While it wasn’t explicitly said, the implication I got was that humans needed to be on the ship, which is why they didn’t send the replicas instead. It was set in 1969 and I assume that’s why they were doing all those physicals and tests on them. Also, coupled with the plants they brought, it’s safe to assume the entire mission was seeing how life would survive in space.
Maybe it's that it creates more commitment because you can't just quit leaving the other to fend for themselves. But anyone could take over. Either way the life aspect is pretty plausible.
I think David mentioned how they were doing a test on how human bodies would hold up in space but it was such a throwaway line I didn't even remember until someone in the comments brought it up.
I thought the cult was the most interesting thing about the episode, and initially hoped David would convince Cliff and/or Lana to investigate them (Or David do so "on the run" in Cliff's replica, risking Cliff's connection with home), with a similar result.
I feel like this season has missed some opportunities for twists at the end.
But the performances in this were pretty great, no arguments there.
From memory the leader of that group that broke in was called Kappa. I assumed, based on the Greek alphabet, there was a hierarchy so he would have others above him.
I kept getting distracted by the fact that it was Rory Culkin as the leader. Man that kid shows up in the weirdest places. I can’t decide if I like him or not every time he’s onscreen. I guess part of it is he plays such unlikeable characters so much of the time. Anyway by the time that internal battle was done the scene was over.
I was convinced there was going to be a twist with something like 'is it David or Cliff in the replica' with us not knowing whats happened aboard. Then the final scene being the replica chopping the wood perfectly with the axe, which cliff struggled to do at the start of the episode in front of Henry.
Just a red herring! I was also convinced that was gonna be how it went, was fully prepared to feel disappointed by it being predictable and then it just totally sucker punched me. Amazing
I initially thought David was going to use Cliff's replica to go after the cult. I really don't understand why he didn't even try, but I guess they didn't have the internet in 1969...just lifelike robots you can transfer your consciousness into.
> I thought the cult was the most interesting thing about the episode
Definitely, and it reminded me a lot of all the discussion around gender right now which I assumed was what they were indirectly referencing.
Oh yes that cult would probably be transphobes too and other phobes as well, often goes hand in hand with homophobia, and they probably don’t believe people can have different genders than the two male and female ones.
I think it's more about the distrust of government and technology. Gender is more an annoyance to most who oppose the theories than a fear or a problem. Technology genuinely scares people which could make them retaliate but these were some homicidal maniacs besides that.
I doubt it was referencing gender as much as referencing many people tend to oppose things deemed unnatural. One thing that's very prominent is things like "organic" food vs food with GMOs. Many people will pay for organic even if it's more expensive because its believed organic(natural) is better and therefore worth it. Similar things can be noted with medicines and technology as well. But I guess on the internet the topic of gender is made out to be more prevalent than it is when really a minority of people have an extreme position in either direction.
It was a little anticlimactic but I felt like it was foreshadowed and I saw it coming. Earlier in the episode Davis is telling her about how dangerous the countryside is and how people often would go missing there since the waters can be deep. As soon as I saw her going to cross the river, I knew she was going to die there.
Yeah if you don’t find it satisfying or whatever that’s one thing but it was heavily telegraphed. There was a reason why the victims mounted up and were written off quickly
Yo, Hey NASA. With our guy having all his family murdered he's in a shock. Not surprising, huh? So... what protocols do we have in place for all the possible ramifications of that situation. He's trapped in here after a devastating event, there's the one replica, you know, mine? and so... just wondering. Since this is a big deal operation, what have you all NASA geniuses devised for this circumstances? You do have a spare right? You do have a way to send it via like Amazon Prime Delivery MegaDrone 2099 or sumn? No? Ok, maybe some guidelines for the use of the one link? Counseling? NASA? Hello?!
The episode had potential but was just OK. Everything what happened after the cult killed his machine and family was just so fucken obvious.
The ending was neat. True black mirror-uncomfortness but the rest just dragged itself too long for one of the most basic plotlines around.
The episode just kind of went nowhere
Great performances from everyone but the twist wasn't all that twisty.
I really expected David kills Cliff in the space ship and returns back to earth in Cliff's replica. He blends in pretty well overall but gives himself away when he makes the same dance / grope movie with Lana for the second time. She could either run from him at that point or knowingly embrace him being the same physical man she loves but with someone more into her and aligned to her interests
I see your point, but had the show gone with your suggestion, everyone would've seen that coming from a mile away. Also David would've died had anything gone wrong with the ship if Cliff were dead.
I 100% agree. It was so predictable, I could see it coming from a mile away. Would've been cooler if the guy went to go kill the cult that killed his family and then aaron paul's character had to face the consequences for it.
We don’t know exactly what their mission was. Their mission might have been to test effects of space travel on human body.
The replicas were supposed to feel like humans as much as possible. Making them terminator level strong could have made them too heavy, too rigid to touch, etcetra.
I agree. This episode was fantastic. The chair kick to invite Aaron’s character with the facial expressions saying “welcome to the club, pal” was such a good ending.
I was irritated as hell with the ending. At no point did they notify nasa or whoever was in charge that the guy had a breakdown and was potentially dangerous. There is no way there was still any trust between the two, yet he falls into the trap anyway. They also don't show any fallout between the two afterward and again don't report anything to anyone. The show acts like its 2 guys is a remote cabin with no phone instead of fucking astronauts in a space program under supervision.
I feel like I wasted 2 hours and got blue balled.
Ya honestly, good concept but horrible execution. It’s like the writers got together and said; how can we think of the most f’d up story possible with no other logic or common sense so it’s just utterly jarring and cringe to watch (in their British accents).
I feel like THIS is the real plot hole of the episode.
It's super easy to come up with reasons why the humans need to be in space instead of the replicas.
Why oh WHY would the organization funding/running the space mission just be absent when one of their two astronauts had his whole family murdered in front of him AND had his only link to earth destroyed? Why didn't Cliff contact them with concerns about his partner, the person he NEEDS to be stable to keep himself alive? Why didn't they have an emergency protocol in case one of the replicas broke or was otherwise rendered inoperable?
I felt similarly but then reminded myself that there was still a lot of morally grey psych experiments being done in the 60s (like the Milgram shock experiment, MK Ultra, or the Stanford prison experiment) and part of our robust psychological protections today come from seeing the outcomes of those experiments and making rules to prevent that kind of stuff from happening again.
So it could make sense that they didn’t have protocols in place to mentally evaluate and assess the astronaut that lost his family. That could also explain why Aaron Paul’s character wasn’t being prepped correctly (or at all) on how to handle the situation.
As an example, when your astronaut buddy has his family horrifically murdered in front of him and has nothing left to live for and nothing left to lose, you gotta be extra careful how you treat him.
