Drama
East of Eden
Netflix’s ‘East of Eden’ serves as a solid retelling of John Steinbeck’s epic novel—including all the moral quandaries of its source material in explicit fashion.
“Are you happy with your life?” the gunman asked. “Or have you ever wondered what else you could’ve been?”
For Jason Dessen—even as the drugs began to take effect—that was never really an “or” sort of question.
Yes, Jason was happy with his life. And sure, he had wondered what else he could’ve been. That’s natural, right? Our lives’ journeys are littered with forks in the road: We choose one and can’t go back. Still, sometimes we wonder where that other fork might’ve led. Where we might’ve gone. To wonder doesn’t make Jason unhappy; it makes him human.
But thanks to that gunman, Jason’s forks are no longer metaphorical. That’s because the gunman was one of those forks—another Jason from another universe who had come to steal this Jason’s life.
The problem was that this Jason—Jason 1—didn’t want a different life. Sure, he wasn’t rich and famous like gunman Jason—Jason 2—but he enjoyed living peacefully and anonymously with his wife, Daniela, and his 15-year-old son, Charlie.
Instead, Jason 1 gets shoved inside a literal Schrödinger’s Box, sent to another reality and forced to find his way back home.
Of course, reuniting with his family doesn’t guarantee that they’ll all be happy again. Besides the fact that Jason 2 won’t give them up without a fight, there are an almost infinite number of other Jasons who have created or discovered the same Box and used it to pursue their own happy endings.
Luckily, there are also an almost infinite number of universes for the Dessen family to hide in, too. Some are nice, like the near-utopian version of Chicago where some of Jason’s friends get stuck after their encounters with Jason 2. Others are cataclysmic, even apocalyptic. But even the medium worlds can be dangerous, especially if the Jason of that world has a less than stellar track record with the authorities.
Jason knows his family can never return to their original fork in the road: It’s just too dangerous. But he hopes that if he can find a universe that’s safe, maybe he can destroy the Box and live out the rest of his existence (or at least, this version of it) in relative peace and quiet.
USA Today called Blake Crouch’s original 2016 novel Dark Matter “a nightmarish quantum-mechanics version of It’s a Wonderful Life.” And this Apple TV+ take on the book—also created and written by Crouch—naturally follows suit. Jason has a chance to see what could’ve been had he changed one critical choice.
Jason’s opportunity gives viewers a nice little gift, too: a heartwarming message about the importance of relationship and family. Sure, many of the other versions of Jason have found money and fame. They’re respected and, sometimes, even treated with awe. And yet they still find themselves longing for the original Jason’s life with his wife and kid.
But as you might’ve guessed, not everything is so glowing in Dark Matter.
The thriller comes with its share of violence, naturally, and quite a bit of bloodshed, too, since the best way to stop an alternate Jason is by stopping his heart. And we must navigate plenty of sensual encounters, too—encounters that come with some unexpected moral conundrums. (For instance, if Jason runs into an alternate reality Daniela, and the two smooch passionately, would that mean he’s doing wrong by his reality’s version of Daniela?)
And, of course, the show’s metaverse construct comes with potentially another set of issues for Christians to navigate, too. The idea of infinite realities has long been a convenient way for secular physicists to wave away God and still explain the near-impossibility that we exist at all. But even with all those issues, Dark Matter—if it was movie—would still only warrant a PG-13 rating. What pushes it farther is its profanity. Harsh language, including the f-word, is heard with alarming frequency. And if there’s an alternate reality where such words do not exist, Dark Matter can’t seem to conceive of it.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
In one universe, an agent for an unnamed agency investigates the deaths of 13 different versions of Jason, suspecting cloning. In another, the Dessen family is forced to relocate after seven months of peaceful living when another Jason finds them.
Police coroners line up multiple dead bodies, all different versions of Jason. A man named Mitchel MacNamara suspects that the Jasons are all clones. And he threatens to cut open a still-living Jason on an autopsy table if that Jason refuses to help him find the source of this mystery.
When a man invades her home, Daniela runs and retrieves a pistol. She gives the man a chance to walk away. When he refuses, she shoots him, and he bleeds out on the floor.
Later on, when Jason comes home, he helps Daniela hide the body. Unfortunately, a cop shows up just as Jason is digging a hole. Spotting the corpse, the officer draws his weapon. Daniela rushes out with the pistol soon after, and Jason tackles the cop to the ground, taking away the officer’s gun. They handcuff the man to a tree and make their escape.
The Dessens use the Box to travel to an alternate reality where multiple tornadoes are wreaking havoc across Chicago. Jason and Daniela nearly get stuck there when they leave the Box to fetch a “grab bag” of essential items that had been sucked out. As they struggle to open the door to the Box, strong winds send large pieces of debris—including a car—soaring past them. Another airborne vehicle takes a chunk out of the Box upon impact.
Someone talks about the death of Jason and Daniela’s other son, Charlie’s twin brother. A waiter warns two women that a strange man has been watching them. (The man turns out to be harmless.) Two people who have been permanently trapped in an alternate reality express their grief at losing their homes and families. They both entertain a desire to seek revenge on Jason 2, who is responsible for their circumstances.
