The end of Constellation is growing nearer and nearer, with Wednesday, March 20 bringing us its penultimate episode: "Through The Looking Glass" sets us up for the finale and lays bare the central premise of the show.
This Apple TV Plus sci-fi thriller follows an astronaut Jo (Noomi Rapace) as she returns home from a stint on the International Space Station (ISS) only to find that the world she returns to has lots of subtle differences from the one she left.
We're near the end of the season now, and the confusing sci-fi twists and turns are mounting. That continues in Constellation's seventh episode, and obviously this article will spoil everything that happened in it. Best to watch it first, then!
As a second disclaimer, previous episodes have set up two separate similar realities that are playing out at the same time, and "Through The Looking Glass" slaloms between both with speed. To clean up any possible confusion before it happens, we'll refer to characters being '1' (ie Jo 1, Alice 1) for the characters we've been following since the first episode, and if we call a character '2' (ie Alice 2, Magnus 2) it's the version of them from the alternative reality that we were introduced to in episode 6.
As you can probably garner, then, this is a pretty confusing episode. But let's jump in!
Noises in the night
We begin exactly where episode 6 left off: Alice 2 (Rosie/Davina Coleman) sees her mother out of the window (remember, in this reality Jo is dead). She leaves the cabin, but Jo isn't actually there. Jo 1 is in the same spot in her reality, with Alice 1 asleep in the car, and Alice 2 and Jo 1 can somehow hear each others' footsteps and some distant calls. Alice 2 grabs her coat and runs into the night.
In the cabin, Jo and Alice 1 listen to the tapes they were given in episode 5. The first recording is of the ISS just before the accident, but it's differently to how Alice remembers it. Alice says Jo was actually talking to her about the CAL experiment, but Jo doesn't remember what this is. Then they listen to another tape... and it's from reality 2, with Paul talking about how Jo 2 is dead. This, understandably, freaks Jo 1 out. Alice asks Jo if she's her real mother, then telling her that she doesn't think she is.
We catch up with Magnus (James D'Arcy), Henry (Jonathan Banks) and Frederic (Julian Looman) in reality 1. They're part of a group from the European Space Agency rushing up to locate Jo and Alice — Magnus asks Henry why he's accompanying them, and the former astronaut says it's because he went through the same thing that Alice currently is. Irene is also on the way.
In reality 1, Jo hides the CAL (which, if you'll remember, she stole) in a little shed by the cabin. Then she once again hears Alice 2 calling from in the snowy Swedish night, but she rushes into the cabin thinking its Alice 1. This girl is asleep, so Jo instead ventures out into the dark forest.
Talking between realities
Alice 2 finds a dilapidated cabin, and knows where the keys are to get inside. She's looking for Jo but only finds a grouchy cat. She explores the cabin and finds a wardrobe which she gets in... but then a wind gust blows the door shut and locks Alice in the furniture. She calls for her mother, which Jo 1 hears.
Jo 1 finds the cabin, which has some notable differences from the one Alice 2 was in (the cat is dead, for example). However when she finds the cabin, she finds Alice 2! We see a recap of what we saw in episode 2, though back then we didn't know about the dual realities: Jo 1 brings Alice 2 to the cabin and runs her a bath, only to realize that there are two Alices, as Alice 1 is still asleep in bed. Jo 1 believes that Alice 2 is her 'real' daughter.
Alice 2 suddenly vanishes, crossing back over to reality 2: there's no Jo and the bath water has vanished. She's alone, but when she calls out to her mother, it wakes up Magnus 2. He's worried about his daughter but insists that she didn't really see her mother.
In reality 1, Jo is frantically looking for Alice 2, her 'real' daughter. Of course, Alice 1 is alarmed by this behavior. Jo drags her daughter into the snow to find the other cabin, and tells Alice that she doesn't think she's Jo's real daughter either. This upsets Alice 1 who runs away; Jo chases after but drops the CAL.
In reality 2, Alice is still convinced that her mother is out there, so once Magnus is back asleep she sneaks out into the storm. Eventually Magnus wakes up and realizes that his daughter has gone again, and he chases after her.
Eventually, Alice 1 stumbles upon the cabin that her mother had dragged her out into the cold to find. She calls for her mother but the woman isn't nearby. She looks around the cabin, taking the tape recorder from earlier, and eventually she finds the wardrobe. She gets in. At the same time, Alice 2 also finds the cabin and explores, and eventually finds the wardrobe with the tape recorder in it. She too gets in.
Both Alices realize that they can record messages on the tape recorder that the other version of them can hear. They discuss what's going on, realizing that they're doubles of each other, and they also see each other faintly in the wardrobe mirror.
Jo 1 and Magnus 2 can hear the respective conversations going on. Jo 1 grabs another version of the tape recorder so she can listen to the conversation, and gets in her car to drive across the lake to find her daughter at the other cabin. Magnus quickly leaves the house to call the police about his missing daughter, but as he leaves the first cabin, a lantern is knocked down which starts a fire.
The Alices figure out the crux of the series: they're from different realities, but their mothers have switched places. That is to say, Jo 1 originally came from reality 2, while Jo 2 originally came from reality 1. Jo 1, on the tape recorder, overhears this so it confirms what she already thought: Alice 2 is her real daughter.
Back to the ESA convoy: Henry talks about his experiences. It's clear from the previous scene that he went through the same thing as Jo: he switched realities during his Apollo 18 mission, and Bud is the other version of him from reality 2. Henry starts to gets visions of Bud and he staggers through the snow. Eventually, he finds the CAL.
A rescue in the night
Jo 1 comes across the burning cabin and charges in, however as she crosses the door she finds that she's now in a completely different version of the building. In the reflection of a glass frame on a painting, she can still see the fire though.
Exploring the building, Jo comes across Alice 1 speaking on the recorder to Alice 2. Through Alice 1, she communicates with her real daughter to let her know she loves her. This Alice 2 is in the burning building, and she starts to choke which upsets Jo... until Jo somehow jumps over to reality 2 to rescue her. She runs out of the cabin with her real daughter, though the child is passed out.
Outside she finds Henry, who's getting flashbacks to Bud killing Paul (from last episode). She hands the man the child and runs back into the cabin to rescue the other Alice. But just then Henry fully jumps into reality 2, when Paul has been shot. He quickly calls an ambulance, but identifies himself as Henry not Bud. This means that he and Bud have switched realities.
In reality 1, 'Henry' (now Bud) is confused by who Alice is, so he just dumps her and staggers away. Soon after Jo returns, and gives the unconscious child CPR to try and resuscitate her. However then the other Alice appears to Jo, telling her that the unconscious Alice is actually dead.
As this Alice and Jo talks, Magnus 2 sees them briefly (remember, his Jo is dead). Jo implores Alice 2 to go to Magnus, so she does. At the same time, all of the ESA people from reality 1 arrive to Jo, just as Alice 1 finally waves up.
Jo 1 stands up from the newly-revived girl and staggers into the night, calling after Alice 2, but people from ESA subdue her.
The next day, Alice 1 is in the hospital. She has a dream in which she's visited by the Valya, who tells her to follow her to find her mother. When Alice wakes up Magnus is sitting beside her. Alice asks where Jo is, and upon being told that Irena (the cosmonaut) has taken her, Alice tells Magnus that they need to get her back.
