While the concept behind this story was clever, it was perhaps a little too implausible to take seriously. The unfortunate person in this story was Greta (Oona Chaplin), who finds "herself" trapped into an empty white void, where the only thing to pass the time is to fulfil her "original" self's domestic whims. The catch? This is achieved by copying the home-owner's mind into a small metal 'egg', which essentially enslaves a digital copy of the client and forces them to become a CPU. Matt's actually a technology guru specialising in a gizmo that transforms homes into state-of-the-art living spaces where everything's automated and tailored to the inhabitant's desires with an unprecedented amount of perfection. Here we learned more about Matt's day job (getting paid to coach introverted guys into sleeping with girls was apparently an illegal but lucrative pastime). The second story was the weakest of the trio. Almost as if Brooker was searching for a dark, unsettling end to this story, but couldn't quite find one that felt more natural and better foreshadowed. Most Black Mirror's stories involve a twist-ending, but having shy Jennifer reveal herself to be-what, mentally unstable?-believing she can hear voices, then forcing Harry into a mutual suicide using a poisoned beverage, was. The only issue was, unfortunately, something that sucked the wind out of its sails: the ending. Having a ladykiller like Matt spoon-feeding him advice and assistance, with the aide of high-speed social media searches that can convince strangers he knows them, comes in handy when Harry gatecrashes an office Christmas party and tries to seduce a beautiful kindred spirit called Jennifer (Natalie Tena).įor a large portion of this opening story, I was charmed by the lighthearted comedy of seeing Harry successfully seduce Jennifer at the party, with amusing support from Matt on his computer screen.
![the black mirror white christmas the black mirror white christmas](https://s-cdn.serienjunkies.de/black-mirror/galerie/2x04/146841.jpg)
The first was an intriguing look at Matt's background as a smooth 'wingman' for socially-awkward geeks like Harry (Rasmus Hardiker), who plies his trade using futuristic technology that enables him to see and hear everything his clients are experiencing. Why they've spent five years together in isolation, barely speaking, would eventually be answered, but not before three flashbacks.
![the black mirror white christmas the black mirror white christmas](https://blogs-images.forbes.com/insertcoin/files/2018/01/black-mirror-white-christmas.jpg)
Unusually for Black Mirror, the stories weren't standalone, but revolved around two men who found themselves living together in a remote, snowed-in cabin: handsome American Matt Trent (Hamm) and disheveled, down-on-his-luck Joe Potter (Rafe Spall). There were three dark tales on offer from creator-writer Brooker, which again utilised near-future technology to poke modern-day fears and anxieties.