Black Mirror - Charlie Brooker - 2019
*Season 5 - 5 Episodes - 1 hr*
1. Striking Viper - 1hr 11min
The episode opens with two people standing at the bar. A young man and woman, talking - meeting for the first time. He asks the woman if he can buy her a drink and right after he orders, two other people walk up behind them. The male intrudes the female to the group as ādaisyā and we learn that the first two were role playing and actually together. The second male & the first two people are actually all roommates.
The scene changes and you see the first two people being intimate, and then theyāre sleeping. The guy wakes up for food and then he hears the tv turn on and he walks out to see his friend playing video games and joins him for a few rounds. A few years go by and itās the first guys birthday - he has a kid at this point and he and Theo are married. Karl shows up to his birthday party and gives him a video game they used to play together but in a new upgraded virtual world! When the day is over Karl and the first guy get on the virtual game together and start playing. The game allows them to feel totally emerged in this video game and world. Both men play the characters they used to play, Karl picking his female character and the first guy picking lance his male character.
When they finish playing the female character (Karl) has won and ends up ontop of the male character. They end up kissing and the first guy freaks out. (At this point you have to remember that the game allows you to feel any and all sensations) he logs out of the game gets into bed and his wife notices he has a hard on. They get intimate and the next night she goes out for a girls night.
After Danny puts his kid to bed and they both log back on the game - they lean back and they agree they were drunk and now they are going to play a serious game. Still choosing the same characters they go in to begin their fight & instead start getting....intimate (Iām not sure if any of this shows on the tv screen or if itās just virtual but, he might wanna chill) after they finish they try to talk about it, awkwardly, but Dannyās son kicks him and he exits the game. His wife comes home from girls night out and he pretends to be asleep.
The next morning his wife is telling him about how she drank a lot while she was out because she ended up getting her period (their actively trying to get pregnant). The scene changes to the video game and they end up doing the same thing as before.
Karl and Danny end up using this game as a way to be intimate with one another and in turn start neglecting their real lives. They get so involved with doing it in the game that they no longer do it in their real lives. Dannyās wife is starting to question everything about herself. But, at the same time all of this begs the question, are these men gay? They start to talk about what it means and Karl explains that he always chooses the woman because of how much better it feels and of course, they get intimate again. His wife is starting to notice a change in him. Karl comes to expect playing this game with Danny, they have text messages where they plan what scene theyāll...play & Karl gets upset one night when Danny has to cancel for a date with his wife. While one the date his wife calls him out for his weird behavior and starts talking to him about how their not getting pregnant - she is upset that they arenāt having any sex & he says itās just because heās tired. She knows that more is happening (people always know), she calls him out for cheating because she notices that he doesnāt want her anymore. He doesnāt try to get intimate with her anymore & he assures her nothing is happening. The scene changes & Karl is in bed with the young girl heās in a relationship with - he says heās not feeling the mood & they stop. Karl logs on, Danny is logged on & then they both log off. Danny hides the VR game, deciding heās not going to use it anymore. Karl wants to know where heās at & Danny tells him he canāt play anymore, he says itās not fair to Theo & Karl begs him to change his mind. Danny hangs up.
Seven months go by and Theo is pregnant - Karlās life on the other hand...not looking to bright. Heās angry and depressed & heās just waiting around for Danny to message him. Itās Dannyās birthday and Theo emails Karl and invites him over to their house for dinner (Theo still doesnāt know about what happened between Karl and Danny) - dinner is awkward, to say the least. Danny is upset with Karl for coming over for dinner, and they get into an argument about it. Danny tells him everything is just to weird & Karl tells him the only weird thing is that no other experience in the real world matches what they had in that game.
Karl tells him that he goes into the game all the time looking for a fix to their affair - even having his character be intimate with a polar bear character. He claims nothing can match what Danny / Lance & him / Roxette have in the game. Thing get heated and Karl leaves after cake. He lets Danny know that Roxette will be waiting in the game at midnight & Danny logs on & they do their thing. Karl tells Danny (in the game as their characters) that he loves what their doing & he loves him. Danny feels weird about it (obviously because he feels the same way but he has family obligations) - Danny is having internal conflict and he tells Karl to log out of the game and meet him in real life at a car park.
Danny says they have to kiss because they need to know if they really feel that way in real life because heās tired of not knowing. Karl is trying to make it light but itās clearly hard for them & after they kiss for real they both say they donāt feel anything. Agreeing they can just be friends. Karl says itās different in the game and him and Danny start fighting - they get arrested and Theo has to pick him up. Theo wants to know why they were fighting and as soon as Danny starts talking it cuts to a scene of his birthday. They make a deal with one another that one night a month (the 14) Danny and Karl get to have their thing together and Theo gets to experience other men in real life.
8/10: Recommend - it is a weird watch though, as most Black mirror episodes are, but, this is really a weird one.
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