Review of Black Mirror – ‘The Entire History of You’

SPOILERS: Do not read this if you have not seen Black Mirror – ‘The Entire History of You’

The last segment of this satirical trio of fables played with the notion of hindsight and questioned whether it really is a wonderful thing.

This time audiences were shown a world where a chip known as a ‘Grain’ was implanted under a person’s skin and could record and play back everything they saw. It was a disturbing vision of the future as it allowed a person to repeatedly replay in agonising detail all the events in their life. The message seemed to be that humans already misunderstand one another and read too much into situations without the aid of an electronic device.

The opening scene looked incredibly promising and it felt like Jesse Armstrong’s story could be a witty swipe at our reliance on technology. However, out of the three stories ‘The Entire History of You’ was the weakest of the lot and unfolded like an episode of ‘EastEnders’ with constant shouting, tussles and confrontations over illicit affairs. Rather than being gritty it was simply uncomfortable to watch.

The piece continued to unravel as any sympathy for Liam (Toby Kebbell) disappeared rapidly and his Grain helped to fuel and confirm his paranoia. He was the cuckolded husband but it was implied that he already had a self-destructive and untrusting nature. Viewers learned that his chip had previously been the source of possibly unfounded suspicions when he walked out on his wife for several days. Perhaps, if there had been ambiguity over Liam’s interpretation of his re-dos, it would have had a deeper impact.

The other downfall of this story was that the most intriguing aspect of the Grain was left to one side, namely that it is a form of control over the people in this society. It was apparent that this small chip had a massive impact on society from airport security to employment. During Liam’s appraisal he was asked whether he had any major deletions, suggesting his bosses wanted to know about all aspects of his life and what he may have been trying to hide. There was a brief discussion around the dinner table where the greater significance of the Grain was touched upon but nothing more was made of it. It would have been far more interesting to have taken a political route through this story instead of a domestic one.

In some respects ‘The Entire History of You’ had similarities to ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ but unlike the film there was no compassion for either Liam or his cheating wife Ffion (Jodie Whittaker). During their sex scene there was an obvious detachment between the couple as each watched re-dos rather than emotionally connecting with each other in that moment. The sequence tied in with the overarching theme of human disconnection created by technology but this message was lost in all the melodrama. By the time Liam was scraping the Grain out from under his skin there was very little compassion left for him from a viewer’s perspective.

Generally, the ‘Black Mirror’ series has been a thought-provoking experiment by Charlie Brooker and Channel 4, and it has certainly got the public talking. ‘The National Anthem’ was a salacious shocker to draw people in but it did also have a valid point about the power of social media. Saying this, the message about the ‘hive mind’ seemed to get lost in all the excitement about porcine sex. As a collection of dystopian tales, ‘15 Million Merits’ was the strongest by far and made ‘The Entire History of You’ seem even weaker. This week was a slice of soap opera with a twist of Philip K. Dick, there were notable references to ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Minority Report’. In comparison ‘15 Million Merits’ stood out because it found the right balance between the themes and the plot; there was something tangible about it and the audience could identify with the satire of reality TV.

The series has explored our anxieties surrounding technology by exaggerating situations but at times these ideas fell into the background. If a second series of ‘Black Mirror’ is commissioned there needs to be a greater focus on the themes. Overall it has been a refreshing change to other programmes on the schedule.

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Image credit: Channel 4

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