DISCLAIMER: This recap of Constellation Season 1 Episode 8, “These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
It’s season finale time on Constellation, and, like Alice, we’re officially down the rabbit hole. The episode’s title, “These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin,” is a nod to the T.S. Eliot poem, The Waste Land, which depicts life after World War I. I love all the literary references on this show.
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These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin
This outing moves at a slower pace than usual. It’s not as outwardly or blatantly explosive as the last few episodes. That said, we still get a heaping helping of new truths and narrative context. “These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin” lays the groundwork for a potential Season 2. Additionally, we see a much larger mystery unravel, with plenty of loose ends to explore.
Overall, Season 1 has been one of the best sci-fi shows I’ve seen in recent years, and that’s not hyperbole. (Although The Expanse is still number one for me.) It’s intricately detailed, moving, thought-provoking, fast-paced, engaging and engrossing. Noomi Rapace deserves all the accolades for her captivating performance.
What is reality? What if we can’t trust what we see?
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We open with Jo (Rapace) being wheeled into a church, St. Sergius, by a group of nuns in Russia. This is the “astronaut rehabilitation clinic” we’ve heard about. Irena (Barbara Sukowa) oversees, fiddling with a rosary. Hmm. Like the beads of Alice’s necklace…
There, the nuns give her electroconvulsive therapy to sedate her. Afterward, they bring in Jo’s piano and photos from her house—you know, to make her room in the creepy church feel more like home. Additionally, the nuns perform an ultrasound, during which we learn that Jo is pregnant. (Side note: a framed photo of a female cosmonaut is on the wall.) Elsewhere, Bud (Jonathan Banks) wakes up in the snow in Northern Sweden. Strangely, nobody tended to an 80-something-year-old man while he was unconscious.
Bud and Henry
Bud finds the CAL and smashes it before stealing the Fisher-Price recorder. He plays the tape featuring Henry and his trip to space. Henry claims he can hear his fellow astronauts breathing again even though they were “dead” before.
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Later, Blue Universe Alice (Davina and Rosie Coleman) and Magnus (James D’Arcy) return home from the hospital. Alice discloses that Jo is dead. Her body is in the International Space Station. Magnus is incredulous, thinking his daughter’s trauma is affecting her judgment. Alice insists Jo from the Red Universe returned to them, not their Jo.
Meanwhile, Henry (Banks) sits with his lawyer in the Red Universe while Agent Lenora Bright (Clare-Hope Ashitey) questions him. He demands a polygraph test and more information on Bud’s situation. He asserts his innocence. At the same time, in the Blue Universe, Bud shows Frederic (Julian Looman) the smashed CAL. He assigns blame to Jo (even though we saw Bud destroy it). Frederic apologizes on behalf of the ESA. He states that they plan to dismiss Jo.
The Aftermath
Then, Jo wakes up in her room. Her piercing headaches have returned, and she’s locked in her quarters. Naturally, she panics. Magnus and Alice share a meal at home. Alice claims she must speak with Jo. She heads into her room to pack her belongings. Side note: Magnus’s line, “It does not taste like sh*t. You’ve never tasted sh*t,” made me giggle.
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Next, Irena gaslights Jo, claiming the latter has schizophrenia and psychosis. Jo emphatically states that her daughter is somewhere else and that she must find Red Universe Alice. Irena informs Jo about her pregnancy. She’s in the early stages. Irena urges Jo to play the piano and engage with things that relax her.
Jo hears incessant screaming from upstairs. She asks Irena about it. Irena responds that Jo will never see this person. They’re “incurable.” Jo realizes Irena is The Valya, the dead cosmonaut who collided with the ISS. She recites the recording of other Irena speaking in Russian, which spooks the latter. Then, Irena calls Henry’s phone, but Bud answers. She tells him they need to talk. Bud pretends to be Henry.
Polygraph, Right Now
Elsewhere, Henry takes a polygraph test. He denies shooting Paul Lancaster in Bud’s LA apartment and shoving Ian Rogers off the side of the SS Bernice. However, Henry admits to inventing the CAL, which led to Paul’s death on the ISS. Meanwhile, Ilya (Henry David) visits Jo in the Blue Universe. He believes she has “astronaut burnout” and urges her to take her pills. Oh, and he’ll eventually step into Irena’s position since she’s terminally ill. Jo insists that she died on the ISS. Well, this univere’s version of Jo. When it’s abundantly clear Ilya doesn’t believe her, Jo orders him to leave.
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Later, Magnus visits Jenny (Bettina Hoppe) for a therapy session. Red Universe Magnus states he thought he saw Jo in the snow after the cabin caught fire. Of course, in last week’s episode, there’s a brief moment where Red Magnus finds Red Alice and briefly spots Jo kneeling over an unconscious Blue Universe Alice. Then, it switches over to Blue Universe Magnus, who admits he’s struggling with Alice and Jo undergoing their respective turmoil.
At one point, both Magnuses say, “It feels like we’re all floating in space,” as Jenny listens intently. “The Other Half of Me” starts playing, which is such a great needle drop.
