Summary: Daly is a co-founder of Callister Inc., which created a video game system called Infinity. Daly is a geeky co-boss who is overshadowed by everyone around him. When he gets home, he plays on a Space Fleet mod on his Infinity where he has clones of his co-workers in the world where he gets to abuse them. He gets the copy of new girl Nanette, but she refuses to submit to Daly. Together, the crew form a plan to escape from Daly's grasp and when an update happens to the game, they are able to escape. Daly is trapped in the system after the new update.
The Good: The style of this episode was unique and fun. I'm not a Star Trek fan, but I'm sure there were tons of nods from the whole "Space Fleet" concept which was used here. I really loved the style of the space fleet world and the opening scene with the VHS effect was really neat. The special effects and cinematography certainly stood out in this episode. Daly was a really good character. He was a very good concept for a central character. He initially comes off as just an awkward geek character who has a big heart but isn't really accepted by the people around him. This is a pretty dull stereotype, but what makes him stand out is his Space Fleet character Captain Daly, who is a sadistic monster who extracts revenge from his co-workers by creating copies of them and controlling them inside of his game world. It's a horrifying twist which completely changes our perspective on Daly after about 20 minutes. It's a great change and immediately makes the episode much more interesting. I liked that we got to experience Daly's cruelty through the eyes of Nanette who becomes our new protagonist after 20 minutes. It's a cool twist and it's the change of focus which changes our opinions on Daly. Without a different protagonist to root for, Daly may have ended up being similar to somebody like Kenny who we could still possibly root for. By showing us Daly in a very negative light from the people around him, it makes him all the more creepy and unsettling, ensuring that we root for Nanette instead which makes the climax much better. I loved Nanette's initial failed escape. At first I was uncertain because it had seemed like she immediately found a way to escape despite everyone else saying there was no escape. But it didn't work and instead served as a way to demonstrate Daly's commanding power and how hopeless the crew's situation really was. This was essential to make the eventual escape so much more satisfying. Walton's story and character arc was very interesting too. I liked the brief examination of his relationship with Daly and his character came full circle by the end when he gave his life to help out the crew. His horror story about Daly where he tortured his son was quite terrifying and helped give Walton's character more motives and was another scene which continued to portray Daly in a negative light. I like that this episode expanded on the tech from "White Christmas" with these clones which reminded me off the cookies. The reveal that the clones were actual people in a way with memories and feelings was a genuine surprise and it was just as effective in garnering my sympathy as Greta from "White Christmas". The Aaron Paul cameo at the end was funny and awesome. I also thought that the sci-fi parody aspect was pretty funny too at times and I'm sure that huge sci-fi fans really enjoyed this aspect of the episode. The Bad: I was disappointed by the parody aspect though. Much like the weaker episodes of "Friends", it felt like the parody took away from what made this show so great to begin with. I enjoy its realistic take on technology, the powerful symbolism and unpredictable storytelling which always ensures to hit with genuine emotion. This episode completely missed out on that by becoming a conventional sci-fi flick with tension and basic straightforward storytelling which is much harder to get emotionally attached with due to its simplistic nature. The episode is also overly long, and with such a simple story it really feels its length. In a lot of ways this is pretty much the same issue I had with "Hated in the Nation", and I sincerely hope that the show isn't going to be heading in this direction more frequently. The technology concept was odd as well. I wasn't happy with the idea that DNA could lead to the clones remembering their past lives. It makes no sense that the DNA could retain memories and with the realism removed from this episode's technology, the episode fails to unsettle me with the thought that this could potentially happen in the real world. The writing in the episode was pretty unsatisfying towards the end as well and it really took away from the ending of the episode. First of all, why would the update make a vortex in Daly's offline mod? How did the characters even know what it was? It was pretty convenient and dumb and only served to make a cool climactic storyline. Also, why didn't Daly just exit game when they were charging the vortex? That would make the ship stop moving and Daly would regain control over everything. Furthermore, can't he just use his god powers to stop them from escaping? We needed a better explanation for why he couldn't deal with these flaws. The ending with Daly dying was dumb. Why did he die? How did he get stuck? I have no idea and that's a problem. It felt like he just died because there needed to be a happy ending. The Unknown: What world is open to the clones now? What will they find there? Is it possible for anyone to save Daly? Did he deserve this fate for what he did, or were his actions totally justified? What will happen to present Nanette? Will she get apprehended for a potential role in Daly's death due to her connections with the pizza guy? Best Moment: Nanette being introduced to Daly's world was really good and when he actually arrived it became rather unsettling. It was pretty enjoyable. There weren't many stand out moments from this episode. Character of the Episode: Daly. Conclusion: This was a fun and enjoyable episode, but it was deeply flawed and failed to capture most of what makes Black Mirror great. I had a good time watching this and there were some great aspects here, but I still feel rather disappointed because this could have been so much more. Score: 65
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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