Not that anyone needed further proof that the current form of existence is some kind of conspiracy/matrix-oriented operation, but Bennifer 2.0 seems to want to highlight that fact all the more. However, more than proving to us that the simulation has been rebooted since we seem to be all out of plot points, it also elucidates a certain quagmire of a time loop in which every iteration entails Ben and Jen finding their way back to one another (this, too, actually mirrors the idea that no matter what version of time Laura Palmer is in, she’ll forever be stalked by Bob and Judy in Twin Peaks).
For those who have not seen Netflix’s Dark, a true masterpiece of the time travel genre, the gist basically boils down to the idea that there’s a wormhole in a cave in the forest of a small German town called Winden. A boy’s disappearance into that wormhole sets off a chain of events that creates an inextricably entwined infinity loop of timeline sequence upon timeline sequence.
In each timeline, the same events are bound to happen, with the option to bifurcate that scenario into another “it is written” diegesis (sort of like a macabre choose your own adventure). As a result of one of these bifurcations, in season three, a parallel universe gets formed as a kind of “eviller” foil to the original (think: the alternate reality presented in Back to the Future 2 wherein Biff is a corrupt kingpin of the once wholesome Hill Valley).
One might say, in retrospect, the “darker alternate reality” for Bennifer was the initial one they existed in during the 00s. For it was an alternate reality in which they were plagued by pervasive media scrutiny (even if Madonna insisted, “To a certain extent, they courted the media attention. At the end of the day, there needs to be a part of the relationship that you keep private”). This hounding—though honestly, if Britney Spears could survive, then why shouldn’t they?—was a major contributor to the breakup that first time around. Though Ben also posited to Rolling Stone in 2004 that there was some level of prejudice at play, that audiences wanted to see each person with “their own kind,” thus the “curiosity” of the public and the paparazzi turning into something more closely resembling vitriolic attacks that eventually prompted them to “postpone” their wedding.
In this more pleasant “iteration of time,” they seemed to have crawled through the right wormhole (maybe it’s behind that garbage bin the creepy homeless guy in Mulholland Drive pops out from). For 2021, as dystopian as it is (even more so than that version of Hill Valley where Biff reigns supreme), offers the celebrity benefit of being able to finally “control the narrative” thanks to the “wonders” of social media. What’s more, the people who were once “endlessly interested” in the Bennifer alliance have “bigger (probably mercury-filled) fish to fry” in the moment than worrying about whether or not Ben just bought Jennifer a necklace with his name emblazoned on it. Gen Z certainly doesn’t give a fuck about these people, and millennials are lukewarm regarding just about everything except the potential to make money without suffering through a miserable job. Their interest is restricted to what presents itself through scrolling.
However, if Bennifer 2.0 exists at all within the rules of the Dark universe, being so correlative as they are, the duo might be in for another rude awakening. For, per these tenets, it would seem they need to end up calling it quits in every timeline—no matter how pleasant and “smooth-sailing”-like (literally) the relationship might appear at the outset. The laws of the loop can never be violated…unless it is destroyed altogether.