Irena and Bud
Then, Irena and Bud have dinner together. Bud reveals he never met young Irena as an astronaut in training. However, he later learned she suffocated to death in space. This makes sense since the Irena from the Red Universe is the dead cosmonaut. Irena blames this statement on Bud’s “illness.” Bud counters that he’s not Henry. Irena invites Bud to visit St. Sergius in Russia. You know, for some light electroconvulsive therapy.
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Jo finds a key at the church/hospital/rehab clinic and sneaks out of her room. She follows the noise of the screaming patient to a solitary room on an upper floor. She opens the hatch in the door to see two grizzled older men with shaggy beards. They look like identical twins, but they might be two versions of the same man from the Red and Blue universes. Terrified, Jo flees, returning to her room. She locks herself inside.
Later, Blue Universe Alice sits in her cupboard while talking to Wendy (Sadie Sweet) on a tablet. Wendy admits she sometimes sees her dad after asking Alice if she believes in ghosts. Alice divulges that she believes her mom is dead, and another version of her mother is in her place.
The Two Alices
Meanwhile, Red Universe Alice (her cupboard has a hot air balloon painted on it, and it’s on the opposite side of the room) asks Wendy why her dad was acting strangely at Jo’s funeral. We learn Blue Universe Paul (stuck in the Red Universe) is in the hospital after Bud shot him. Red Alice claims she saw her mom’s ghost. I love that Red Universe Alice has a red sweater, while Blue Universe Alice boasts a muted gray/bluish top. Additionally, Blue Alice has a blue bean bag chair, while Red Alice has a red bean bag chair. These details are fantastic.
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Then, Blue Alice asks Magnus if they can visit Jo. She looks through a tub of her belongings Magnus retrieved after the cabin burned down. She finds the Fisher-Price recorder. In the Red Universe, Red Alice and Magnus are moving. Red Alice finds the same recorder. She contacts Blue Alice, asking the latter if she really saw Jo at the cabin. Unfortunately, Blue Alice remains silent, so Red Alice bids farewell. Meanwhile, Jo plays the piano while singing in Swedish.
Later, Red Alice informs Magnus in Swedish about the existence of Blue Alice. She got Mamma instead of me,” Red Alice declares as Magnus locks the door of their former house. Magnus embraces her, stating he’s proud of her. He believes she’s using this “metaphor” to work through her grief.
Bud Avoids Justice
Next, Agent Bright tells Henry he passed the polygraph test with flying colors. However, this only proves that he believes what he’s saying. His DNA is the same as Bud’s. So, Bright recites the official charges against Henry for murdering Ian and attempting to murder Paul. Speaking of Ian, we see him (Shaun Dingwall) in the Blue Universe. He’s leading a Jack the Ripper tour in London. Bud watches him from afar before giving him flowers and urging him to live his best life.
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Then, Irena encourages Jo to “let go” and live. Jo questions about her other self. And what about the other Irena? Irena doesn’t think it’s prudent or practical to worry about any of this as it won’t change anything. She asks Jo to take her medication. Tears streak Jo’s cheeks as she seemingly relents.
Blue Universe Magnus and Alice visit Jo at St. Sergius. Alice walks with Jo outside. She believes Red Alice has made peace with Jo being in this universe. Jo tells Blue Alice she’s remarkable and that she, like the latter’s mummy, is proud. They decide to be each other’s mummy and Alice. Aw. Next, Jo shows Magnus Alice’s drawing of The Valya, which collided with the ISS when Paul and Henry activated the CAL. Magnus doesn’t believe this happened. There’s so much gaslighting on this show.
Baby CAL
Magnus asks about the baby. Does she want one? Meanwhile, Irena pulls Jo’s file and examines the ultrasound photos. She notices that the captured image looks like what Henry saw seconds after the CAL was activated. Hmm. After this, Irena sends an email asking a group of astronauts and cosmonauts if they would be willing to report anonymously on anything they saw or heard in space (the strange stuff). Perhaps she’s starting to believe…
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Later, a nurse checks on Paul (Will Catlett) in the Red Universe. She tries to take his temperature, but he wakes up and reflexively grabs her wrist. He realizes he’s in the hospital. Elsewhere, in the Blue Universe, Jo apologizes to Magnus. She admits she loves him, a declaration which he reciprocates before they embrace. Magnus confesses that she’s not like his Jo, though, which could mean he’s warming up to his new reality.
Meanwhile, Irena introduces herself to Alice. She whispers in the girl’s ear that her friends call her “Valya.” Uh-oh. “Down the rabbit hole with you, Alice,” Irena says before departing. Before Alice and Magnus leave, Alice asks Jo where the baby will be from since Jo is Red Jo and Magnus is Blue Magnus.
Dead Jo?
Finally, we see a wide shot of the ISS in space. We hear Jo’s message to Alice, which she recorded on the ISS when trying to get home. It’s the same recording we heard at the beginning of the episode. The tablet she left behind floats down a corridor. Then, we see Jo’s corpse — her face half blown off. Suddenly, Jo grabs the tablet before facing forward. Creepy!
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So, what’s up with Jo’s baby? Will Henry serve jail time for Bud’s crimes? Can Paul get back home? Will Irena be inundated with astronauts’ accounts of witnessing peculiar space phenomena? Will Magnus reconcile with the truth of Red Jo’s presence in his universe? Here’s hoping we get a second season. We need more answers.
Constellation Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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