TV Show review
May 7, 2024 · TV-MA · Returning Series
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Dark Matter.
Woke representation / casting
Main family and professional roles follow story needs in a contemporary Chicago setting; supporting diversity appears but stays incidental and unemphasized in marketing or dialogue.
Woke political dialogue
No activist language, institutional lectures, or identity-based arguments; conversations stay personal and existential.
Identity-driven story themes
Core ideas center on individual regret and family loyalty through sci-fi mechanics, with zero ties to race, gender, sexuality, or group grievance.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The tech-billionaire antagonist represents unchecked personal ambition, not a systemic attack on capitalism, patriarchy, or Western norms.
Review
Dark Matter is a 2024 Apple TV+ science fiction series created by Blake Crouch from his 2016 novel. It follows physicist Jason Dessen, who is abducted into a parallel reality where he chose career success over family and must fight to return home and stop his alternate self from taking his place. The story focuses on regret, the weight of personal choices, and the importance of family across infinite universes, told through straightforward multiverse thriller plotting with no visible identity politics, activist messaging, or social-justice framing in the narrative, marketing, or performances.
Woke character or canon changes
The series stays close to the 2016 novel; television expansions add female viewpoints for pacing and emotion but introduce no ideological swaps or modern reinterpretations.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No documented complaints from viewers or critics accusing the show of woke or DEI content; reactions treat it as neutral sci-fi.
Creator track record context
Blake Crouch keeps fiction non-political despite light liberal personal statements; one writer brings experience from racially themed projects, yet the overall series and team avoid activist patterns.
Production
