Constellation: 8 Signs Jo Was In The Wrong Universe

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Constellation season 1.Constellation season 1 is a mind-bending adventure for both Noomi Rapace’s character and the audience, but there were always signs that Jo Ericsson wasn’t in her native reality. Although the beginning of the Apple sci-fi thriller has almost every member of the Constellation cast in their original universes, the switch aboard the ISS quickly makes life much more confusing for Jo and Paul. Constellation‘s two alternate timelines are admittedly very similar, so it’s no surprise that both Jo and Paul find the small differences disorientating. However, there are several signs on a sliding scale of obviousness that should have helped.

Although Jo isn’t the only displaced character in Constellation season 1, her confusion receives the most screen time. Both Henry and Bud Caldera come second, but the difference is that both men are aware of what’s happened. On the other hand, Paul Lancaster is in the same boat as Jo. As such, the obstacles Paul encounters also help the viewers’ understanding of what has happened to both Paul and Jo to solidify. Jo eventually gains a foothold in comprehending what has unfolded by the end of Constellation season 1 but seemingly has no way of rectifying the switch.

8
The Ericsson-Taylor Family Car Was The Wrong Color

Jo wasn’t wrong when she said their car used to be red

It might seem like a frustratingly small disparity, but one of Jo’s earliest points of contention when she returns to her family home with Magnus Taylor and Alice is the fact that their car is now somehow blue. Seeing as Jo has already started to doubt the fact she saw the dead cosmonaut outside the ISS, accepting the car’s new color is essentially child’s play. However, Jo isn’t wrong. In her original universe, the Ericsson-Taylors have a red car, so she should have trusted her instincts and used the car’s different color to bolster her suspicions that something was wrong.

The red and blue cars are a brilliant representation of Henry Caldera’s explanation of superposition during his conversation with Alice in Constellation season 1, episode 3, “Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart.” Speaking with Jo’s daughter, Henry tells Alice that particles can exist in different states simultaneously. Henry says: “There’s a world in which that particle is black and a world in which that particle is white.” Jo’s car confusion happens later in the very same episode, and so Henry’s explanation serves as an extra clue for the viewer to pick up on.

7
Jo Had Never Heard Of The CAL In Constellation

The Jo who explained the CAL to Alice died soon after

Constellation‘s biggest twist was teased in episode 1, “The Wounded Angel.” The episode opens with Jo explaining the Cold Atomic Laboratory (CAL) to Alice via a video call from the International Space Station. Although Jo admits she’s not an expert, she knows enough to inform her daughter that, “It’s looking for a new state of matter,” and even refers to the CAL by name. This proves that Jo is fully aware of the CAL’s presence and has a basic understanding of its function. Interestingly, this knowledge vanishes after the accident on the ISS, but there’s a good reason for that.

After the collision, the surviving Jo shown on-screen is from the other universe. This new Jo is then the main character for the duration of Constellation season 1, with her counterpart perishing in the other reality. The surviving Jo comes from a universe with no CAL, so she has no way of knowing what it is when she’s asked to recover it. Jo’s very bright, so the presence of an experiment of which she is unaware on the ISS should have triggered alarm bells. That being said, she was likely too focused on trying to survive to consider it.

6
Jo’s Relationship With Magnus Was Much Better

Magnus is confused by Jo’s change in romantic disposition

When Jo is “reunited” with Magnus in Constellation season 1, episode 2, “Live and Let Die,” she isn’t experiencing a traditional family reunion. Instead, Jo is meeting the versions of her husband and daughter that exist within the universe where the CAL exists. However, the presence of the CAL is not the only difference between the two realities. The version of her marriage that Jo left behind was happy and settled, whereas the Jo who died was part of a much more tumultuous relationship with Magnus. As such, Jo applies her affection to Magnus in a way that confuses him.

Magnus is openly standoffish with Jo, not understanding why their marriage seems to have undergone such a drastic transformation. Magnus voices this change in “Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart,” telling the new version of his wife, “You look at me a bit differently.” When Jo pushes for clarification, he says it’s, “As though you like me.” Jo is equally confused as to why Magnus feels their relationship went so sour before she left for the ISS. Interestingly, both Jo and Magnus remember events correctly – they just occurred in different timelines.

5
Jo Didn’t Remember Having An Affair With Frederic

It was the Jo who died in the other universe who was unfaithful to Magnus

Part of why Jo’s marriage was crumbling with Magnus prior to the switch was the rumor circulating that Jo was sleeping with an ESA colleague. As it turned out, the original Jo from the CAL universe was indeed entangled in an extramarital affair with Frederic. The new Jo experiences signs of this on several occasions, including inappropriate physical contact from Frederic as well as a more direct confrontation from him regarding why she has changed how she acts toward him.