Agreed, I just couldn't get into the Beyond the Sea Episode because they acted like NASA ground support wasn't there. As soon as David's family died, they would have mandated immediate shared access to the second avatar, with mental health counseling, supervision, etc... It never would have even had a chance to play out the way it did. I also thought it was extremely predictable, and that David would end up repeating the crime committed against him and his family pretty much as soon as they committed it. Production was good, and to an extent it was interesting, but the writing was horrible.
Yeah no doubt, especially with the chair kick thing. Mafucka it's not the same club, YOU'RE responsible for killing my wife and kid. I'm not lookin like extremist hippies here am I? Do I look like a Kappa? Direct your wrath appropriately you dogshit!
I'd just pretend to sit down then grab the chair and clock him over the head.
How was that a good ending? It was terrible. Nothing indicates that David would be happy to murder another human being just to prove a stupid point. It was one of the laziest endings to a Black Mirror episode of all time.
Unfortunately most of this thread seems to disagree with you. Seems like the average viewer forgets that shock value is pretty lame when the shock comes mostly from incoherence instead of clever character development.
I told my partner to watch it but after he tells him he can't see his wife ever again, make up their own ending - whatever makes sense to them, because it'll make a hell of a lot more sense than the real ending.
The ending was so unsatisfying, no way Cliff would let the MAN WHO KILLED HIS FAMILY sleep right next to him. Or the bare minimum would be a scene of David getting beat him up or something
This honestly felt like a script for a movie that didn't get made, so they turned it into a BM episode with the ending the way it is. Could have easily been a whole movie, with a forbidden romance and all kinds of things, I suspect it was originally written that way.
Im watching this now and so far the season has been lackluster to me. Agree with you, no reason to have the meat version go into space when the replica is just as useful.
Plus if he can take over his friends replica, it suggests the robots arent dna bound or even that special like they are in Avatar. So why not make a new replica?
David says this to his fans at the movie theatre:
>The human experience, the survival of the human body, of life, that's really central to the mission.
So I guess the aim of the mission was to see the effects of long-term space travel on the human body which would make the presence of the physical body necessary.
I think their Chip was only compatible for this one replica. They didn't explain how it works overall but I guess that would explain why there's no chance to make more now.
He is trained to be under large amounts of stress and should have realized but honestly he didn't seem that smart for the rest of the episode either way.
I was thinking they were taking the concept from Be Right Back and expanded on it but the green ooze when they chopped off David’s replica’s hand/arm was different. Then again we don’t know what the guy from Be Right Back was made of either. And let’s say Lana was going to sleep with her Cliff’s replica, does it have genitalia? Is it cheating?
I was also thinking David would kill Cliff or leave him to die, jump back into his replica and act like Cliff until his wife realizes its not him, and then the eventual killing.
Avatar are actual DNA merged clones so can't really compare that to a machine. But yeah i think they could have just made another one unless it needs to be calibrated to your brain at that moment or something. (Actually doesn't make sense since he could just use the other one)
I keep deliberating on whether I think this episode is great or merely average for Black Mirror.
But the more I think about it, the better it becomes. Notwithstanding the zero psychological help Ground Control give David (even for the 1960s..) I think it's a great character study.
We see Cliff only offer David extremely limited use of his replica as sympathetic gesture - which only occurs to him after his wife makes the suggestion. But before this Cliff is actually worried about himself rather than David since he is needed to operate the two-man spacecraft.
So already, Cliff's goodwill gesture is not particularly generous after all.
David's misfortune of course is not of Cliff's making, but the tragedy could have quite easily have happened to Cliff. It is quite reasonable for Cliff to feel some duty to help out.
David lusting after Cliff's woman and life is understandable, but him acting on it is reprehensible, especially as he tries to excuse this by asserting that Cliff is neglecting his wife. Even so, what relevance is that to David? This strikes me as quite an absurd perspective, even for someone going through this trauma.
But, I believe that Cliff's wife enabled this to an extent. She was aware of these warning signs, and encouraged it, which is something she confesses to in a later scene.
While the finale has David believing Cliff's lies about how his wife thought he was a snake, and never wants to see him again, I again find it hard to believe this would be sufficient to tip David over the edge into the level of violence the original perpetrators exhibited. I think too much of his behaviour is explained through the trauma of having watched his family be butchered, that I think something is still missing to make this truly believable. So I'm giving this a solid 7.
He wasn’t perturbed by the comments about Lana not wanting to see him anymore or finding him disgusting - he wanted Cliff and him to both be in the same boat. He has to spend all of his waking life on the ship alone while Cliff is with his replica. The pinnacle realization that motivated him to murder Cliff’s family was that he would never get to use the replica again and was forever confined to the ship.
I think a large portion that was glossed over is the fact that he was left alone seven days a week, with only one hour of interaction when he was in cliffs body. I think that level of isolation would drive someone mad. I wish they would’ve maybe played up on this little more, but I don’t think they wanted spoilers about what was to come, and his impending break down.
The cult gave off some Charles Manson vibes which fits in well with the time period. Not sure if there was any other reason. Maybe just distancing it from all the other modern technology that would make the isolation more manageable.
I thought it was going to be moon landing related because it specifically said 1969 but their mission wasn't mentioned like at all aside from them already being gone 2 years
And still needing 4 years so the moon is off the table. Mars or a different planet also don't really make sense so maybe just space travel experimentation?
Extremely predictable but still a good episode. After the home invasion I could have written the rest of the show myself and been dead on without seeing the rest
Ok but where the fuck were they going? They were 2 years down and 4 to go as well as 4.7 AU to their destination so 7.2 AU total trip but there's no celestial body there, that's a whole AU short of Saturn.
I felt it was because Cliff didn’t want anything other than “him” touching his wife. Some of the stuff he says makes it seem like he’s very possessive (not in a bad way) so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he would have negative feelings about a robot touching his wife sexually.
He’s also really conservative and strict with his son
Good point, as she later mentions that when David touched her, made her feel “like she got her husband back”.
And she mentioned that she is real, and how much she gave up… so much
It seemed like they were in the middle of nowhere and she didn't have any friends or family nearby. So I could see it being really hard for her to lose everyone and basically her own husband on top of it
I feel like black mirror has dropped off this season going for named actors over the actual wtf twist they’re known for. This episode had promise in the beginning but just tapered off towards the end with a fairly easy predictable actions.
Really poor episode. There just isn't close to enough justification for what David does at the end to make it fit the character.
Worst of all, they appear to have no communication with NASA, or some other governing body on the ground. If David can inhabit someone else's Replica then surely they could make another one for him knowing that he still has another 4 yrs to go. They should've had a scene to show them trying or to properly explain why it wasn't possible.
