If you haven't caught the first series of Black Mirror, then you really should, it's a dark, satirical and a thought-provoking look at the place technology has in contemporary life. While the first series was depressing and disgusting in parts (but brilliant), this episode has a different feel to it.
The episode begins with a couple, Ash and Martha (played by Domhnall Gleeson - Bill Weasley (!) and Hayley Atwell) and in the process of moving in to a new house in the countryside. Immediately it is clear that this is set in some sort of technological parallel universe (or just the future) with crazy touch technology in the van they are driving, and on their phones. There's also a weird singing pregnancy test and a cool technological easel type thing (it's probably obvious technology isn't my strong point). From the start, a point is made that Ash is addicted to his phone, highlighting the current obsession with social networks and technology, and crucially that it is accepted as the norm. To cut a short story shorter, Ash is killed in a car accident when returning the van.
This is where series two has a slightly different feel. It's moving, and human, despite the futuristic technology. Having said that, the technology doesn't feel that far off. The idea of a digital footprint, all our online activity being stored somewhere cataloging our life, is a very current one. As Martha is grieving for Ash, her friend suggests a software program than can create a fake Ash by assimilating all of his online activity to form Ash's personality (or a veneer of it).
She is clearly struggling to move on, made even worse when she discovers that she is pregnant with Ash's child. She becomes isolated, talking to 'Ash' via messages on her phone and computer. Then she updates the software and recreates his voice. She drops her phone one day, smashing the screen and goes into full on panic mode, thinking that she'd 'broken him'. One thing leads to another (via some technology-y stuff that is pretty futuristic, but still seems potentially viable in my uninformed opinion) and things get out of hand. Before long she's got a reincarnated, half Ash-like, real synthetic man.
It really struck a chord with me - if someone I loved passed away and I had the chance to chat to them and pretend they're still here, I can't say that I would be strong enough to ignore it. There was a strange scene where she succumbs to her desire to have sex with the weird fake Ash, and he is completely blank as his online life doesn't contain a 'sexual response'.
It becomes apparent that the resurrected Ash is really only Ash has he represented himself online. Fake Ash notes that the pictures we upload on the internet are always the better version of ourselves, hence his smoother skin. It made me wonder what the online version of me would look and sound like... not so sure it would be a better version...
All in all, a really interesting look at the effect of technology in the most human of relationships: love. Charlie Brooker's script is fab - the episode is pretty much just carried by both Martha and Ash and this, along with the isolated country setting and simple style, really portrays Martha's loneliness.
This episode seems to have connected to me personally, more so than those of the last series. I think this is because, although a parody to normal life, the first three episodes were quite detached, and I couldn't help feeling that the Prime Minister having sex with a pig would never happen. This episode feels more real, and is more thought-provoking as a result. Some critics have linked this with Charlie Brooker's recent entry into fatherhood, and the softy in me would like to think that's true.
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| Martha chatting to fake Ash |
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