely be accurately appraised. Thankfully, Crouch has allowed Jason2’s unusual life-stealing mission much more time to breathe in the adaptation. Without these additions, the Dark Matter TV show wouldn’t work nearly as well as it does.
As Jason2 tries to adapt his new routine in the Dark Matter show, he’s shown coming across certain obstacles that he seemingly never anticipated. For example, he doesn’t know any of the Dessens’ family friends, and he’s even stumped by the layout of his new kitchen. Several scenes during Dark Matter episode 3, “The Box,” feature Jason2 deeply engaged in research to fix this issue. As well as watching old family videos, Jason2 trawls through social media to prepare for an upcoming dinner party at the Dessen household.
In addition, he tricks Charlie into volunteering information he feels like he should know – but to varying degrees of success. In fact, many of Jason2’s interactions with “his” son highlight just how inexperienced he is as a father. Dark Matter episode 2, “Trip of a Lifetime,” also shows Jason2’s vastly different teaching style. Many of these sequences are original to the Apple TV+ version of the story and don’t appear in the 2016 novel. In the book, it’s implied that Jason2 almost immediately becomes undetectable as an impostor, with only Daniela’s loose suspicions suggesting something is different about her husband.
While the Dark Matter book hints that Jason2’s plan is executed perfectly, the show is more realistic in how the antagonist approaches his goal. The two versions of Jason Dessen are so different because their paths diverged fifteen years before the events of the story – when Daniela became pregnant with Charlie. In Jason2’s universe, the couple didn’t keep the baby, and each returned to their separate lives. The ensuing decade-and-a-half’s worth of choices made by everyone in each reality led to an unknowable number of variances. For Jason2 to expect to pick everything up right away is, at best, naive.
As much research as Jason2 is shown engaging in during “The Box,” it would be impossible for him to completely familiarize himself with the fifteen years he’s missed. For every memory and milestone recorded on social media or captured on film, there would be several others that exist only in the memories of Jason Dessen’s family and friends. Eventually, Jason2 would slip up on a life event of which he should be acutely aware, and the TV communicates this in a way that’s far superior to the book.
Given how the lives of both versions of Jason Dessen are severely altered by the swap, it makes complete sense for them to receive roughly equal screen time. Revealing more about Jason2 trying to blend in is a brilliant piece of worldbuilding that the source material severely neglects. The book is also relatively short, with Crouch’s approach to the writing style resulting in some lines sometimes being only a handful of words long.
While this is incredibly effective due to the story being told from Jason Dessen’s first-person point of view, the show would have been short of material to make a respectable run of episodes if it didn’t expand upon certain aspects. So, although most of the Jason2 scenes in Apple TV+’s Dark Matter are unique to the show, the novel’s original author also serving as the adaptation’s showrunner means any additions sit perfectly alongside the sequences from the book.