Most of Dark Matter's complex worldbuilding has been lifted directly from the 2016 novel, but with the source material already exhausted by the end of season 1, season 2 has meant that author-turned-showrunner Blake Crouch has had to continue the story without borrowing from established lore. As such, parts of the canon are being fleshed out in exciting new ways.
Of all the sci-fi elements in Dark Matter, perhaps the simplest to understand is the Box. At least, it used to be. In the book, it's simply made out to be a large, metal cube, capable of fitting several people in it comfortably at once. While how it allows those people to travel to other universes is very high-concept, the Box itself is never made out to be anything all that technologically advanced. Season 2 has decided that an extra layer of complication is required.
FULL SPOILERS for Dark Matter season 2, Episode 3, "Everything Beautiful, Everything Terrible," ahead.
Dark Matter season 2 just made the Box way more complicated
The latest episode of Dark Matter revolves heavily around Jason's (Joel Edgerton) attempts to destroy the Box. With the Dessens settled in the throwback version of Chicago, Jason decides the time is right to close the door to the multiverse for good. As he's already explained earlier in the show, his proposed approach to doing this is to get rid of the box altogether. However, it's easier said than done.
Even if it were just a regular metal cube, getting rid of it is no small task, and Jason can be seen hard at work getting all the materials he needs to destroy it. While finding the best place to start, he stumbles across some complex inner workings after finding a panel and opening it. He then starts thinking about how he can deactivate the box without totally destroying it.
This is a massive departure from the book's version of the Box. While the source material strongly implies some sort of insulation to completely eradicate the possibility of the Box pilots being observed, there is no mention of anything more sophisticated than a door that blocks out all the light from the outside when closed.
The heavy lifting when it comes to being placed into superposition comes from the compound the pilots inject themselves with, which deactivates part of the brain that deals with perception, allowing the inside of the Box to become the Corridor. Although an earlier season 2 episode had revealed the Box had something called "adaptive shielding," that was nothing compared to the huge number of wires, pipes, and other hardware that Jason reveals in episode 3.
Why the Box can't be quite so simple in Dark Matter season 2
Dark Matter season 1 dumps a lot of sci-fi lore on the audience at once. It's easier to just accept the Box as a simple object and the compound as the thing that really makes it all happen. The compound is still important, but literally digging into the Box's inner workings is a big part of what allows Dark Matter to move the story forward in season 2.
The idea of destroying a metal cube is relatively straightforward, but the idea of somehow stopping an ultra-sophisticated piece of technology from constantly rebuilding itself presents a much harder challenge for Edgerton's character.
It also reinforces the idea of just how difficult the Box was to build. Before the reveal of its inner workings, I'd always assumed that the Box was ready long before the compound, given the former's simplicity. Now, it's clear that both the Box and the compound were likely developed alongside one another and presented equally difficult challenges along the way.
With more attention than ever also being given to the compound and its intricacy in season 2, it only makes sense for Dark Matter to also retcon the Box into a work of high-concept scientific art.
Dark Matter season 2 is streaming now on Apple TV.
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