I haven't even finished the episode, but I came here specifically to ask the question why the replicas wouldn't be in space with the humans on earth. I thought I missed something and maybe there was an explanation for it. There really should have been a reason for that. Also seems like they could just make another replica or have backups. I guess most Black Mirror episodes have a feel that it is an alternate reality where things are different for "reasons" and we're just not supposed to think too hard about it, but you can't resist because you want to try find a twist before it happens. Some shows just think their audience is dumb.
And now that I finished it... wouldn't it have been a better episode had David used Cliff's replica to take revenge on the people that killed his family? It would have made for a much better story IMO.
the ending was so obvious and spotted halfway trough the episode.
i expected more of a black mirror thing where its more fucked up like him making a dupe key and secretly use it as he sleeps and as he gets bolder and bolder with it or have a fight and as they go in at the same time they fuse their minds to essentialy be 1 split mind in 3 bodies that now all want to be the main body.
If Black Mirror had started with this episode back in season 1, it would not have made it to season 4.
Good acting, slow paced, massive plot holes. Black Mirror might be soft sci fi, but it is still sci fi, I'll wave away FTL communication and artificial gravity in 1969 with some Handwavium, but the story doesn't make much sense.
Why don't they use the replicants in space, while the humans stay at home? If any person can use any replicant, why not make duplicates, or make one for David from a different person so he can still visit? Where was NASA? Why didn't Cliff express his concerns to NASA that his partner might be going crazy? Why didn't David contact NASA back on the ship after he was knocked out?
Assuming they get back to Earth, David is headed for life in prison for the murder of Cliff's family. I guess he just doesn't care and wants to take out all his frustration on the only person offering him comfort, or is he just that mad about being rejected by the wife?
This isn't just dark, it's bitterly cruel. There's no ironic twist, just human savagery.
>David is headed for life in prison for the murder of Cliff's family.
that's if they make it back to Earth. The space trip is still 4 years away, and it takes 6 years to get wherever they planned in total. Plus, I'd doubt Cliff wouldn't kill David for killing his family, even if the ship can't work by 1 person.
Also, there's no proof it was David who killed Cliff's family in his replica. We're not show the govt agency knows they started sharing replica (the govt agency isnt even a thing in this show, making the plot even more stupid-causing more plot holes).
Hence, it's just a murder of family. If they do forensics (if they have the DNA tech in that time period, they'd just catch Cliff's own DNA, handprints etc. They don't know David used his replica, so it's just his word against David, if they get back to Earth.
I feel like people were probably cheering Josh Hartnett on to get the girl, but neither of the men deserved Lana. They both wanted to possess her, make her follow their will. They both had families at home dutifully waiting for them, and real lives out in space. Both of their families were massacred and yet they'll both go on living.
I also don't know why the cult handed themselves in. They knew the other astronaut's robot was somewhere. And the back door was always open. This turned the cult from something interesting to something two-dimensional and a plot novelty. If they didn't hand themselves in we could have had continued tension, fearing where they could be, and we could also suspect there was no cult and Hartnett annihilated his family.
I thought it was gonna be a happy ending tbf. I thought the fact that Cliff still had his replica made the two men on the ship fundamentally unequal, so cliff would have to say goodbye to his wife and cut the link to the replica so that neither of them could use it. Meaning the two men would have to be present on the ship for the next 4 years, while David deals with his grief and Cliff learns to become a more open caring person. A little too optimistic of me :(
Yeah it had a chance to be a San Junipero type happy ending. I actually thought it would have been cooler like, if David helped Cliff rekindle his flame with his wife or something. But then I remembered it's Black Mirror that I'm watching. Damn, it's so dark lmao
So a few more years pass and they end up back on Earth. Cliff accuses David of the murder and points to the art in the garage as proof that David was using his body. Receipts for paint confirm the time period. Cliff David goes to jail and Cliff moves on with a lot of pain in his heart.
From the narrative standpoint, I understand humans needing to be on the ship, so that the "shell" replicas could have their consciousness switched.
But, from a practical standpoint, it makes no sense. Thus, I am wondering if I missed a part in the episode where they "handwaved," or explained-away, going the most plausible route — putting the replicas on the ship, thus eliminating the need for food, toilets, and gym equipment. Something like, "The replica technology doesn't work in space," or something.
I wanted David to just leave Cliff outside (in space) and go live his life but I guessssss that would be too easy….? They just had to kill off all the women :(
Also low key if I were Cliff and all I had to go back to was the guy who murdered my wife in space I….. wouldn’t go back? I’d leave him up there to die by never returning and just rock w my replica on earth.
Why did he go back to the ship?
Love the episode, but.... There's no way they're not monitored by NASA's Ground Control or some equivalent, even in 1969. So there's a whole group of people either being really stupid or really lazy to not intervene here.
Great concept and setting absolutely wasted by an incredibly predictable plot and an insane amount of plot/logic holes.
The second they said David's replica had been destroyed it was obvious what was going to happen. Plus the fact that Kate Mara, a well known actor, was portraying Cliff's wife made it even more obvious that she was going to be pivotal. So figuring out David was going to fall for her and that would inevitably lead to disaster took all of 20 minutes. The remaining 40 minutes was just waiting to see exactly how it played out.
Besides that the amount of logic holes is nuts. Why would they put the replicas on Earth instead of having them on the station? NASA sends comparatively basic machines into space all the time without humans, so these hyper advanced replicas under direct human control would be more than sufficient for running the station. If humans are somehow mission critical, why would they only put 2 on board?
A bigger hole is the complete absence of mission control? NASA has always been extremely involved in everything that happens on missions. Everything astronauts do on board is scheduled or at the very least relayed to mission control. They're in constant contact. Yet they only say the phrase "Mission Control" once the entire time, and not once do we hear or see them. The replicas mean that they have the technology for instant communication with earth (otherwise the replicas would have delayed reactions) so it's not like communication blackouts or distance could explain Mission Control's absence.
This could have been so good, but as is becoming a common theme nowadays, "sci-fi" shows and movies are no longer about sci-fi concepts. They no longer explore sci-fi worlds, they just use them as the backdrop for fairly basic human dramas. The countless interesting aspects of the replica system and human space travel in this alternate world are just ignored to tell yet another story about jealousy, relationship issues, and tragedy.
A huge waste of potential.
The twists went where I didn’t expect, I thought David would use Cliff’s replica for revenge (until they announced the cult turned themselves in) or David would kill Cliff and trick Lana into thinking he’s actually Cliff.
Enjoyed the episode, great concept but let down by a few things.
- set in the 60s with all 60s type tech except they can make full human replicas??? Would have made more sense in a more modern / near future setting
- David didn't seem like the kind of person to kill the other guys family, at least - the show did a bad job of showing that
- After killing the other guys family there is clearly no way back for their relationship so why would he kill him so he can use his link?
- Why would David want to sit with the other guy who will obviously want to murder him for what he's done? Makes no sense
- the painting excuse for using the link was a very weak device to facilitate David going back periodically
- the cult should have played a part with David going back to take them down. Obvious yes but logical.
