Black Mirror Season-Finale Recap: Clone Wars

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What’s the current status regarding Season 7 of Black Mirror? Frankly, it’s been unpredictable, to put it mildly, much like the series has been since its initial three seasons. However, four episodes in a row that were less than exceptional have raised some concerns. There seems to be a sense of repetition that hints at the show possibly exhausting its creative resources, even though it occasionally delivers something as moving as “Eulogy.

The season was saving its finest moments for the end, giving the impression that Charlie Brooker might have spent more time and resources on this extended finale rather than the previous episodes – not just 76 minutes as in the original “USS Callister,” but a full 90 minutes. We’ve grown accustomed to quality and flair with this series, but this episode takes things to an epic level.

Into Infinity” is a follow-up to an episode released in 2017, and the script – penned by original writers Brooker, William Bridges, Bisha K. Ali, and Bekka Bowling – skillfully weaves backstory into the narrative through dialogues and flashbacks. The character of Nanette Cole, portrayed by Cristin Milioti, was significant in “USS Callister,” but it was her digital clone housed on a secured server within CTO Robert Daly’s (Jesse Plemons) hard drive, alongside replicas of CEO James Walton (Jimmi Simpson), intern Nate Packer (Osy Ikhile), employees Karl Valdack (Billy Magnussen), Elena Tulaska (Milanka Brooks), Kabir Dudani (Paul G. Raymond), and Shania Lowry (Michaela Coel) that took center stage. After coercing the “real” Nanette into obtaining their DNA samples from Daly’s residence to halt further cloning, the digital crew piloted their ship through a wormhole, breaking free into the genuine multiplayer VR world of Infinity, while Daly found himself trapped in his modified version and perished in reality. The experience felt like the start of a thrilling new journey filled with potential perils.

In the upcoming sequel, all characters except Coel (due to scheduling issues) reappear. The world of Infinity is tough, as Captain Nan and her team are compelled to pilfer players’ credits for fuel and ammunition due to escalating costs. This has made them quite notorious among disgruntled users, particularly because they don’t use player tags and can bleed in a game devoid of blood. The relentless pursuit is becoming increasingly challenging as the risks are heavily stacked; most players can revive themselves, but these characters only have one life. Shania discovered this lesson the hard way.

It’s been several months since Daly passed away, yet Nanette continues to carry a sense of guilt, even though she bears no responsibility. During her workday, she encounters a small tribute for Daly, arranged by Walton to impress a young journalist from the New York Times (Bilal Hasna from Extraordinary) who was there to interview him about the Infinity gang and the illegal DNA digital cloner found in body-cam footage. After eavesdropping on the meeting, Nanette volunteers to assist in identifying the bandits using Kabir’s complaint log. As she delves deeper into her research, she comes across a recent report from a player named Pixie. Upon replaying her video, Nanette verifies the identities of the bandits: a clone of Packer and a clone of herself, whom I’ll refer to as Nan moving forward.

Nanette lays out the entire scenario for Walton, summarizing key occurrences from “USS Callister,” and they both decide to enter the game in order to locate their replicas. Simultaneously, they discover a method to find Clone-Walton (also known as Walt). It appears that he self-destructed several months ago, but due to residual biological matter passing through a wormhole, he resurfaced as a player on a different planet. Nanette is determined to locate him since he’s the only one who can access the game’s original code at the Heart of Infinity. By doing so, they could create their own partitioned universe and remain secure from the countless players eager to take their lives.

On a planet resembling rock, Walt has led a solitary existence, forming an unusual bond with a rock (as hinted by the hole in its back), similar to Tom Hanks’ character in Cast Away, and bearing more resemblance to Rickety Cricket than Liam McPoyle, specifically Jimmi Simpson’s portrayal. In this harsh environment, two pairs of Nanette-Waltons encounter each other and reunite on the spaceship known as Callister. They update one another on their experiences. Nanette admires her clone’s resilience and competence, shaped by her past struggles under Captain Daly and recent adventures leading a gang of rebels. On the other hand, Nan feels envious and resentful towards Nanette’s life outside. Sasha Alexander skillfully differentiates between the two characters through her movements and expressiveness, making it effortless to follow along and identify who is who.