When Charlie learns that his family will have to relocate once again, he gets angry. He understands the need, but he doesn’t believe his family will ever be safe, even if they find a relatively safe world to live in. Daniela is also struggling, both with the world-hopping and with her decision to kill the man that attacked her.
Jason and Daniela kiss several times and flirt. A couple of people make jokes about sex. Daniela wears some short shorts to bed. When MacNamara takes over the Jason case, he assures the two female detectives previously assigned that it’s not because they are women. A man laments that people judged him for being “too queer but not gay.”
A man leading a yoga/meditation session daydreams about leading such as session as the adored leader of a cult. In his fantasy, he and his followers all wear white, one devotee kisses his robe, others fold their hands in a prayer-like gesture as they greet him and he touches the foreheads of his followers as though he were blessing them.
At a bar, a man drinks Scotch whisky. The person he is with drinks what appears to be a non-alcoholic beverage, explaining that he has been sober for three years.
We hear the f-word about 10 times and the s-word three times. There are also uses of “a–,” “a–hole,” “ballsy” and “b–ch.” God’s name is misused twice.
Jason Dessen continues to search frantically for his wife, Daniela. Not only does he finally track her down (though she’s using her maiden name), but she’s a famous artist now. And her latest exhibit revolves around … Jason Dessen, whom we learn hasn’t been seen in public for more than a year.
Meanwhile, another Jason (we’ll call him Jason2, as the book does) continues to join domestic pleasures with this version of Daniela. But Daniela is beginning to suspect that all is not right with her husband.
As Jason searches for Daniela online, he discovers some artwork of hers—one piece of which appears to depict a nude woman. Her exhibit, which is a gigantic rumination on the choices we make, includes a display featuring news clips of destruction, chaos and people wearing hazmat suits. Someone is shot in the forehead, and we see a trickle of blood from the wound.
Danielas and Jasons kiss and talk about sex. Jason2 advises Charlie to be “aloof” when talking with a girl that he likes. (Daniela advises a more direct, honest approach.)
Champagne is served at Daniela’s exhibit shindig. Later, she, Jason and this reality’s version of Ryan head back to her place and smoke marijuana. Characters drink wine. Someone jokingly asks if a character is using LSD.
The original Jason goes to a doctor, worried that perhaps he’s suffered brain damage. The doctor says that nothing’s wrong with his brain—but she did detect a strange chemical during a toxicology screening. Ryan asks if Jason2 was able to make use of some “compounds” that Ryan made for Jason’s company.
We hear the f-word about a dozen times and the s-word four. “D-ck” and “p-ss” are also used once or twice. God’s name is misused twice.
[Spoiler Warning] We learn the choice that “created” Jason and Jason2, and it was precipitated when Daniela got pregnant. Our original Jason decided to marry Daniela and raise a family—with both of them ultimately sacrificing individual career goals for that shared one. Jason2 broke up with Daniela to devote his energy to his scientific research. “I chose not to [raise a child] on my own,” Daniela says, indicating she aborted the child that would, in another reality, be Charlie. Now Jason2 regrets that choice—and he’s taken over Jason’s reality to experience the domestic path he rejected 16 years before.
Jason’s happy that his friend, Ryan, won the Pavia award. He really is. Ryan has become a respected neuroscientist, and he deserves it as much as anyone. Still, Jason knows that he’s just as smart as Ryan is: Perhaps in another life, that award could’ve been his. But even though Jason doesn’t want to go out and celebrate—it’s family night, after all—Daniela tells him to go and be a good friend.
But Jason never makes it home. A masked gunman forces him to drive to a deserted building where he injects him with some unknown drug. Then, Jason must change clothes and take off his wedding ring before he falls asleep. When he comes to, he finds himself in a version of Chicago that’s very, very different from the one he left.
Meanwhile, another Jason happily goes home to his wife and son.
We see both Jasons with wife, Daniela. In one scene, the married (?) couple goes to their bedroom and begins removing each other’s clothes, obviously prepping for sex. The two fall on the bed and engage in foreplay. In another reality, a shirtless Jason gets out of bed, and Daniela—a bare shoulder exposed—touches his hand. Elsewhere the two kiss and cuddle. In still another alternate reality, Jason heads home and sees Amanda Lucas, a woman with whom Jason apparently lives. (In another scene, Amanda hugs Jason tightly and intimately, much to Jason’s discomfort.)
The gunman forces Jason to strip down to his boxers. Later, Jason takes a forced shower and covers his privates with his hands.
Jason and the gunman fight: Jason suffers some cuts on his face (which serve to identify him throughout the rest of the episode) and falls down a staircase. The gunman suffers some sort of wound on his arm. Jason’s nearly hit by an oncoming car. Charlie, who’s learning to drive, nearly hits another car on his way to school. Jason talks about a potentially dead cat in class.
Ryan asks the bartender to hand Jason a bottle of expensive Scotch, and the two appear to drink several glasses. Jason and Daniela pour and drink wine; Jason jokes that Daniela’s continual willingness to “open more wine” is an important element in their successful relationship. Later, Daniela asks Jason how drunk he is.
We hear nearly 20 f-words, about seven s-words and a couple of other profanities (“a–” nd “d-ck”). God’s name is misused twice.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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