Black Mirror: Black Museum Review (Spoilers)

Hey you, welcome back to the channel. And guys, today we're going to review Black Mirror episode Black Museum, and this is the season finale for season 4. Uh, our, uh, main star of the episode, um, is the actress Letitia Wright fresh off Black Panther, or she did this before, prior to Black Panther. Very interesting. There's a few cast members from the Black Panther movie. Daniel Kaluuya, who was in 15 Million Merits. And she opens up, she's on this drive. It looks like she's maybe driving through Arizona, some remote area out in the desert. And I really liked this episode. Um, some people didn't quite like it as much as the others. They didn't like how it kind of took the Tales from the Crypt approach because this does feature 3 unique stories, 3 separate stories, um, into this one episode, all centered around a character we got to see by the name of Rolo Haynes. Um, And, um, uh, really, really liked how they, uh— I, I felt this was a great season, and I felt it gave us enough different elements, um, to take this approach to give us these three separate stories. I really like that. Um, you know, the first story we got was about Dr. Peter Dawson, and what was very interesting about Dr. Peter Dawson's character, the, the actor who plays him, I believe his name is Daniel LePayne, uh, or LePayne, and this actor actually played Octavian from the Rome series. Uh, that's another thing, uh, there have been several actors throughout the Black Black Mirror show that starred in the TV series Rome, um, as well as Game of Thrones. Very well done television shows. I definitely invite you all to watch those. But, um, I think that's another reason I like Black Mirror so much is that they have really great actors in here that I recognize. But, um, uh, what, what was so— I found very unique about his character Dr. Dawson is that he played a similar character in the Rome episode, a, a, uh, a person who got pleasure from pain. And he plays those, uh, rules well. But, uh, you know, as we got to see in Rome, Octavian was addicted to pain. And in this episode, he plays Dr. Dawson, who, uh, becomes addicted to pain, um, you know, from the experimental technology that Rolo Hayes' company is associated with, uh, or the Tucker Corporation, uh, which was affiliated with the same Tucker Corporation we got to see in San Junipero. And Rolo Hayes actually references, uh, San Junipero. He keeps saying San Juniper, San Juniper. So Um, so he's worked with this company. He's kind of like the front man that comes out and, and offers people the option to take this experimental technology, and many times to get them out of tough spots and jams, uh, where they have really no other options on the table. And of course, this technology, when used, it always has an unexpected effect. And, uh, just found it very interesting that we got to see, uh, that story play out where this technology again corrupts a person. All of the unforeseen occurrences that can happen with this technology. And there are a lot of connections with this, um, with this episode to the Black Mirror universe. Uh, you know, this is actually the Black Museum actually houses many of the artifacts, many of the many items that we knew from other episodes. And, um, as this is an anthology series, I've said this before in many of my reviews, that, uh, these are standalone episodes. You can just come in, watch these episodes. In fact, I don't even review them in order. I've skipped around, and there's a Several episodes I haven't done over the 4 seasons yet that I have to go back and do. But I can say that it— some people say, oh, it's just Easter eggs. They don't like Easter eggs. I love Easter eggs. And I really do like to see them connect many of these— have these many connections to the Black Mirror universe. Now, the writer and producer Charlie Booker does say that Uh, the— there isn't a physical, necessarily a physical connection to all the stories and the artifacts and the items, uh, that are associated with the show, but there is this psychological connection. But we can see physical connections in the technology. A lot of this technology, as we got to see used throughout the Black Mirror series, that are now housed in this museum are, uh, are physical items, right? They're physical objects. And, uh, there is also a timeline we're able now to kind of put together as to when or when, when these, um, uh, these, uh, items were created and when in the entire Black Mirror universe some of the stories occur. Um, and we know that based on the referencing of other episodes and the technology used and certain dates and times given in the episodes. Um, you know, even with the, uh, when we get to speak, uh, talk about the, the bear, uh, where we got to see Carrie, who was housed in this bear, uh, from a technology that she was in a coma where she can— her consciousness can kind of share a mind with her, um, with her lover Jack, and we got to see, we get to understand that there was a ruling, I believe, by the United Nations. I could be wrong, but there was a, it was more or less a crime against humanity to trap a consciousness, you know, or digital copy upload of a conscious, you know, conscious person, which is now basically a living type life of some sort to trap it. and to abuse it. So they had their own rights, and we got to understand that that was put into place during this episode. And there are certain episodes that happened before this, so we know that they weren't covered by this particular humanitarian law or digital being, uh, law that would protect these consciousness copies getting uploaded. And that's basically what the second story was about, uh, Jack and, uh, Carrie, uh, you know. And, uh, I found all that very interesting, uh, how it just covered a lot of negatives of this technology, what could happen with this technology, uh, the, uh, the looking