This situation seems strikingly similar to the Innie-Outie dilemmas portrayed in Severance, but with a simpler narrative flow. Before delving too deeply into identity matters, Walton disrupts the conversation by recklessly using a laser gun, missing all his intended targets except Clone-Karl. Nan retaliates and temporarily incapacitates him. In a surprising turn of events, Nanette rushes after him, scolding him for his actions, exits the office. In an unexpected twist, she’s struck by a van, rendering her unconscious and brain-dead in the hospital.

Should she prioritize saving her crew or opt for reuniting with her counterpart’s body and merging consciousnesses to regain a normal life (this concept being referred to as “reintegration” in the show “Severance”).

As a discerning movie-goer, I must say that the character’s deception was as clear as day. He possesses an uncanny ability to manipulate others, but his casual use of the term “copy-paste” served as a glaring red flag for Nan. Unwilling to succumb to being his unwilling captive in this desolate setting, she stood firm against his juvenile advances. Unfortunately, his immature behavior escalated when he resorted to a cruel trick reminiscent of the prime Daly from the original series, silencing Nan with an instantaneous snap of his fingers. However, Nan retaliated by striking him with her Bargradian cutlass, fortunately restoring her voice in the process.

Meanwhile, as these events unfold, the team aboard the Callister ship faces equally pressing issues. Walton momentarily reappears, knocking out his duplicate and pretending to be a more modest, amiable version of himself. Although everyone soon realizes this deception, he successfully invites along every person they’ve ever robbed, resulting in an epic space battle that provides the same exhilarating excitement as “USS Callister” did when it paid tribute to Star Trek for a while.

The demise of the Daly duplicate triggers a destructive mechanism, causing the Infinity’s Core to crumble, and with it, the entire game collapses. Fortunately, Nan locates the crucial disc at the right moment to prevent the crew from vanishing into nothingness, while Walton encounters an error message indicating that the game has been erased from the server permanently. He receives his due punishment, as depicted in a future scene where he is apprehended after three months on the run.

In the realm of cinematic escapades, I’d say my personal experience with the Callister crew took a peculiar twist. Turns out, Nan managed to revert back to her original self. However, here’s where things get interesting – in a twist reminiscent of ‘Being John Malkovich’, the entire crew found themselves inhabiting Nanette’s mind! Quite the brain-bending scenario, if you ask me.

Now, with Nanette as our central nervous system, we’ve got this shared consciousness deal going on. The main screen in our virtual world now reflects whatever she perceives. Weird, right? But

While “Into Infinity” may not quite match the mind-bending and pulse-pounding impact of its predecessor in the “Black Mirror” series, it certainly comes close. Given the exceptional nature of that episode as a standout in the canon, it sets a challenging benchmark to surpass. This sequel manages to keep up the same rapid pace, even with its extended length and lack of a unifying theme like the previous episode’s exploration of entitlement and masculinity.

Although I still believe that Charlie Brooker is overly fixated on clone rights and filling each story with artificial characters indistinguishable from real humans, this episode, perhaps more than any other since season four, demonstrates that the series can still deliver exceptional content. It’s comforting to know that it’s still capable of hitting home runs.

Final Reflections

• Apparently the clone of Tulaska had to switch back to her alien skin because of her eczema.

• The Metallica scene is amusing, but I particularly like the massive ship “staring” at them.

In this episode, Simpson performs exceptionally well, much like he did in the initial one. His peculiar, humorous lines are delivered with a unique charm. For instance: “Would you like me to eliminate your clone, and then you could eliminate mine?” “What? Never!” “Oh my goodness, it would be so relieving if we were to end our lives instead.

Humorous, offhand incident: Walton, with curiosity, explores the (probably gooey) opening in Walt’s pet stone figure.

It seems somewhat unlikely that Daly could bring Nan back into reality through the game, but never mind.

It seems that Packer’s duplicate is currently commanding the vessel; this progression marks his journey from intern to commander. Kudos to him, although at present, there isn’t a lot of captaincy involved.

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2025-04-11 22:55