Apple TV simply does not miss when it comes to the projects they put out. Two years is a long time to leave a multiverse on pause. When Dark Matter wrapped its first season, Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) had fought his way through a sea of alternate Chicagos just to get back to his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and son Charlie (Oakes Fegely), and the show closed the book pretty cleanly on Blake Crouch’s original novel. So season 2 had exactly one job: prove there was still a story worth telling once the source material ran out. The good news is that it mostly does. The only downside is that by throwing so many versions of Jason Dessen at you, you’ll start wishing they all wore name tags.
The best things about season two are, without a doubt, the dynamic between Edgerton and Connelly. Edgerton’s job this time around is basically playing multiple versions of the same guy who’ve lived wildly different lives, and making every single one legible as a distinct person without leaning on a costume change or an accent. He nails it. Connelly gets even more to chew on, spending a good chunk of the season spiraling through grief and paranoia as Daniela tries to figure out which reality and husband she’s actually standing in front of. It’s the kind of performance that makes you forget you’re watching a series at all and just watching a marriage under an impossible amount of pressure.
The supporting cast finally gets room to breathe, too. Characters who were background noise in Season 1, like Ryan, Amanda, and Leighton, all get actual arcs this time. A couple of the season’s best episodes hand the mic to people other than Jason entirely. Margo Martindale shows up and, unsurprisingly, is a welcome addition the moment she’s on screen. When Dark Matter slows down and just lets its characters talk to each other, it’s one of the better character dramas on TV right now, full stop.
What can pose an issue if they keep on this path is that, with infinite parallel universes, there comes an infinite number of ways to lose your audience. Season 2 leans hard into new worlds like a tech-starved 1980s throwback and a gravity-optional nightmare. While some of that world-building is genuinely fun to look at, a lot of it starts blurring together instead of escalating. When juggling three or four storylines and multiple competing versions of the same characters at once, the show can go from emotional grip to slow confusion. You can lose track of which Jason you’re rooting for in a given scene.
The finale oozes confidence as Dark Matter opts to leave the door open rather than actually close anything out, showing a clear bet on renewal. The stakes have significantly risen since season 1, and Connelly, alongside Edgerton are giving some of the best performances on TV at the moment. If you have been toying with the idea of whether or not to start the show, this is a great time to jump in, as this is a clear indication that the show still has more gas in the tank.
Dark Matter Season 2 begins streaming on Apple TV on August 28th, with a new episode weekly.
