Summary: Martha and her lover Ash are in a happy relationship until Ash is tragically killed in an accident. Martha struggles to get past this and goes for a new technology which creates a new robot which mimics Ash's voice. She also discovers that she is pregnant. She orders a physical robot of Ash to have with her, but is eventually creeped out by it since it isn't really Ash and is basically just a memory. Martha banishes Ash to the attic as a memory as she lives her life.
The Good: Another powerful episode kicks off season 2. This episode once more delved into the horrors that technological advancement could hit the world with, while also giving us a moving and devastating character arc throughout the entire hour. The concept, as usual, is nothing short of brilliant. This episode focuses on the idea that technology can bring back the spirit of a deceased loved one in the form of a robot, and how it will affect the way we move on from tragedies. It's a clever idea, and feels like something we may not be too far away from having in our world, making the horrors explored in the episode feel so real and impactful. The episode started off very simply, and with the charm of the actors, it provided us a relationship we could care about in the first 5 minutes. This makes it so when Ash dies, we have a good idea of what Martha has just lost and it's incredibly easy to put ourselves in her shoes, especially if you understand how it feels to lose a loved one. Hayley Atwell does a tremendous job of portraying Martha's pain after she loses Ash, and her eventual desperation to get Ash back, through this mysterious program somebody had suggested to her. Her obsession with the phone Ash was done really well. We get to see her clinging onto his memory more and more, as she loses all other social activity in an attempt to reconnect with this memory of Ash, which she can't help but want to spend all her time with. It's a powerful message which reflects the natural human inability to let go and move on, and through the excellent storytelling, we get to see the negative effects that Martha clinging on to Ash has on her life, and how it ultimately ends up bringing her more suffering than good. This brings me to the robot Ash which Martha does everything to get her hands on. The phone Ash was easier to connect with, as she doesn't get to experience all of Ash's habits, but when this robot comes in, she realizes that what she has gotten is just a shell with pieces of Ash's personality added into it, and the robot just follows her around like some sort of lot child or animal. It's brutal to watch and very creepy, and it's sad to see this memory of Ash rapidly drive Martha insane as she realizes that it can't give her what she wants it to. The climax of the episode is a fantastic scene which perfectly portrays Martha's struggle as she brings "Ash" to the lover's leap spot and asks him to jump off, but at the same time lets out her anger that he isn't refusing in the way Ash would. But in the end, all this does is torture her more, as she now has to look at an image of Ash crying and begging her not to kill him. Her scream at the end perfectly encapsulated her misery and felt like a perfect cathartic conclusion to her story, so perfect in fact, that I think the episode could have ended there if it wanted to. But one thing this show des brilliantly, is offer one extra twist at the end, creating even more emotion while still driving home the episode. The ending to this episode is gut-wrenching as we learn that Martha has sent Ash up to the attic, just like Ash's mother did with the photographs, essentially adapting him as just a memory. It's really powerful, not only from the idea that her daughter seemingly visits him extremely rarely, but also from the thought that Ash is just standing there waiting, probably for months at a time, just for somebody to visit him once for a little while. That's even more powerful stuff to end the episode on. The writing on the show is superb as ever. There were so many little things which impressed me a lot. There were these fantastic little touches which made robot Ash feel even more inhuman when compared to the real Ash, including his hollow reactions to Ash's childhood picture and the Bee Gees song which Martha played in the car. The way the show handled Ash's death was great as well, making it impactful while also leaving some interesting ambiguity to it (see: The Unknown). Lastly, I thought the nature of the pregnancy test was fantastic as instead of a happy moment, it served as a painful reminder of what Martha has lost and how tough it would be to move on. The Bad: Sarah signing Martha up for the program felt stupid. How did she get Martha's information? Clearly they weren't that close since she doesn't appear again in the episode. And also, how would the company let Martha get signed up without her own consent? I felt like there was a bit too much repetition towards the end of the episode. I think the show lingered on Ash's creepiness and how it was bothering Martha a bit too much. I feel like it diminished the power of the episode quite a bit since the overall message seemed to drone on. Though that last point could definitely just be a problem for me. Having lost some people close to me recently, this was a very tough episode for me to watch, and a lot of the time it was too much for me. I can't deny that the storytelling was outstanding, but it was incredibly rough to watch, and I think that for me it was a bit too rough. I can't deny the episode's quality, but considering my uncomfortable reaction to it, I can't rank it amongst the best of the show. The Unknown: How did Ash end up dying? You would have to suspect that it was from his cell phone addition (another nod to the show's messages about technology). I like that the show leaves these small things ambiguous to let us fill in our own answers. Best Moment: The scene between Martha and Ash on the cliff was definitely the most affecting. It was easy to understand Martha's dilemma and her scream was fantastic. Character of the Episode: Martha. Conclusion: Black Mirror continues its strong streak with another excellent episode, which examines loss and the affects it has on people. While this episode is really uncomfortable for me to watch, I can't deny that the writing was outstanding. Score: 75
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|