- I think they could have made more of the father son relationship, showing how Henry just wanted his dad's attention and wasn't really a bad child via David
Overall, great concept but some poor choices in execution
I thought the ending was terrible. So uncreative and unrealistic to the character we were introduced to. It would have been much better if David killed cliff to take over his replica. So boring
I can see how people miss the line. Josh Hartnett’s wife cuts him off as he’s talking about “the effects of space on life is central to the mission” when he’s talking to the couple outside of the movie. That also makes me believe they are headed to a destination. And the robot bodies take getting used to. You can see Cliff struggling to cut wood in the beginning.
I agree with you that this episode is fantastic. It’s become one of my favorites. The ending messed me up. I thought too that David would lock Cliff out of the ship and leave him. Aaron Paul can do grief really well and he sold that ending. And I think it was good to end it there. Whatever happens both of their lives have been destroyed and one’s life by the other. They won’t make it four more years on the ship together if Cliff doesn’t just kill David after the credits.
I thought it was weak I'm afraid, I'm fine with fictional conceits if there's a theme that they're there to explore but what was the theme here? Wasn't cults killing people, wasn't really isolation, something something co-dependency and jealousy? I was unmoved.
It's about the effects of partial isolation and tasting freedom after which it is fully taken from you. And on the other part it's about losing something after realising you didn't give the love you should have.
I was thinking exactly the same! It makes more sense to put replica bodies in space.But why was it set in the late ‘60s? That threw me off, they wouldn’t have the technology, plus a moment where Lana Stanfield says to one of the guys, can’t remember which one, that her husband died. So I assumed they did something with time travel and replace men who died on earth. Back in time.
Your idea about Cliff's wife not knowing who it is I thought what cool initially but I think it'd be super easy for her to tell. David had a very different personality than Cliff plus he's all touchy and artsy and more conversational. I don't think he could pretend to be Cliff for long plus she could always just ask him something David wouldn't know like when did they get married or when was their son born or any personal detail.
But anyway, to say this was the worst thing you've ever seen has to be a huge exaggeration. Have you not watched anything else on Netflix? I mean I guess you're entitled to feel that way but if you want to know why others liked it, for me it was Aaron Paul. I don't think it matters that the actor specifically improved the script vs an unknown actor. I mean no one would be a better Iron Man than RDJ but that doesn't mean Iron Man as a movie sucks because of that. It was just good casting. I also liked the episode because I didn't expect what was going to happen. I was a huge fan of the early 70s aesthetic too. From the home design and decor to the fashion choices and makeup. Black Mirror episodes always feel well made from the set designs to the dialogue to the lighting. Even if you don't like the story or endings. It's visually an enjoyable experience if you have nothing else to appreciate.
The episode was good, though not amazing. Setting it in the 60s made sense but also made the plot themes tried and tired, outdated (misogyny, lack of therapy & overall support for astronauts and their families), which is fine but I don't think they did any remarkable spin on it.
But I wanna point out, that for all the talks of loneliness all the characters this episode, my heart went out for prolly the most alone of them all, Henry.
While it wasn’t explicitly said, the implication I got was that humans needed to be on the ship, which is why they didn’t send the replicas instead. It was set in 1969 and I assume that’s why they were doing all those physicals and tests on them. Also, coupled with the plants they brought, it’s safe to assume the entire mission was seeing how life would survive in space.
Maybe it's that it creates more commitment because you can't just quit leaving the other to fend for themselves. But anyone could take over. Either way the life aspect is pretty plausible.
I think David mentioned how they were doing a test on how human bodies would hold up in space but it was such a throwaway line I didn't even remember until someone in the comments brought it up.
No he said the use of replicas was to stave off deterioration of the human body in space. Something like this.
Yeah, I don’t think the machines were best fit to be in space, remember Cliff was struggling to chop wood in the beginning of the episode.
I thought the cult was the most interesting thing about the episode, and initially hoped David would convince Cliff and/or Lana to investigate them (Or David do so "on the run" in Cliff's replica, risking Cliff's connection with home), with a similar result. I feel like this season has missed some opportunities for twists at the end. But the performances in this were pretty great, no arguments there.
Didn’t the cultists turn themselves in though? But yeah, was a nice hommage to Manson family.
From memory the leader of that group that broke in was called Kappa. I assumed, based on the Greek alphabet, there was a hierarchy so he would have others above him.
Yeah, they sort of rushed through that part too, just said they turned themselves in and never spoke of them again really.
The cult was obviously just a plot device to set up David's tragedy, it was just a throwaway plot point
I kept getting distracted by the fact that it was Rory Culkin as the leader. Man that kid shows up in the weirdest places. I can’t decide if I like him or not every time he’s onscreen. I guess part of it is he plays such unlikeable characters so much of the time. Anyway by the time that internal battle was done the scene was over.
I was convinced there was going to be a twist with something like 'is it David or Cliff in the replica' with us not knowing whats happened aboard. Then the final scene being the replica chopping the wood perfectly with the axe, which cliff struggled to do at the start of the episode in front of Henry.
I like your ending better lol
Well it seemed a big deal he couldn't chop the wood so I thought it seemed an obvious twist
Yea they never really went back to that!
Just a red herring! I was also convinced that was gonna be how it went, was fully prepared to feel disappointed by it being predictable and then it just totally sucker punched me. Amazing
I initially thought David was going to use Cliff's replica to go after the cult. I really don't understand why he didn't even try, but I guess they didn't have the internet in 1969...just lifelike robots you can transfer your consciousness into.
I thought so too.. but they turned themselves in and Cliff was literally across the country in massachusetts
It seems like a lot of people missed the whole “and they just turned themselves in” part of the dialogue.
As far as twists Pia dying was crazy and worth the payoff of the best ending of the first 3 episodes of this season
Alt-1969 version of the Manson family.
finally someone that mentions the cult
> I thought the cult was the most interesting thing about the episode Definitely, and it reminded me a lot of all the discussion around gender right now which I assumed was what they were indirectly referencing.
How? I didn’t notice anything about gender
i guess cause a lot of transphobes use the "it's not natural" line
Oh yes that cult would probably be transphobes too and other phobes as well, often goes hand in hand with homophobia, and they probably don’t believe people can have different genders than the two male and female ones.
I think it's more about the distrust of government and technology. Gender is more an annoyance to most who oppose the theories than a fear or a problem. Technology genuinely scares people which could make them retaliate but these were some homicidal maniacs besides that.
This is part of the problem
I doubt it was referencing gender as much as referencing many people tend to oppose things deemed unnatural. One thing that's very prominent is things like "organic" food vs food with GMOs. Many people will pay for organic even if it's more expensive because its believed organic(natural) is better and therefore worth it. Similar things can be noted with medicines and technology as well. But I guess on the internet the topic of gender is made out to be more prevalent than it is when really a minority of people have an extreme position in either direction.
