*Spoiler alert* this article is about the second episode of season five of ‘Black Mirror.’
‘Black Mirror’ has always left audiences either puzzled or baffled or both. The troubling yet addictive series has smothered fans with blaring truths about the world we live in. Season five of the show only has three episodes, with all three centered around not-so-futuristic technological woes.
Andrew Scott is the mourning IT engineer/Uber driver Chris who sets out to find the CEO, Bauer of a social media app he wishes to kill, in an attempt to avenge his dead wife who died in a car crash with Chris. Why is he hellbent on finding Bauer? Well, Chris was using the same social media app when he caused the fatal crash. The entire episode has Chris maneuvering his way around different employees in order to reach Bauer; ironically Bauer is the hardest person to trace, despite him being the reason everyone’s so addicted to being online.
The theme is simple: we live in a technological conundrum we refuse to accept – information spreads like wildfire, with domino effects unchartered than ever before for the smallest of data. Once it’s out there, it’s no longer in control – hence the episode’s title ‘Smithereens.’ It’s essentially matter left behind from an explosion, with the social app being the kernel of explosive matter (the spread of information). It boils down to the question of what existence we’re leading – are we even alive if we’re always online?
The shocking ending was left as a cliffhanger – we don’t know if the police shot Chris or a hostage of Chris. And this is what got everyone’s panties in a twist because we did exactly what the episode was trying to relay; a bitter, harrowing truth where fans who saw the episode jumped onto social media to find out who died.
https://twitter.com/Lk3mp_/status/1136394912285515778?s=20
We really got played by ‘Black Mirror.’