Jo is nothing if not confused by the accusations and instead concludes that the affair did happen, but also that she simply does not remember it. Magnus understandably does not believe her, but Jo is telling the truth. Jo’s marriage with her original Magnus did not include her seeking comfort in the arms of another. As such, her affair with Frederic was unique to the universe in which she found herself after her reality switch aboard the ISS. Paired with everything going on at the time, Jo becomes especially unsure whether she is suffering from a mental illness.

4
Alice Didn’t Speak Swedish Anymore

Alice only speaks Swedish in the universe without the CAL

One of the facets of Jo’s new reality that she finds so heartbreaking is that she’s no longer able to converse with her daughter in Swedish. Jo attributes the change to her being away from home for so long, but this isn’t the case. In the universe that Jo left behind, Alice spoke her mother’s native tongue as well as English, but in her new reality, Alice can only understand Swedish and not actually speak it.

This is perhaps one of the obvious signs that Jo is not in the right universe, and it does end up being one of the biggest clues that eventually helps Jo piece together what has happened. Constellation is very clever in how it disguises Alice’s bilingual nature. In “The Wounded Angel,” the scenes aboard the ISS and of Alice on the iPad are from both universes. Alice is shown speaking English, which is taking place in the CAL universe.

However, a shot immediately following this one (but continuing the same conversation) shows that there is now no CAL where it should be in the other universe – this is the reality where Alice speaks Swedish too. The slick cuts between universes are a coy way of misleading the audience, teasing what is about to come but without the necessary context for it to make complete sense.

3
Paul’s Wife Had A Different Name

The two versions of Mrs. Lancaster are called Erica and Frida

When Jo visits Paul Lancaster’s wife in “Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart,” Jo performs what seems like a faux pas by getting Paul’s wife’s name wrong. In Jo’s new universe, Mrs. Lancaster’s first name is Frida. Unfortunately, Jo disrupts the delivery of her condolences by addressing her as Erica before the Mrs. Lancaster of the CAL universe corrects her. Again, Jo hasn’t technically made a mistake. Instead, she is simply addressing Paul’s wife as Erica because that’s the name that Jo knows her by in the other universe.

Paul has the inverse problem when his side of the story is shown in Constellation season 1, episode 6, “Paul is Dead.” When he returns to Earth, he calls his wife Frida – the name of the Mrs. Lancaster that Jo addresses in “Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart.” Paul is trapped in the universe without the CAL, and his wife there goes by Erica. Paul and Jo are incapable of contacting one another and don’t know that the other exists, so they are unable to connect the dots on this one.

2
Jo Asked Magnus If He Had Rearranged The House

This Constellation clue was easy to miss

There is a very subtle moment in “The Left Hand of God” where Jo looks vaguely confused about the layout of the kitchen in her house. Although most details about the Ericsson-Taylor family home are the same in both universes, Jo becomes disoriented when she struggles to locate everything she needs as easily as she’s used to. Her query to Magnus comes in the form of, “Have you changed around the cupboards?” to which Magnus replies, “No, I’m not really a move-the-cupboards-around kind of guy.”

If Magnus had confirmed he had rearranged the kitchen, then this wouldn’t be a clue at all. However, Magnus’ denial that he’s moved anything around is a strong signifier that Jo is not in her own universe. Of course, it’s possible that Magnus is lying or that Jo is simply misremembering, but the ambiguity of the moment becomes less pronounced when it’s paired with all of Constellation‘s other winks and hints throughout the season. The scene also doesn’t linger on the exchange, as Magnus quickly changes the subject to the matter of their relationship.

1
Jo Could Inexplicably Play The Piano

Jo’s alternate self already knew about to play

This is one of the biggest clues that Jo should have read more into. When exploring the disparities between the home she knows and the one in which she finds herself, Jo sits at the unfamiliar piano. What’s most intriguing about the presence of the instrument is that the Jo being shown never learned how to play the piano. That’s why she finds herself so scared and confused when she begins manipulating the keys with virtuosic ability. The movements come naturally to her, and she stumbles into a faultless performance of Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in C-Sharp Minor Op. 3, No. 2.”

Somehow, Jo is drawing on the abilities harbored by her alternate self’s body. Doing so allows her to access the skill of playing the piano despite never personally learning how to play. This explains the confusion and fear Jo displays during and after playing the piece. As it turns out, Jo playing the piano would appear to be pivotal to accepting her new surroundings. In the Constellation season 1 finale, “These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruined”, Irena brings a piano into Jo’s room and tells her, “Play the piano. Do things your body is familiar with. It helps.“