Constellation
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Lets be very clear about one thing before we start: Jo would never have left Paul behind.
Not in a hundred multiverses.
I feel very strongly about this.
This week,Constellationfinally provided concrete answers by showing us what happened on the ISS from Pauls perspective.
And wow, is that pre-credits scene a doozy?
Everything is as it was.
Jo is chatting with Alice, and Paul starts the CAL experiment.
(Did the CAL open some sort of portal for Irenas body to slip through?
The object hits and Jo goes flying.
The tremendous suction flings her directly into a window that looks down on Earth.
In thisparallel universe, we follow Paul as he navigates the aftermath.
It comes as no surprise that hes experiencing gaps and changes in his reality as well.
After the accident, he immediately searches for the CAL.
Its gone … because it doesnt exist in the timeline hes been transported to.
Later, this becomes a sticking point in the hearings that take place following Pauls return.
Paul also experiences odd happenings while hes trying to escape from the ISS.
Its all a mirror of what Jo experienced during her time alone in space.
Jo hears Pauls voice in a recording, and Paul hears Jos voice in a recording.
Jo hallucinates holding onto Pauls hand, and Paul hallucinates grabbing hold of Jos hand.
While all of these instances are mirrored experiences, something else also comes off as at play here.
Why did the corpse head coverings float away in both realities?
And who or what pressed the button from inside the ISS to release the jammed bolts on theSoyuzcapsule?
But then, did Jos corpse press the button in Pauls timeline?
And, if so, how?
Before Paul leaves, though, he hears Jo breathing, and he freaks out.
Admittedly, there are many reasons for him to freak out here.
So, instead, he leaves her behind, unceremoniously pushing her into the body of the ISS.
This man is supposed to be the missions commander and he cant even deal with this?
Ultimately, Im glad Paul isnt dead in this timeline.
When his crewmates ask if hes had his psych eval, Pauls reaction is almost violent.
His temper flares up under the surface as he gruffly declares that he is in control.
The picture thatConstellationis painting of space agencies and their treatment of mental-health issues is not a very flattering one.
Or, better yet, maybe juststop sending people into space?!
Eventually, Paul ends up at Jos funeral.
His daughter, Wendy, grabs Alice and brings her over to him.
But Alice hears this and wonders.
Is it because Alice was FaceTiming her mother when reality split?
Does it have to do with the mystical CAL?
The sequence in which Jo hallucinates finding Alices beads on a cabinet door within the ISS isactually Alice!
And Alice saw her too!
Well, she saw Jos flashlight, anyway.
Later, she hears her mother playing the piano from an alternate dimension.
Her ability to see into the alternate reality isnt limited to Jo.
She also sees a flickering reflection of Henry in a window.
Alice remains one of the most intriguing characters in theConstellationnarrative.
She might be a child, but shes also tenacious, brave, and curious.
Sure, she screams for her mama, but who could blame her?
The search for the truth sends Paul and Alice on journeys to find people theyve lost during this debacle.
Bud knows Henry; he knows what he could have become in another timeline.
Drunk and desperate, Bud grabs a gun and shoots at Paul.
Maybe Paul is dead, after all.
At the cabin, Alice is having better luck finding answers.
After a brisk hike in the snow, Magnus and Alice finally arrive.
They go in and see the picture of the Gollum-like creature on the wall.
As I hadpreviously speculated, itisa changeling!
Alice says that Jo liked it, so she likes it.
Alice is woken up by the sound of an approaching car.
Paul uses a bunch of tools to determine if Jo is still breathing, but none are conclusive.
All he needed was a mirror.
Still, Paul had no excuse to leave her body up there.
This alternate version of Magnus seems a bit more cranky and impatient than the one were used to seeing.
Just something fun to think about!
