S01.E05: Worldless

[AnimeMania]

As they learn more about the Box, Jason and Amanda see alternate versions of their lives. Jason2 begins training a potential investor.

Premiere Date: May 29, 2024     Apple TV+ 

[ottoDbusdriver]

In the world where Jason was supposed to be in prison and Daniela called the cops on him, there were 2 movies listed on the Logan movie theater marquee -- 'The Fugitive 2' and 'My Best Friend's Divorce'. 

Jason2 seems to be able to travel back to his home world -- the question is, how ?

How many Jasons are currently travelling the multiverse ?  Since Blair showed them that video of another version of herself that came through the box with all those giant wasp-like things.

[catherinejane]

The one world was very covid like!

they said that it could only be universes that Jason existed in or had done (so say starting at a point 45 years ago) but there was one world with Dinosaurs when they opened the door briefly? 
 

I wonder if in one world max would be alive? I still don’t know why Jason 2 wants to try Jason 1 life. He seems a rich man so could easily get a wife and child if he wanted. 

[iMonrey]

OK, a lot of this has reminded me of Sliders, but this episode really seemed to borrow from that TV show. The giant wasp things was right out of an episode of Sliders, and so the was pandemic/plague world. A lot of the "what if" worlds we've seen so far were backdrops on Sliders. I'm not saying Blake Crouch deliberately "borrowed" some ideas from Sliders but there are an awful lot of coincidences, and whereas Sliders aired between 1995 and 2000, the novel this is based on wasn't written until 2016. So, at the very least? Sliders came up with a lot of these premises before Crouch put them to paper.

[Hanahope]

ok, i get the gist of how the box works.  but what i don't get is how/why the box must magically 'appear' in some worlds where it obviously could not have been before, and presumably must 'disappear' after Jason1/Amanda return to it (like when it showed up in the middle of the highway, or middle of a wilderness), but other times, the box remains (like in Jason1's original world).   why?

and how did Jason2 get Jason1 to his world (where the box originated)?  did Jason2 travel with Jason1 and push him out of the box, then closed the door?  if so, why didn't anyone see Jason2's arm pulling the door closed on the recording?  it looked like when Jason1 and Amanda used the drug in the box, they woke up in the corridor, so why didn't Jason1 wake up in the corridor?  

and just considering all the possible permutations of the multi-verse, where each decision splits off another verse, it would seem to be impossible to find the exact verse where Jason2 kidnapped Jason1.  

And of all the possible verses, I'm surprised we haven't seen one yet where Max is alive.  I mean, why bother going through that story line if there was not a verse where is different?  

 

[Phillygurl]

Okay this may be beside the point but what is Amanda's end game? I mean her Jason dumped her in the most cold and callous way to go back and insert himself into a version of reality where he never dumped the love of his life and this Jason is married to that exact same woman. Meanwhile she is hopping from world to world following this man. What is in it for her? Does she want to find her Jason? Or is she just along for the ride until she finds a solution to her problem(not being able to go back to her own world?) 

It would be nice to give this educated attractive woman some character motivation rather than her being just a sidekick with no actual goals of her own. Hopefully the show will develop her a bit more in the coming episodes.

Edited June 25 by Phillygurl
spelling

[Paloma]

On 6/24/2024 at 9:56 PM, Phillygurl said:

Okay this may be beside the point but what is Amanda's end game? I mean her Jason dumped her in the most cold and callous way to go back and insert himself into a version of reality where he never dumped the love of his life and this Jason is married to that exact same woman. Meanwhile she is hopping from world to world following this man. What is in it for her? Does she want to find her Jason? Or is she just along for the ride until she finds a solution to her problem(not being able to go back to her own world?) 

I don't think she has an end game. Once she realized that Jason 1's life was in danger and that she had helped Leighton do bad things (including sending the missing box pilots to their likely deaths and lying to the police), she decided to help Jason 1 escape and went with him because there was nothing for her anymore in this world (and her life was now in danger for helping Jason 1). When they first went in the box, she seemed to think that she would help him get home, but she didn't seem to think beyond that. Once they started opening doors to apocalyptic worlds and she realized that getting him home might not be possible, she just wanted out of the box and went into the snowstorm. When they finally got back to the box after the snowstorm world, she seemed to be back on board with the idea of getting him home. So I think the answer to your last question is "Yes, she is just along for the ride until she finds a solution to her problem (not being able to go back to her own world."

On 6/24/2024 at 9:56 PM, Phillygurl said:

It would be nice to give this educated attractive woman some character motivation rather than her being just a sidekick with no actual goals of her own.

I agree, and in a way both Amanda and Daniela are just decorative elements in Jason's story--even though they are necessary to the plot, for the most part they don't have agency.

On 6/13/2024 at 10:16 AM, Hanahope said:

And of all the possible verses, I'm surprised we haven't seen one yet where Max is alive.  I mean, why bother going through that story line if there was not a verse where is different?  

I was hoping that Daniela and Charlie would realize that Jason 2 wasn't their Jason when he apparently forgot about what the family does for Max. It's unclear if Jason 2 knew what happened to Max (he did see his birth certificate, but he might not know when and how he died unless he watched a home movie about it). I was disappointed that Jason 2 was able to fake his way through the conversation about missing the tree ritual. Of course, even if Daniela and Charlie did realize that Jason 2 did not remember Max, the idea of an alternate Jason from another universe would not occur to them. They would most likely assume that Jason 2 was suffering from amnesia due to some undiagnosed medical condition.

[margol29]

In the verse where Jason was in prison, I would love to see the scene where Daniella and Charlie talk to the cops and they check and find out that Jason is still in prison and wonder who came to see them holding the knife.

Cop: Hey Lady, your husband in still locked up.

Daniella: But that's impossible! He was here threatening us with a butcher knife!

Cop: I don't know who it was but it wasn't your husband.

 

Also, are they setting up a way to expose Jason2 with Charlie's peanut allergy? 

Jason2: Here son, I brought a cookie. Go ahead and eat it.

Charlie: Crunch, crunch. AGH..............

Daniella: Jason, Why are you trying to poison Charlie?