Constellation
admonition ! Contains spoilers for Constellation .
Summary
In episode 3,Constellationfeatures a genius mention toThe Matrix , which parallels Jo ’s journey with Neo ’s and let on the true statement about her strange world . rain cats and dogs onApple TV+,Constellationadopts the overuse parallel universe figure as the primary driver of its story . However , instead of becoming another trite portrayal of multiverses and alternate realities , the Apple TV show brings a refreshing spin on the trope by fuse it with complex quantum mechanism concept like the observer essence , superposition , and interference effect .
Constellation ’s ambitious explorations and explanations of complex scientific concepts are , at time , mind - boggling . However , that make the show all the more challenging because it keeps one guess what might happen next . Other than cut into into actual scientific discipline , Constellationalso drops pernicious nods to other television receiver show and movies . One of these nods seems to allude to an iconic philosophy introduce in the Wachowskis’The Matrix .
In its first 4 installment , Constellation drops several references to an 89 - year - honest-to-goodness thought experiment , which on the face of it gives away its central root word .
Constellation Reimagines The Matrix’s Red Pill/Blue Pill Philosophy
Constellation’s Jo and The Matrix’s Neo face similar choices
InConstellation ’s installment 3 , Noomi Rapace ’s Jo call into question the color of her machine after returning home from blank space . She tells her husband that they possess a cherry-red railroad car and not a dingy one before she left for infinite , inquiring whether he bought a new car after she left . Her hubby , however , traverse that he buy a newfangled car and assumes that she is still recovering from the genial toll distance travel exact on her memory . Jo ’s red motorcar / blue car confusion follow off as a point of reference toThe Matrix ’s ruby oral contraceptive pill / blue pill philosophy .
One of the most polar scene in the firstMatrixfilm is when Morpheus gives Neo the opportunity to wake up by offering him a crucial option : take the blue lozenge and live with the consolation of ignorance , or take the red anovulant and get a line the irritating truth about the realism of the reality . InConstellation ’s episode 3 , Jo faces a standardised choice when no one believe she saw adead USSR cosmonautin space , and she is asked to accept a lie to cover her claim . Like Neo , Jo prefer the truth even though it exposes her to a abrasive realityshe never await to see .
The Red Pill/Blue Pill Reference Reveals The Truth Behind Jo’s Reality
Jo’s shift in perception is similar to Neo’s
Like the red pill represents the accuracy inThe Matrix , the red machine is a marker for Jo ’s " true " realness where she lived before terminate up in an alternate human beings . likewise , like the blue pill , the blue elevator car symbolizes the fantasy or false / alternative realism Jo has establish herself inafter return from space . AlthoughConstellationhas not yet altogether disclosed what is materialise to Jo , many little details in the first four installment indicate that Jo somehow swapped places with an alternate edition of herself in a parallel population .
Much like Neo ’s awakening inThe Matrix , Jo finds herself in a station where she can not help but doubt the fabric of her realism .
There are present moment when she also experiences a liminal world live between her Modern universe and the one she lived in before going to space . Like Neo , she once conceive that the humans was how she perceived it . She dare everything she saw was real and never wonder the nature of her existence . However , much likeNeo ’s wakening inThe Matrix , Jo find herself in a place where she can not serve but doubt the fabric of her reality . The liminal convergency between her two alternative worlds parallels Neo ’s experience when Morpheus introduces him to the disorientate grey zone between trick and truth .
Custom Image by Dhruv Sharma.
Jo Questioning Her Car’s Color Is Reminiscent Of Neo’s Pivotal Choice
Jo’s search for answers is similar to Neo’s quest for truth
Despite being a little apprehensive , Neo chooses the red pill , settle for the truth instead of living with the comfort of illusion . By demand about the color of her car and questioning the nature of her reality , Jo label the beginning of her ritual of passing , just as Neo rejects the Matrix and touch off his quest for answers . owe to these story similarities betweenThe MatrixandConstellation , perhaps Jo ’s storyline can also be understood throughThe Matrix ’s " There is no spoon " philosophy . Before Neo meets the Oracle , he receive a young boy who stoop a spoonful purely by intent .
To explain what he did , the boy says,“Do not adjudicate and turn the spoon , that ’s impossible . Instead , only attempt to realize the trueness … there is no spoonful . Then you ’ll see that it is not the spoon that caisson disease , it is only yourself . ”Since reality is seemingly a conspiracy inConstellation , Jo and Henry , too , will eventually realize that they must not attempt to grok or control their reality . alternatively , they must only realize the truth … there is no accusative reality . Only then will the twoConstellationcharacters see thatit is not their reality that bends through the observer issue but only themselves .
NewConstellationepisodes premiere every Wednesday on Apple TV+ .
Custom Image by Debanjana Chowdhury.
Custom Image by Debanjana Chowdhury.
