Analysis
Why Jason Can't Outrun The Box | Dark Matter Season 2
Jason 1 has a pretty simple goal in Episode 3 of this season when he starts working on The Box again: find a way to shut it down without leaving his family with a machine that can open the door to other realities whenever someone decides to use it. He spends days studying its construction before taking it apart at the swimming pool, working slowly enough to document where every component goes so he can understand how to rebuild it if he ever has to.
His research leads him to what he describes as the Box's “heart,” the part that has to be disabled if the machine is ever going to stop working. Jason also considers something less permanent than destroying it; He wants an on/off switch that could give his family an emergency escape route if their world becomes unsafe, while also letting them shut the Box down from outside and keep other versions of Jason from appearing there.
That solution says a lot about where Jason's head is at. Even after everything that happened, he is still thinking about what the Box could do for him and his family rather than treating it as something that should disappear.
Daniela sees the situation differently, she wants the Box destroyed because she wants their family to stay in this low-tech world and build a life without constantly worrying about another Jason, another reality or another trip through the multiverse. Jason eventually agrees with her, but getting rid of the Box means giving up something that is much harder for him to abandon than a dangerous piece of technology.
The Box Is Everything Jason Once Wanted
Jason spent years wondering what his life might have looked like if he had followed his scientific ambitions instead of choosing the family life he built with Daniela, then the Box appeared and made that old dream real in a way Jason could never have managed on his own. He describes the experience as feeling like someone reached into his brain, took his dream and turned it into something real. Jason is not just pulling wires and removing components; he is taking apart the one thing that proves the life he gave up was possible. And there is a strange repetition here, years ago, Jason had to decide what mattered more, his scientific future or his relationship with Daniela. Now The Box has put the same choice directly in front of him, except Jason has already seen the consequences of choosing the other path.
So What Happens When Jason Destroys It?
This is the part of the Box's rules that changes the entire situation. Jason can take apart the Box, but the multiverse does not seem to care whether that particular Box is still there. The explanation is that a Box can spawn in a reality when someone is thinking about another world and trying to reach it, provided there isn't already one in that reality. Once the Box appears, that universe becomes connected to the larger collection of realities again.
So Jason's work was never going to solve the bigger problem. He could remove every component from the Box in front of him, but another Box will appear when someone elsewhere reaches his world. That is also why the idea of physically containing it falls apart.
Ryan and Amanda have already experienced this. A Box in another reality was sealed inside concrete, yet the structure eventually broke through its enclosure and allowed them to get out. Whatever rules govern the Box are clearly not limited by the walls or material surrounding it. Concrete is not enough, also taking it apart is not enough! even keeping it locked away does not appear to solve the problem.
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The Person You Think About May Decide Where You End Up
The Box also seems to have a very specific rule when it comes to navigation. If you want to find a world (like for example when Ryan is trying to return to his world), you are not supposed to focus on a location or emotion; you are supposed to focus on a person in that world that you are trying to go to.
If that is how the Box works, it makes several character movements much less random than they first appear. Ryan and Amanda returning to their world is the prime example; Jason 1 is already part of their thoughts as they enter the Box, which raises the possibility that their next destination could eventually bring them to his reality (the low-tech world). That would be particularly bad timing for Jason 1 because he has just made the decision to stop chasing the possibilities offered by the multiverse.
Jason Can Leave The Box, But The Box Cannot Leave Him Alone
Jason's biggest problem now is that the choice he made for himself does not control anyone else. He can decide that he wants Daniela, his family and their new life in this low-tech Chicago. He can dismantle the Box in that old swimming pool and refuse to use it again. None of that prevents somebody in another universe from recreating the Box again while searching for another reality. That makes the Box much more dangerous than it was when Jason first started experimenting with it. Its existence no longer depends entirely on the Box sitting in his world. The moment someone else reaches for another reality, the connection can return. I like this direction because it stops Jason's decision from becoming an easy ending to his multiverse story. The Box has already changed Jason's life once and now it may be impossible for him to simply close the door and walk away.
