‘Black Mirror’ Season Five Brings Three New, Intriguing Stories [BREAKDOWN]

Charlie Brooker’s technology/sci-fi/thriller series Black Mirror  returned to Netflix for its anticipated fifth season on Wednesday, June 5 with three new stories to tell. And no “Bandersnatch” wasn’t considered a season, just a special to hold fans of the show over and to be honest “Bandersnatch” was better than this entire season.

I think one of the reasons I fell in love with the show, along with many other fans, was from the bittersweet nature of the episodes; knowing that something twisted was bound to happen in the story as demented as that may sound. That was the essence of Black Mirror to me. Exploring the dark side of technology and the effects the advancements can have on not only our daily lives, but how we interact with others and ourselves.

Season five tackled issues of sexuality versus sensuality, the impact social media has on our lives, and how fame brings out the worst in people. WARNING: If you HAVE NOT watched season five of Black Mirror I urge you to proceed with caution. This post is filled with spoilers to give a full commentary on each episode. The episodes are listed in order of the season, so if you wanted to read each recap as you watch along be my guest. Each recap will give my thoughts and feelings about each episode summed up with a GIF to get you in my mindset. Let’s get into it!

Striking Vipers

GIF: Giphy

As briefly stated above sexuality versus sensuality was the focus of Striking Vipers in my opinion. The cast of the episode was flooded with people of color with Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Nicole Beharie (playing Danny, Karl, and Theo respectively) as the leads. We meet Danny and Theo as a young couple in love rooming with Karl. The group seemingly get along with no issues. Danny and Theo have a healthy sex life bringing role play into their relationship and Danny and Karl stay up late nights playing Striking Vipers, a Mortal Kombat type game.

11 years later, Danny and Theo are settled into suburban life with a son trying for another baby. Karl comes back into the picture on the day Danny is having a birthday party at his house. He hasn’t seen his friend in some time and gifts him a Striking Vipers game with an advanced component; a VR piece that allows players to immense themselves in the game and feel every sensation their avatar does.

Photo: Netflix

One late night Karl is online and Danny soon follows. They play Striking Vipers as the characters they usually use Roxette (played by Pom Klementieff ) for Karl and Lance ( played by Ludi Lin) for Danny. Us as viewers are then transformed into the game. We see Roxette and Lance get into a violent fight leading into an intense tumble and then an intimate kiss. Freaked out by this initially happening both men exit the game. They later return to talk about what that kiss was about and end up having a very frequent sexual relationship as their characters. This brings up the question of their sexuality. Are they gay men finding out they are in love with one another or is it the intensity of the VR world? It turns out to be the later. Suspicions from Theo arise after feeling unattractive to her husband and Danny eventually comes clean.

The final moments of the episode show that Danny and Theo apparently agreed on an open marriage once a year during Danny’s birthday. Theo can go out to a bar sans wedding band and Danny can meet up with Karl in Striking Vipers. Listen every marriage is different. If this is making all parties happy and satisfied then that’s their business. This episode didn’t scream Black Mirror to me. It was just something I was watching.

Smithereens

GIF: Tenor

Taking place in modern-day London,, Chris (Andrew Scott) is a rideshare driver camping out at a mega tech company called Smithereen. He waits outside daily waiting for someone who works at the company to get his car. We can see something is off with Chris, but we don’t know what exactly, but that he has an aversion to technology and how everyone is constantly plugged in. He goes to a grief group and strikes up a relationship with a woman whose daughter committed suicide and she’s desperately trying to access her daughter’s social media account to figure out clues to why she decided to end her life.

Finally, Chris gets a guy who works at Smithereen, Jaden (Damson Idris), and his plan goes into motion. Unbeknownst to Jaden, because he’s in his damn phone, Chris convinces him that they need to take an alternate route and drives him to a secluded location where he takes Jaden hostage. Chris wants to speak to Smithereen’s CEO Billy Bauer (Topher Grace), only problem is Jaden is just an intern and has never met Billy Bauer who is currently on a silent retreat on the other side of the world.

Photo: Netflix

The rest of the episode is the London police, the FBI, and executives of Smithereen trying to talk Chris down and getting him to release Jaden who he has stuck in a car at gun point. Eventually Billy Bauer gets on the phone to talk to Chris, against his employees wishes, and tries to convince him to let Jaden go. Chris shares a tearful story about how his fiancée was killed by him looking down at his Smithereen account and getting into a car accident. He feels alone and wants to commit suicide but Billy and Jaden tell him he has plenty to live for. Billy also shares his woes about his company becoming bigger than him and he feels out of control as well. The episode ends with a gun shot going off and not knowing if Jaden or Chris was the casualty.

What I took away from this episode is the lack of connection and compassion we have for one another as humans constantly being plugged into what’s happening online. Chris’ entire encounter was being live updated on social media with people weighing in on the situation, but really not caring. Once the situation was over people were looking at their phones and yet going back to their day-to-day lives like nothing happened. Social media is taking over people’s lives and connecting with people outside of the screen is more important than ever.

GIF: Giphy

Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too

Season five ends with Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too. Miley Cyrus plays Ashley O, a bubblegum pop star with a message of positivity and a squeaky clean image. She’s managed by her aunt and is introducing an Ashley Too doll that is meant to be a companion with ability to have full conversations and sing Ashley O music. Rachel and Jack (Angourie Rice and Madison Davenport) are sisters who are clearly very different. Rachel is a self-conscious teen and a hardcore Ashley O fan. Jack is distant and into more grunge music. The girls recently loss their mother and are starting a new life with their father.

For her birthday Rachel gets an Ashley Too doll and is extremely happy with Ashley Too giving her confidence she never had before. Meanwhile, the real Ashley is living in hell. She wants out of her contract and to do music that really speaks to her, and it ain’t that Ashley O image. The team Ashley O has around her are just money hungry, fame monsters who don’t have Ashley’s best interest at heart. As Ashley tries to distance herself from the team, she gets drugged by her aunt and ends up in a coma.

Photo: Netflix

With technology, the aunt is able to still get music out of Ashley whilst in the coma. Simultaneously Ashley’s consciousness is uploaded to Rachel’s Ashley Too doll. She convinces Rachel and Jack to go to her house to get evidence against her aunt, but she only wants to pull the plug on Ashley. Ashley Too does but the real Ashley comes back to life. So then Ashley, Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too go on a mission to confront the aunt who is introducing an Ashley Eternal, a 2.0 hologram Ashley which is pretty cool, to investors.

Story ends with Ashley doing her own thing with Jack in her band and was I watching a Black Mirror episode because I don’t think I was. I guess this episode was showing the evil side of the music industry and how expandable celebrities get treated.

While I do really enjoy this series, I feel season five did not have to same classic elements as seasons prior. I’m all for evolving and bringing in new ideas, but at least stay on brand. I didn’t like one episode more than the other. They were all really on the same playing field and not really getting me excited during any, but that’s just me.

What did you think of Black Mirror season five? Too short? Just right? Fell off? Let me know all you thoughts in the comments.

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Photo: Netflix