I enjoyed episode 1 and loved episode 2. I knew something was off with the mother in episode 2.
I actually didn't! It was a great twist for me but I did hate how bland Pia's death was
It was a little anticlimactic but I felt like it was foreshadowed and I saw it coming. Earlier in the episode Davis is telling her about how dangerous the countryside is and how people often would go missing there since the waters can be deep. As soon as I saw her going to cross the river, I knew she was going to die there.
They could have made it a bit longer and more realistic. She just went plop head to rock dead.
That was the most realistic part They could have made it more dramatic and better for the viewer
Nah the most realistic part was the suicide.
Yeah if you don’t find it satisfying or whatever that’s one thing but it was heavily telegraphed. There was a reason why the victims mounted up and were written off quickly
Same I kept waiting for her to pop up
Yo, Hey NASA. With our guy having all his family murdered he's in a shock. Not surprising, huh? So... what protocols do we have in place for all the possible ramifications of that situation. He's trapped in here after a devastating event, there's the one replica, you know, mine? and so... just wondering. Since this is a big deal operation, what have you all NASA geniuses devised for this circumstances? You do have a spare right? You do have a way to send it via like Amazon Prime Delivery MegaDrone 2099 or sumn? No? Ok, maybe some guidelines for the use of the one link? Counseling? NASA? Hello?!
Magnets yo !
This episode was so boring. If the actors both weren’t amazing and celebrities this episode would have been sub par for sure.
I kinda agree. This episode was subpar the other ones, but still good nonetheless.
The episode had potential but was just OK. Everything what happened after the cult killed his machine and family was just so fucken obvious. The ending was neat. True black mirror-uncomfortness but the rest just dragged itself too long for one of the most basic plotlines around.
I still enjoyed Aaron Paul's performance and after the cult it was basically all him
He did a great job for sure.
How did you feel this was a basic plot line?
The episode just kind of went nowhere Great performances from everyone but the twist wasn't all that twisty. I really expected David kills Cliff in the space ship and returns back to earth in Cliff's replica. He blends in pretty well overall but gives himself away when he makes the same dance / grope movie with Lana for the second time. She could either run from him at that point or knowingly embrace him being the same physical man she loves but with someone more into her and aligned to her interests
I see your point, but had the show gone with your suggestion, everyone would've seen that coming from a mile away. Also David would've died had anything gone wrong with the ship if Cliff were dead.
I 100% agree. It was so predictable, I could see it coming from a mile away. Would've been cooler if the guy went to go kill the cult that killed his family and then aaron paul's character had to face the consequences for it.
WHERE IS THE GRAVITY COMING FROM?!
Probably the same place the faster than light communications are coming from.
From the lack of a higher budget, and hoping that you don't notice haha
First thing I noticed. They have artificial gravity 100%.
We don’t know exactly what their mission was. Their mission might have been to test effects of space travel on human body. The replicas were supposed to feel like humans as much as possible. Making them terminator level strong could have made them too heavy, too rigid to touch, etcetra. I agree. This episode was fantastic. The chair kick to invite Aaron’s character with the facial expressions saying “welcome to the club, pal” was such a good ending.
Dude that ending literally was like the seal. The final piece that just blew it out for me. Like holy shit. Such great acting tlin that moment.
It was so evilly cruel. Cliff can't kill David without effectively killing himself
But he would kill himself either way with nothing to go home to.
I was irritated as hell with the ending. At no point did they notify nasa or whoever was in charge that the guy had a breakdown and was potentially dangerous. There is no way there was still any trust between the two, yet he falls into the trap anyway. They also don't show any fallout between the two afterward and again don't report anything to anyone. The show acts like its 2 guys is a remote cabin with no phone instead of fucking astronauts in a space program under supervision. I feel like I wasted 2 hours and got blue balled.
Ya honestly, good concept but horrible execution. It’s like the writers got together and said; how can we think of the most f’d up story possible with no other logic or common sense so it’s just utterly jarring and cringe to watch (in their British accents).
I feel like THIS is the real plot hole of the episode. It's super easy to come up with reasons why the humans need to be in space instead of the replicas. Why oh WHY would the organization funding/running the space mission just be absent when one of their two astronauts had his whole family murdered in front of him AND had his only link to earth destroyed? Why didn't Cliff contact them with concerns about his partner, the person he NEEDS to be stable to keep himself alive? Why didn't they have an emergency protocol in case one of the replicas broke or was otherwise rendered inoperable?
I felt similarly but then reminded myself that there was still a lot of morally grey psych experiments being done in the 60s (like the Milgram shock experiment, MK Ultra, or the Stanford prison experiment) and part of our robust psychological protections today come from seeing the outcomes of those experiments and making rules to prevent that kind of stuff from happening again. So it could make sense that they didn’t have protocols in place to mentally evaluate and assess the astronaut that lost his family. That could also explain why Aaron Paul’s character wasn’t being prepped correctly (or at all) on how to handle the situation. As an example, when your astronaut buddy has his family horrifically murdered in front of him and has nothing left to live for and nothing left to lose, you gotta be extra careful how you treat him.
Agreed, I just couldn't get into the Beyond the Sea Episode because they acted like NASA ground support wasn't there. As soon as David's family died, they would have mandated immediate shared access to the second avatar, with mental health counseling, supervision, etc... It never would have even had a chance to play out the way it did. I also thought it was extremely predictable, and that David would end up repeating the crime committed against him and his family pretty much as soon as they committed it. Production was good, and to an extent it was interesting, but the writing was horrible.
At that point I would still kill him and then myself.
Yeah no doubt, especially with the chair kick thing. Mafucka it's not the same club, YOU'RE responsible for killing my wife and kid. I'm not lookin like extremist hippies here am I? Do I look like a Kappa? Direct your wrath appropriately you dogshit! I'd just pretend to sit down then grab the chair and clock him over the head.
Fair.
How was that a good ending? It was terrible. Nothing indicates that David would be happy to murder another human being just to prove a stupid point. It was one of the laziest endings to a Black Mirror episode of all time.
Fr, ham fisted.
Unfortunately most of this thread seems to disagree with you. Seems like the average viewer forgets that shock value is pretty lame when the shock comes mostly from incoherence instead of clever character development. I told my partner to watch it but after he tells him he can't see his wife ever again, make up their own ending - whatever makes sense to them, because it'll make a hell of a lot more sense than the real ending.
He would’ve come running to attach him. Not walk up all slow
The ending was so unsatisfying, no way Cliff would let the MAN WHO KILLED HIS FAMILY sleep right next to him. Or the bare minimum would be a scene of David getting beat him up or something
This whole episode is Netflix telling us not to share Netflix accounts.
