Black Mirror: Season 2 Ep.5 "White Bear" Review (Spoilers)

Hey you, welcome back to the channel. And guys, today we want to talk about Black Mirror. This is season 2, episode 2, White Bear. Uh, it's actually, uh, episode 5 in the series, but, uh, Black Mirror, uh, in the, in the beginning, uh, only did 3 episodes per season. And, um, these episodes, uh, have increased, uh, as I understand it, uh, you know, as these seasons have, uh, went on. So they're actually getting a lot more Black Mirror episodes. Um, and guys, I found this episode, uh, very, very, in a sense, kind of relevant to a lot of incidents that's happened today in the news and across the world. So, you know, we open up in this episode with this woman who is, she seems to be suffering from some type of amnesia. And there's this strange symbol flashing on the screen. Again, Black Mirror with the screens. Screens are very important in technology. Is what drives the Black Mirror, uh, show. But this strange symbol is flashing, and immediately what comes to mind is this symbol is creating some type of hypnosis or transmitting some type of signal. So I did pick up on that right away, uh, because I've seen things like that done before, um, and, um, you know, almost also kind of— it came across to me kind of metaphorical, you know, as to suggest that there is a type of hypnosis with the media, with information being spread across technology. So I kind of picked up in that aspect from it. But, you know, our main character here, she's just confused. She doesn't know where she's at. She looks like she's been you know, come out of some type of, um, incident or trance or something like that. She seems to be in a fair amount of pain, you know, as we got to see, and she just doesn't know what's going on. She has no clue what's going on. So she finally wanders out of the building she's in, and there are people on the streets, and, um, she's trying to figure out who she is and where she's at. She's, you know, trying to ask people various questions. And all of a sudden, we got to see this, this old Rolls-Royce looks like pull up with a very strange, disturbing figure step out of the car, uh, with some type of mask on. And he grabs a shotgun out of his— out of the back of his, uh, car. And all these people are on the streets as this happens. So, you know, what, what came to mind too is, uh, in the, you know, what's been happening, uh, you know, a lot in the news has been a lot of mass shootings, a lot of incidents with gun control, gun violence, mass shootings. And so as he just grabs this gun and starts to go after this person. Um, you know, I'm, I'm thinking of, uh, you know, many of these incidents in the media. But, um, you know, what is so shocking about the scene is when we get all of these various people with their, uh, with their webcams, you know, with their, with their smartphone cams And they're recording the entire incident. And where do we see that happen? We see that happens today. You know, whenever there are mass shootings, whenever there is incidents of that nature, people take out their cameras and they start shooting. You know, they start shooting the incidents and what's going on. And I, you know, I find that that kind of state of mind of how we're get— how we get information to one another. Uh, quite interesting that with everything going on, somebody's in the mindset to pick up cameras and record this information. Now, uh, it is very also very important, uh, that this information be gathered so we can see what happened, uh, so we can know what's going on. But the nature of people getting this information, relaying this information, as we kind of get to see in this scene, is what came to mind. And, uh, but it's just— it just looks kind of strange because everybody has out their camera and everybody's recording. And not only are they recording, but they're actually kind of in, um, pursuit of her, and they're kind of with the gunman, around the gunman, uh, photographing everything. So they don't appear to be in any kind of danger, as we got to see. Uh, they seem to almost be with the gunman. So immediately what comes to mind is this is just a city, a, uh, a town full of crazy people, or there's some type of hunters, or there's some type of, uh, there's something going on that is quite weird. And so our main character, it's not long before she encounters what seems to be a couple of people in the same situation, and they're hiding out in the store as the gunman's trying to get with them and the town people. Now the town people with the cell phones, they weren't violent at all. They're just recording the data, uh, but they're not doing anything about it, you know. They're not, they're not, um, you know, uh, basically, uh, trying to stop it or call the police or anything, uh. They're just getting the information, so they seem to want to see it. But she does meet two other people that seem to have been in a similar situation. So what, you know, I'm thinking of it like, okay, they're in the same situation as she— they've woken up from this trance, and they're being controlled by this, this, uh, this subliminal message, this, this hypnotic, uh, transmitted message. Um, and so they devise a plan to escape the gunman. One guy, uh, tries to stall the gunman. We get to see that he's— or we're on an assumption that he's killed and he's murdered. Um, so it's very, very disturbing episode to see this, uh, you know, when especially with someone chasing, you know, you with a gun. Now, like, Black Mirror came out in— again, this is season 2, it's probably 2012 to 2013 season, and I don't know if the incidence of mass shootings and gun violence was seemed to dominate media as much as it does today. But with this episode and what is, you know, now our reality, it kind of even made it a more stronger impact, even more disturbing to watch this in relation to that. But so they escape and the idea is to head to a place called White Bear, where they can knock out this transmitter that's controlling these people, this entire town that seems to be hypnotized. If that can be accomplished, we're led to believe that everything will hopefully go back to normal, that they're being mind controlled, and that our main character is the person who is, in the right state of mind, not being controlled by the transmitter. So there finally is the showdown at Whitebeard. They make it to Whitebeard. All along this course of action, we got to see our main character. She's seeming to get back flashes and bits of her memories. She has not only a photograph that she found in the house of what appears to be this young girl who she believes is her daughter and her husband, perhaps, as she's with, um, uh, another, uh, a male character who is, uh— she's having these flashbacks like they were maybe all a family. Something happened. Maybe, perhaps my mindset was the— they were, they were possibly killed or taken hostage by these, uh, town people that are controlled by this subliminal message. Maybe they've been turned to, uh, be like the rest of them, and she's trying to locate them, and she's come out of this trance. So, uh, if that's what I'm thinking, and I'm saying what's going that direction, uh, but we get to find out it's not going that direction at all. What happens is she gets the Whitebeard, she has her