The story is that a real woman's mediocre life has been not-quite-fictionalized, AI-digitized, and streamed by a Netflix-like company, with disastrous results for her. Those results also streamed, including fruitless attempts to cancel the iron-clad contract she unwittingly agreed-to when signing to buy the streaming service.. SPOILER: It turns out that *she herself* is the first-generation fiction, and all of her actions and emotions were originated by an actress. PROBLEMS: 1/The true original, who we never see, is an actress, playing a part. She knowingly agreed, and is getting paid. No problem, yet. No one else is real, including the main character. What is this telling us, the real audience?: "Sucker: We made you care about an AI fake." 2/(To me, the bigger problem): At the end the actress/original and the first-gen fake are buddies. ???? When the other AI copies disappeared, SO SHOULD SHE.
2 Reviews
Meta in the Worst Way Possible
maxcoh3n5 September 2023
Black Mirror has officially jumped the shark. Criticism of an entity coming from that entity itself is toothless and lame. I really don't want to hear about what Netflix thinks of itself. The story was already just derivative and uninteresting and then they decided to throw in the twist at the end which was basically a way dumber version of San Junipero. It really added nothing to the story except some buzz sci-fi of quantum computing/simulation theory. But it doesn't add anything to the theme or anything to chew on, just makes for maybe one or two decent jokes about the actors. What a waste of time, other than maybe Salma Hayak's role as herself being somewhat comedic. Black Mirror has lost its edge.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