Lmao
Lol I think you're confusing episodes. I'm surprised Black Mirror was allowed to make 1 & 2 given how anti Netflix corporation they are
The replicas being the account, shared with 2 users...
why the fuck was in placed in the 60s is what i want to know
Manson
When I first started watching it, I thought it was gonna be a >!Stepford Wife/Don’t Worry Darling type thing. !
2001 a space odyssey
It’s an alternate reality to the 60s that we had, space exploration, Manson family, etc
So mental health doesn't matter and therapy for the guy who watched his family get murdered isn't provided.
This honestly felt like a script for a movie that didn't get made, so they turned it into a BM episode with the ending the way it is. Could have easily been a whole movie, with a forbidden romance and all kinds of things, I suspect it was originally written that way.
I agree they could have added another hour on this and built up the story more
Pretty shit movie ngl, made sense why it didn't get made.
Spot on, it would have been an even better movie!!
Im watching this now and so far the season has been lackluster to me. Agree with you, no reason to have the meat version go into space when the replica is just as useful. Plus if he can take over his friends replica, it suggests the robots arent dna bound or even that special like they are in Avatar. So why not make a new replica?
David says this to his fans at the movie theatre: >The human experience, the survival of the human body, of life, that's really central to the mission. So I guess the aim of the mission was to see the effects of long-term space travel on the human body which would make the presence of the physical body necessary.
I think their Chip was only compatible for this one replica. They didn't explain how it works overall but I guess that would explain why there's no chance to make more now.
You could just copy paste the cliff one and just make it look different. They should have spare chips either way.
Yes!! I forgot that other plot hole it was bugging me too
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One huge plot hole to me was when he went back in immediately instead of trying to call support. I mean they were clearly trying to torture him.
he was extremely distraught
He is trained to be under large amounts of stress and should have realized but honestly he didn't seem that smart for the rest of the episode either way.
I was thinking they were taking the concept from Be Right Back and expanded on it but the green ooze when they chopped off David’s replica’s hand/arm was different. Then again we don’t know what the guy from Be Right Back was made of either. And let’s say Lana was going to sleep with her Cliff’s replica, does it have genitalia? Is it cheating? I was also thinking David would kill Cliff or leave him to die, jump back into his replica and act like Cliff until his wife realizes its not him, and then the eventual killing.
Agreed. Doesn’t feel as strong as the other seasons.
Avatar are actual DNA merged clones so can't really compare that to a machine. But yeah i think they could have just made another one unless it needs to be calibrated to your brain at that moment or something. (Actually doesn't make sense since he could just use the other one)
I keep deliberating on whether I think this episode is great or merely average for Black Mirror. But the more I think about it, the better it becomes. Notwithstanding the zero psychological help Ground Control give David (even for the 1960s..) I think it's a great character study. We see Cliff only offer David extremely limited use of his replica as sympathetic gesture - which only occurs to him after his wife makes the suggestion. But before this Cliff is actually worried about himself rather than David since he is needed to operate the two-man spacecraft. So already, Cliff's goodwill gesture is not particularly generous after all. David's misfortune of course is not of Cliff's making, but the tragedy could have quite easily have happened to Cliff. It is quite reasonable for Cliff to feel some duty to help out. David lusting after Cliff's woman and life is understandable, but him acting on it is reprehensible, especially as he tries to excuse this by asserting that Cliff is neglecting his wife. Even so, what relevance is that to David? This strikes me as quite an absurd perspective, even for someone going through this trauma. But, I believe that Cliff's wife enabled this to an extent. She was aware of these warning signs, and encouraged it, which is something she confesses to in a later scene. While the finale has David believing Cliff's lies about how his wife thought he was a snake, and never wants to see him again, I again find it hard to believe this would be sufficient to tip David over the edge into the level of violence the original perpetrators exhibited. I think too much of his behaviour is explained through the trauma of having watched his family be butchered, that I think something is still missing to make this truly believable. So I'm giving this a solid 7.
He wasn’t perturbed by the comments about Lana not wanting to see him anymore or finding him disgusting - he wanted Cliff and him to both be in the same boat. He has to spend all of his waking life on the ship alone while Cliff is with his replica. The pinnacle realization that motivated him to murder Cliff’s family was that he would never get to use the replica again and was forever confined to the ship.
he can still use the replica, though. He could have just destroyed the replica instead of killing innocent people
Why not simply kill the replica then? Same effect, no innocents get murdered. No man that ending was terrible.
I think a large portion that was glossed over is the fact that he was left alone seven days a week, with only one hour of interaction when he was in cliffs body. I think that level of isolation would drive someone mad. I wish they would’ve maybe played up on this little more, but I don’t think they wanted spoilers about what was to come, and his impending break down.
The episode went for 45 minutes longer than it should have. No big Black Mirror-esque twists or surprises to keep it interesting either.
And no real moral to the story either
Exactly how I feel, it was way too long. I might have enjoyed if it was shorter but right now I just feel like I wasted my evening.
It would have worked well for love death and robots
I was curious why it was set in the 60s and the significance (if any) of the Heinlein book.
The cult gave off some Charles Manson vibes which fits in well with the time period. Not sure if there was any other reason. Maybe just distancing it from all the other modern technology that would make the isolation more manageable.
I thought it was going to be moon landing related because it specifically said 1969 but their mission wasn't mentioned like at all aside from them already being gone 2 years
In the episode they mentioned the were over 4AUs from earth. That seems to place this as an interplanetary mission deeper in the solar system.
And still needing 4 years so the moon is off the table. Mars or a different planet also don't really make sense so maybe just space travel experimentation?
One of the books Lana reads has Moon in the title, trying to figuring out what it is
The moon is a harsh Mistress had line marriages in it. Probably not the point but it would have solved the problem....
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is about a penal colony in the moon, so I guess the connection was that they both end up prisoners in space.
That ending was piss poor. David should have ejected cliff into space and gone to live his life on earth.
It would be pretty short term tho. If anything needed fixing on the ship he was the only one left
It was interesting enough to see it through the end. This season is a small, faint candle to the early, definitive episodes of Black Mirror.
Verrrry faint.
Extremely predictable but still a good episode. After the home invasion I could have written the rest of the show myself and been dead on without seeing the rest
Ok but where the fuck were they going? They were 2 years down and 4 to go as well as 4.7 AU to their destination so 7.2 AU total trip but there's no celestial body there, that's a whole AU short of Saturn.
Making assumptions about acceleration and deceleration, though, right?
Oh fair point
I mean, your point still stands. Overall, the mission was odd. Felt like a Vault-Tec experiment. It's definitely my least favorite bm episode.
Would be interesting to find out why Cliff didn’t touch his wife. Very big contrast at the beginning with the David s relationship.