final showdown with the hunters. At this point in time, you know, there are other hunters. They've encountered several other hunters that are constantly after them. And she has a showdown with them, and, you know, she's able to take the gun from one, try to fire it to kill one. Confetti comes out of the gun. And then, you know, they grab her. The walls open up at the White Bureau facility. That's supposed to be where they can knock out the transmitter. But it's not a transmitter. It's actually, as we get to see, a public, uh, audience watching like a game show or something. And there's a performance and there's a stage. And so at this point you're like, what in the world is going on? But we get to find out that what's happened is she's basically, um, it's all been staged, you know, it's all been watched. First thing came to mind is Truman Show, Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, that the reality, that this world is artificial and that she had been part of some type of reality show or performance show, uh, and that's basically what it was. But it was also a little bit more than that, um, it was a justice theatrical performance on justice. It was a justice park that people paid to go and see people who committed capital offenses, capital murder, to see them live out as a form of punishment or be put through this situation in order to pay for their crimes against society. And we get to find out that our main character, who we felt was a victim in all of this, is actually a murderer and a very sick, uh, killer with her accomplice, which we don't get to see. I don't know if he's at another park or what happened to him, but they were all together and they had murdered this young child who she felt was her daughter. So just a very Interesting turn of events reminds me— I won't say the name of the movie, but it kind of reminded me also of a setup of one of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. I'm not going to tell you which one it is because then it'll ruin the film for you if you haven't seen it, where it's kind of a recreation of the entire rural town and the truth and the reality of it isn't what the participants think, uh, that is being used to control them to a certain extent. So a little bit of elements of that kind of reminded me of. But she is, uh, basically, uh, her part of her punishment is to go through this and be hunted and filmed, uh, her murder being filmed much like how she filmed her— this young child's murder and, uh, got a weird sick type of satisfaction from it. So it seems like the idea of this Justice Park is to kind of have you go through elements of the crime you committed over and over again. And he's, um, one of the people who run the park who was actually part of the, the kind of theatrical performance, if you will. He's marking off check marks on a calendar, and my assumption to that is Maybe that's marking off the length of her sentence in that park. So very interesting, you know, kind of brings to mind our justice system and what type of punishment is, you know, is proper, you know, We live in a world where certain places allow the death penalty, and there is a type of, in a way, and that also reminded me of this, when people are publicly executed, the families and various victims of the crime can sit there and watch. And I'm not sure if that still goes on, but I think there, you can still witness these public executions as I'm, You know, I won't say— I don't believe in taking lives. That's not something that I feel that can ever really be justified, taking a life. But, you know, so— but at the same time, I'm accepting of the laws that society to a great degree feel are appropriate. So whereas, um, you know, so when you talk about something like capital murder offenses and things like that, you know, uh, and people who publicly witness this— I wouldn't, I, I wouldn't publicly witness any of these things, you know. I think that's just horrible and grotesque. But people do it because this is their way of saying this is how justice should be served. And we get no difference at this justice part people are looking at, which is like a, you know, very basically torture. Basically, they're watching this over and over again. This is— the victim is experiencing this over and over again, having their memory wiped so they can experience the horror of it, uh, in order for justice to be served. At the end of the day, justice is not some type of moral goodness or fairness. Well, it can— well, I'll take that back. It is— can be, I guess you could say it's a type fairness, but it may not be an objective type of moral goodness. And that what justice aims to do is pretty much just balance out, uh, what was done to create an equal type of judgment and justice. And so if someone is murdered, then the idea to weigh the scales of justice may be that your life is forfeit. And some people would say that's fair, uh, and it may be fair, but it may not necessarily be good. Uh, it may not necessarily be right, but justice again is about a scale that balances and weighs, and it's— that's what justice is. It's about giving back what you've taken away, so to speak. So in that regards, you know, that, that becomes a whole big philosophical, uh, situation, uh, you know, trying to figure out where to go from that. But I thought this episode was well done, genius— geniusly done and well thought out. Again, you know, Black Mirror is up definitely becoming one of my favorite shows. Uh, this isn't something that has happy endings though, ever. Uh, or, uh, even the episode 15 Million Mirrors where I found a little bit of wonderment with the technology and especially the closing scene, uh, even that was a very bittersweetish ending. And so this show never really is— this is not really a feel-good show in that fashion. This is a kind of make you uncomfortable, push your limits to what society has created type show, you know, the good and the bad with it, but seems to end mostly on the uncomfortable notes, right? So I, I'm enjoying it, guys. I'm, you know, I've always been one of these show watchers who like to see the moral parameters tested a bit. Uh, got a lot of that, I think, first in Game of Thrones. I think Game of Thrones kind of paved the way of, you know, testing a lot of morality and society and shows. And, uh, now we're getting a lot of that, you know, more prevalent in our television watching. But guys, anyway, that's my review on the White Bear episode. I did forget one important fact that summed up the episode, and that is it was called White Bear because the young girl who was kidnapped, abducted, and killed, it seems, had this little white bear as a stuffed animal that she kept with her. And when they were filming her before they murdered her and tortured her, she'd have this white bear. And they called the— and so they created the whole storyline around White Bear inside the episode itself and outside based on the idea of the White Bear, them saying that the White Bear was the facility to where to knock out the transmitter, and the White Bear actually being a loved kids' item, the child's, uh, you know, loved, uh, stuffed animal. But guys, anyway, that's all I want to say about this week's episode. Guys, if you like content like this, don't forget to like, subscribe, and until next time, take care.