back at yourself through a mirror, the black mirror. The negative copy, the negative effect of this technology, right? And then the final story, it was about someone named Clayton Hayes, who we get to find out our main character here, Nish, is actually related to. She's actually his daughter. And he's been— there's a probability he's been accused of a crime that he didn't commit, and he was executed for it. But now Rolo Hayes, in order for him to give money back to his family after his death to benefit his family. He makes a deal, of course, we got to see in the final story with Clayton Hayes, you know, in order to, um, him to, his digital consciousness to be executed over and over again, time and time again. And, uh, I found that to me kind of hit a nerve that that particular last story, because in the Black Mirror world, it's kind of even a little bit more scary and worse in our actual world, because in the Black Mirror world, the idea was that they were witnessing this execution, pulling the execution lever of this supposedly convicted criminal. Um, and whilst they were doing that, uh, there was a type of satisfaction with, you know, being able to experience that someone dying, executing someone without the consequences. Although it, it was a lot of— it was— it would still kind of be, uh, uh, it seemed, seemed to me fall under this abuse legislation of these digital copies that are now conscious. So they're really like human beings. They're conscious beings. They're just not in a physical form, but their consciousness is there, right? But I just found that a bit concerning and disturbing that when we reflect that back on execution literature and various things like that, that there are people who go to these public executions Sometimes it's members of the family who've lost someone, and I would imagine maybe to some, in their minds, they're getting some type of justice or satisfaction. And I'm not one to judge that. The death penalties and the various capital punishments, that's a very vast area. I do believe those are areas that you have to, to a degree, experience yourself to really have a full view of it because I think it would be a lot easier for me to gain a view on various capital punishments as opposed to being a victim of it if it's your family that's been heinously executed by someone and now you're seeking some type of justice and what justice would be appropriate, what would be enough. And that's a loaded question. And that's a very vast subject. But it just was still kind of disturbing to think about that these people wanted to witness these, to participate in this execution of this digital conscious copy, in reflection when I think about the psychology and the mentality behind it, it's very similar in a way to what you probably get in some types of public executions. And I'm not talking about necessarily victims, I'm not talking about victims because I think it's a little bit different when it's the family of victims witnessing these public executions because with them there was something taken away from them. There was this emotional bond that can't be taken back now. But there used to be many public executions throughout our history, even up into the early 20th century, even going a little probably mid-20th century, who knows, even beyond that, even maybe today, where people would just go on these public outings to witness public executions and they wouldn't have any emotional loss of loved ones or effect from the criminals doing these crimes. They just want to go see them and probably I would imagine some enjoyed them. So that's what I got from What Rollo Hayes was doing to make money in this museum at the end. So Rollo Hayes was a very, very, the type of person who lacked empathy, lacked sympathy, lacked a lot of the things that you would think make human beings human beings. And so he was a very disconnected person character in this. Very disturbing to watch, you know, and this is what makes Black Mirror just shine in its, uh, uh, you know, in its writing and various things. It really knows how to touch nerves psychologically. Uh, and again, guys, I really love this. This is one of my favorite episodes. I think, uh, I'm kind of— I've kind of went off, um, uh, but I think for season 4, I really loved, uh, the USS Callister. Uh, that— if that's— that's like around, um, I don't wanna say it's number 1, although it's pretty darn close. It's pretty, it might be number 1, guys. But to that, San Junipero. So, and I'm not gonna rank 'em in order. I'm just gonna, I think I'm gonna put these 3 in the top. Black Museum, San Junipero, and the USS Callister. Those are episodes I enjoy all the way through. And all the episodes I've seen have been good. But to me, those were just excellent. These three were— they just kept me entertained and intrigued the entire time. The rest were kind of nail-biting and edge of my seat. I also did like Men at Fire. And I thought that was well done. I loved 15 Million Merits. That's up there too. And 15 Million Merits was good, but I don't think 15 Million Merits entertained me all the way through, like Black Museum, USS Callister, and San Junipero, because they were just well-told stories and very touching stories. But anyway, guys, uh, I liked how they closed out the finale. I got a few more episodes to go back and review that some people haven't ranked as their top. Some people, these last episodes that I kind of skipped around to the best, but the last ones that are remaining, people are saying they're okay. I did see Hang the DJ. I'm gonna do a review on that that one next, I think. And I did like Hang the DJ. It's, it's up there, not in my— not in those top 3, but it might be somewhere in that next group. But anyway, guys, that's my review on Black Mirror: The Black Museum. Uh, guys, if you like content like this, don't forget to like and subscribe. And until next time, take care.