The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Parallels, now streaming on Disney+.
Parallels, a new series on Disney+, takes viewers on a wild trip through not only parallel dimensions, but also forwards and backwards through time. Add in some superpowers coupled with teenage angst, and it all sets up a firm recipe for disaster. By the end of Season 1 it seems like all such disasters are set right again, but in the final moment one small thing turns everything right back on its head — it's revealed that the kids remember.
Normally when characters suffer a form of amnesia it's a good thing for them to recall the details of their lives afterwards, but in this case, it was the very last thing these four kids needed. Considering everything they all went through on their journeys across three different timelines and alternate planes of existence, recalling those experiences could lead to disasters in the upcoming season.
Sam seems like he would be the least effected by the group's misadventures considering all the events of Season 1 took place across a mere few days, upwards of possibly a week for him. While he certainly suffered the emotional shock of being the only one left after seeing his brother, girlfriend, and best friend vanish before his eyes, it was only a few days later when their aged up forms all came in contact with him again.
Going into Season 2, Sam will be the only one among the four who gets to maintain his fourteen-year-old mentality without suffering any major setbacks. Because of that, it will set Sam apart from the rest as most of his time spent in Season 1 was essentially going on fun adventures with his time traveling buddies. This could set up a real cause for bitterness and resentment between him and the others, or simply leave him feeling like "just the kid" in a group where the others have, at minimum, four years of mental growth on him.
Romane's time in another dimension will certainly have an effect on her relationship with the others. Having grown up an extra four years with only Victor, she will most likely maintain a much closer relationship with him than she'll have with Bilal and Sam. On top of that, while she's aware of the fact that her and Bilal got married and had kids in his timeline, it didn't happen in hers, so that may make things awkward between them. The fact that she is mentally eighteen while Sam is still fourteen will possibly make her feel wrong about carrying on an innocent teen relationship with him, as well.
Then there's the fact that she may be too focused on trying to fix her future to make any time for relationships at all. Having witnessed her mother's death and her stepfather's violence, Season 2 will probably see her trying to warn her mother about the future without exposing how she knows. If having her memories returned to her also means she remembers how to use her power to stop time, she could create some major havoc on her way to preventing her version of history from repeating itself.
Bilal will probably be the one who has the most to unpack. While the memories of his version of the multiverse were spotty at best, he was still aware that he lived out an entire lifetime before returning to his teenage self. Unlike Romane, Bilal will probably be existing on a path to try to keep his future as it was, working again towards his happy life with her and their future children. This is something that Romane may not want, however, and Sam probably definitely won't want, but it could go so far as leading Bilal to tamper with the time machine again to try to get his adult life back.
As far as his relationship with Victor goes, he may be nervous to be around him, or may hover more in hopes of preventing Victor from going down the wrong path. While they all saw that the youngest member of their group was able to hurt people, Bilal is the only one who has memories of Victor killing Sam, so he may make it his personal mission to prevent anything like that from happening again.
That leads to Victor last, who may be the one most affected by having his memories returned to him. With his parents having blamed him for Sam's disappearance, and thus sending him off to boarding school, his memories would involve a life of feeling guilty, hated, and alone. He would remember those four years of fueled hatred that guided him on a path of revenge against his own parents, and using his powers of aging and decomposition to hurt others.
While the kids were able to prevent him from ultimately killing Sam like he did in Bilal's timeline, the memories of his powers and his hatred could send him fully into the role of villain that he almost became already. Or, alternatively, the memories of what he did and almost did may take Victor the other direction, causing him to want to use his darker powers for good to help people instead of hurting them; but with a temper like his it'll still be difficult to keep his rage in check.
In general, having all those traumatic memories crammed into the minds of high schoolers is sure to have a detrimental effect on how they navigate their lives moving forward. It could see them growing closer in their shared traumas, or may wind up breaking them apart and sending them all on their own separate journeys. Whichever path they take, their lives will certainly never be normal again, but the question is, how abnormal will they become? And with the time machine still being out there, will their experiences mark the end of their time traveling, or will it cause them to seek it out again for more adventures through alternate universes?
Watch Parallel's now on Disney+ to gain the full time travel experience for yourself!