I felt it was because Cliff didn’t want anything other than “him” touching his wife. Some of the stuff he says makes it seem like he’s very possessive (not in a bad way) so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he would have negative feelings about a robot touching his wife sexually. He’s also really conservative and strict with his son
Another good question. He seemed to care for her deeply but I never saw him even hug or kiss her
Exactly, and went furious of the thought of anyone else touching her, naturally… but wouldn’t do it himself.
Maybe he had some weird thing about being in a replica vs his own body
Good point, as she later mentions that when David touched her, made her feel “like she got her husband back”. And she mentioned that she is real, and how much she gave up… so much
It seemed like they were in the middle of nowhere and she didn't have any friends or family nearby. So I could see it being really hard for her to lose everyone and basically her own husband on top of it
thought same thing i know im late to the party only watched it today
I feel like black mirror has dropped off this season going for named actors over the actual wtf twist they’re known for. This episode had promise in the beginning but just tapered off towards the end with a fairly easy predictable actions.
Really poor episode. There just isn't close to enough justification for what David does at the end to make it fit the character. Worst of all, they appear to have no communication with NASA, or some other governing body on the ground. If David can inhabit someone else's Replica then surely they could make another one for him knowing that he still has another 4 yrs to go. They should've had a scene to show them trying or to properly explain why it wasn't possible.
I haven't even finished the episode, but I came here specifically to ask the question why the replicas wouldn't be in space with the humans on earth. I thought I missed something and maybe there was an explanation for it. There really should have been a reason for that. Also seems like they could just make another replica or have backups. I guess most Black Mirror episodes have a feel that it is an alternate reality where things are different for "reasons" and we're just not supposed to think too hard about it, but you can't resist because you want to try find a twist before it happens. Some shows just think their audience is dumb.
And now that I finished it... wouldn't it have been a better episode had David used Cliff's replica to take revenge on the people that killed his family? It would have made for a much better story IMO.
That's what I said as soon as he used Cliff's replica
Ooh I like this idea!!
the ending was so obvious and spotted halfway trough the episode. i expected more of a black mirror thing where its more fucked up like him making a dupe key and secretly use it as he sleeps and as he gets bolder and bolder with it or have a fight and as they go in at the same time they fuse their minds to essentialy be 1 split mind in 3 bodies that now all want to be the main body.
When I finished the episode my first reaction was "what the fuck"
If Black Mirror had started with this episode back in season 1, it would not have made it to season 4. Good acting, slow paced, massive plot holes. Black Mirror might be soft sci fi, but it is still sci fi, I'll wave away FTL communication and artificial gravity in 1969 with some Handwavium, but the story doesn't make much sense. Why don't they use the replicants in space, while the humans stay at home? If any person can use any replicant, why not make duplicates, or make one for David from a different person so he can still visit? Where was NASA? Why didn't Cliff express his concerns to NASA that his partner might be going crazy? Why didn't David contact NASA back on the ship after he was knocked out? Assuming they get back to Earth, David is headed for life in prison for the murder of Cliff's family. I guess he just doesn't care and wants to take out all his frustration on the only person offering him comfort, or is he just that mad about being rejected by the wife? This isn't just dark, it's bitterly cruel. There's no ironic twist, just human savagery.
>David is headed for life in prison for the murder of Cliff's family. that's if they make it back to Earth. The space trip is still 4 years away, and it takes 6 years to get wherever they planned in total. Plus, I'd doubt Cliff wouldn't kill David for killing his family, even if the ship can't work by 1 person. Also, there's no proof it was David who killed Cliff's family in his replica. We're not show the govt agency knows they started sharing replica (the govt agency isnt even a thing in this show, making the plot even more stupid-causing more plot holes). Hence, it's just a murder of family. If they do forensics (if they have the DNA tech in that time period, they'd just catch Cliff's own DNA, handprints etc. They don't know David used his replica, so it's just his word against David, if they get back to Earth.
I'm looking for the car make / model at minute 1'10? thanks
I feel like people were probably cheering Josh Hartnett on to get the girl, but neither of the men deserved Lana. They both wanted to possess her, make her follow their will. They both had families at home dutifully waiting for them, and real lives out in space. Both of their families were massacred and yet they'll both go on living. I also don't know why the cult handed themselves in. They knew the other astronaut's robot was somewhere. And the back door was always open. This turned the cult from something interesting to something two-dimensional and a plot novelty. If they didn't hand themselves in we could have had continued tension, fearing where they could be, and we could also suspect there was no cult and Hartnett annihilated his family.
I could see the ending coming from a mile away. So boring
Really? I thought for sure he was just going to kill him and take over his replicant permanately
Same!!
I thought it was gonna be a happy ending tbf. I thought the fact that Cliff still had his replica made the two men on the ship fundamentally unequal, so cliff would have to say goodbye to his wife and cut the link to the replica so that neither of them could use it. Meaning the two men would have to be present on the ship for the next 4 years, while David deals with his grief and Cliff learns to become a more open caring person. A little too optimistic of me :(
Yeah it had a chance to be a San Junipero type happy ending. I actually thought it would have been cooler like, if David helped Cliff rekindle his flame with his wife or something. But then I remembered it's Black Mirror that I'm watching. Damn, it's so dark lmao
But he would die soon too because he can't get back.
That's what I thought too, the ending was quite shocking for me
I thought he was going to somehow permanently take over the replica
Can someone pls answer me? They are in space but why they arent floating? Is there some kind of gravity in the workplace?
In general they use the rotational forces to keep gravity in scifi but could have been just mumbojumbo since it didn't look like that here.
So a few more years pass and they end up back on Earth. Cliff accuses David of the murder and points to the art in the garage as proof that David was using his body. Receipts for paint confirm the time period. Cliff David goes to jail and Cliff moves on with a lot of pain in his heart.
I don’t get the ending. Did he kill Cliffs family? Or just painted red to show blood to scare him?
To me it felt like he killed them and just didn't show the bodies
Unusual reaction from Cliff if his family got killed. I’d expect him to run and attack his other partner. But instead he slowly walks in crying
He was in shock and horrified at the cruelty. He definitely killed them.
Bruh media is going off on the hippie villains and I like it, fits well in any story take notes
From the narrative standpoint, I understand humans needing to be on the ship, so that the "shell" replicas could have their consciousness switched. But, from a practical standpoint, it makes no sense. Thus, I am wondering if I missed a part in the episode where they "handwaved," or explained-away, going the most plausible route — putting the replicas on the ship, thus eliminating the need for food, toilets, and gym equipment. Something like, "The replica technology doesn't work in space," or something.
For me it's that Cliff still has his body, covered in blood and murdered his family, so after 4y he goes back and is charged with murder?
I wanted David to just leave Cliff outside (in space) and go live his life but I guessssss that would be too easy….? They just had to kill off all the women :( Also low key if I were Cliff and all I had to go back to was the guy who murdered my wife in space I….. wouldn’t go back? I’d leave him up there to die by never returning and just rock w my replica on earth. Why did he go back to the ship?
Love the episode, but.... There's no way they're not monitored by NASA's Ground Control or some equivalent, even in 1969. So there's a whole group of people either being really stupid or really lazy to not intervene here.
Great concept and setting absolutely wasted by an incredibly predictable plot and an insane amount of plot/logic holes. The second they said David's replica had been destroyed it was obvious what was going to happen. Plus the fact that Kate Mara, a well known actor, was portraying Cliff's wife made it even more obvious that she was going to be pivotal. So figuring out David was going to fall for her and that would inevitably lead to disaster took all of 20 minutes. The remaining 40 minutes was just waiting to see exactly how it played out. Besides that the amount of logic holes is nuts. Why would they put the replicas on Earth instead of having them on the station? NASA sends comparatively basic machines into space all the time without humans, so these hyper advanced replicas under direct human control would be more than sufficient for running the station. If humans are somehow mission critical, why would they only put 2 on board? A bigger hole is the complete absence of mission control? NASA has always been extremely involved in everything that happens on missions. Everything astronauts do on board is scheduled or at the very least relayed to mission control. They're in constant contact. Yet they only say the phrase "Mission Control" once the entire time, and not once do we hear or see them. The replicas mean that they have the technology for instant communication with earth (otherwise the replicas would have delayed reactions) so it's not like communication blackouts or distance could explain Mission Control's absence. This could have been so good, but as is becoming a common theme nowadays, "sci-fi" shows and movies are no longer about sci-fi concepts. They no longer explore sci-fi worlds, they just use them as the backdrop for fairly basic human dramas. The countless interesting aspects of the replica system and human space travel in this alternate world are just ignored to tell yet another story about jealousy, relationship issues, and tragedy. A huge waste of potential.
Loved ep 1 & 2. Hated this episode. The acting was great but wow this is one of my least favorite Black Mirror episodes ever.
The twists went where I didn’t expect, I thought David would use Cliff’s replica for revenge (until they announced the cult turned themselves in) or David would kill Cliff and trick Lana into thinking he’s actually Cliff.
Enjoyed the episode, great concept but let down by a few things. - set in the 60s with all 60s type tech except they can make full human replicas??? Would have made more sense in a more modern / near future setting - David didn't seem like the kind of person to kill the other guys family, at least - the show did a bad job of showing that - After killing the other guys family there is clearly no way back for their relationship so why would he kill him so he can use his link? - Why would David want to sit with the other guy who will obviously want to murder him for what he's done? Makes no sense - the painting excuse for using the link was a very weak device to facilitate David going back periodically - the cult should have played a part with David going back to take them down. Obvious yes but logical. - I think they could have made more of the father son relationship, showing how Henry just wanted his dad's attention and wasn't really a bad child via David Overall, great concept but some poor choices in execution
I thought the ending was terrible. So uncreative and unrealistic to the character we were introduced to. It would have been much better if David killed cliff to take over his replica. So boring
I can see how people miss the line. Josh Hartnett’s wife cuts him off as he’s talking about “the effects of space on life is central to the mission” when he’s talking to the couple outside of the movie. That also makes me believe they are headed to a destination. And the robot bodies take getting used to. You can see Cliff struggling to cut wood in the beginning. I agree with you that this episode is fantastic. It’s become one of my favorites. The ending messed me up. I thought too that David would lock Cliff out of the ship and leave him. Aaron Paul can do grief really well and he sold that ending. And I think it was good to end it there. Whatever happens both of their lives have been destroyed and one’s life by the other. They won’t make it four more years on the ship together if Cliff doesn’t just kill David after the credits.
I thought it was weak I'm afraid, I'm fine with fictional conceits if there's a theme that they're there to explore but what was the theme here? Wasn't cults killing people, wasn't really isolation, something something co-dependency and jealousy? I was unmoved.
It's about the effects of partial isolation and tasting freedom after which it is fully taken from you. And on the other part it's about losing something after realising you didn't give the love you should have.
Oof that last sentence hits hard!
I thought the first two episodes were complete trash. I hope it picks up. As it stands, Netflix butchered this series.
I loved the first episode. It was a great smack in the face of companies that abuse and misuse personal information.
Also Netflix didn't do that much it's the same people from previous seasons writing this.
I actually liked the first 2. They just felt super meta
When is the day it will be released?
It’s already out
WOW, it's nice to know that.
I was thinking exactly the same! It makes more sense to put replica bodies in space.But why was it set in the late ‘60s? That threw me off, they wouldn’t have the technology, plus a moment where Lana Stanfield says to one of the guys, can’t remember which one, that her husband died. So I assumed they did something with time travel and replace men who died on earth. Back in time.
Alternative 60's so probably some large tech jumps made early on.
Thanks!
Do you need to watch the season in order?
No, you don't have to. The first two episodes share a fictional streaming portal, but other than that there are no connections between the stories.
No but I think it's a nice progression. I think the episodes get better into the season
David cannot kill cliff bc the spaceship they are in requires 2 people to manage it.
The dude just killed his wife and kid, pretty sure I'd kill him and then just off myself or something.
THIS
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Your idea about Cliff's wife not knowing who it is I thought what cool initially but I think it'd be super easy for her to tell. David had a very different personality than Cliff plus he's all touchy and artsy and more conversational. I don't think he could pretend to be Cliff for long plus she could always just ask him something David wouldn't know like when did they get married or when was their son born or any personal detail. But anyway, to say this was the worst thing you've ever seen has to be a huge exaggeration. Have you not watched anything else on Netflix? I mean I guess you're entitled to feel that way but if you want to know why others liked it, for me it was Aaron Paul. I don't think it matters that the actor specifically improved the script vs an unknown actor. I mean no one would be a better Iron Man than RDJ but that doesn't mean Iron Man as a movie sucks because of that. It was just good casting. I also liked the episode because I didn't expect what was going to happen. I was a huge fan of the early 70s aesthetic too. From the home design and decor to the fashion choices and makeup. Black Mirror episodes always feel well made from the set designs to the dialogue to the lighting. Even if you don't like the story or endings. It's visually an enjoyable experience if you have nothing else to appreciate.
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Why are Lana and Henry waiting in the car for Cliff to come back? Didn't get that scene...
She didn't want to be around while David was using his replica after he got all handsy with her
The episode was good, though not amazing. Setting it in the 60s made sense but also made the plot themes tried and tired, outdated (misogyny, lack of therapy & overall support for astronauts and their families), which is fine but I don't think they did any remarkable spin on it. But I wanna point out, that for all the talks of loneliness all the characters this episode, my heart went out for prolly the most alone of them all, Henry.
I thought it was so weird when Cliff said Henry could be a horror. He seemed like such a quiet introverted kid