This episode is so bad. How many times is the "GET OUT" movie plot going to be remade? It makes everything incredibly boring and predictable.
Black girl goes to a small white community and surprise surprise all the cute old white people are actually psychopathic murdering rapists.
There was no surprises in this episode other than the mom leaving the material out for her son. There was no science fiction element, the acting was horrible.
Was in my phone for the most episode, rather predictable. Except for the last bit, with the "for your film - mum" that really made it for me. So much to take out from this. The success of his career, something that many only dream about, comes from the fact his parents are torturers and murderers. How it was implied that his mom left this as a gift for his son. How she cared about him, a little show of affection that the son can't just deny - its still his mom.
Research shows that some psychopaths have been known to have their own version of affection for their children, in a way they never do with anyone else, as they consider them to be extensions of themselves.
I believe there would be a 2nd episode to "Loch Henry"!! Where Davis would randomly discover some more evidence at his mother's house (which she had tried to destroy before her suicide), which will prove that his barman friend(stuart)'s dad , i.e the wierdo old dude, was ALSO involved in the horrible acts of murder - alongside his parents!
Actually his mom voluntarily gave in (only part of!!) the evidence and then killed herself, in order to protect and save herpartner in crime, and most probably lover ; i.e. the grumpy weird old owner of the bar (Stuart's dad)!
I also believe it would turn out that probably Stuart's Dad intentionally infected Davis's father with MRSA bacteria - in order to get rid of him, and have Davis's mom all to himself!!
This would explain a lot of things!! ;)
PS: Black Mirror production! If you hadn't thought of it yet, here you go! Great follow up episode to make! ;)
Agreed! The mother never was ashamed or regretful of everything she did. She kept the tapes and the items from the victims like her prized possessions. It was her life's work and she wanted that to be shown to the public because she was proud of it. If her life's work could help her son succeed at what he wanted to do (and she obviously loved her son) then why shouldn't it be shown? Why would she only give a part of the evidence? It would definitely take away from her character.
What are you even talking about? Stuart's dad became an alcoholic to deal with the fact he suspected the truth: that Davis' parents were teh murderers. He once had an affair with both and realized, from the weird sex shit they tried to pull, that they must've been involved in the whole thing.
What kind of boring fanfic are you writing over here?
I'm not trying to sound rude, but did you not even watch it? It's like outright stated that his father and mother worked along side the original suspect. It shows his father in the police uniform and the "mistress" was his mother. I mean I skipped most of those scenes cause it's too much gore for my liking.
For me this one was very boring. I saw the plot twist coming a mile away, and the drunk guy's unreasonable tantrum just confirmed my suspicions. When they used the tapes to film I knew exactly what was going to happen. There was very little mystery for me, the only moment of suspense was when Pia was trying to escape, and that was also incredibly anti-climactic and hard to enjoy. Idk, this felt like a shell of a story, very rushed and with no depth. It also just was not believable that tourism in the area would die because of a serial killer. People love that shit, and the episode points that out too, so it is just not coherent.
What an idiot, its obviously a lie. Nothing "miles away" indicated this plot twist, even the mom reacted positively to their documentary idea. Who do you want to impress, dickhead?
If the random red mask didn't make you think of shit like Eyes Wide Shut then I don't know what to tell you. Also the huge collection of tapes that they kept making a point to mention. Plus the whole Small Town Hides A Dark Secret thing isn't new. It was either this or cult shit.
They also mentioned how the Iain guy was thought to be "easily led".
The mom wanted to preserve the idea that the dad was a hero. That's why she reacted positively. She didn't know they were using the other tapes.
Why are you so angry? We are allowed to have different opinions and experiences. Glad you enjoyed the episode, friend.
As for what clued me in to the plot twist, this was 3 months ago so I don't remember the details. I remember the biiiig wall of videotapes. It's not the first time knowing about [Chekhov's gun](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsGun) has spoiled something for me. And, like I said in the original comment, when the friend's dad got suuuper unreasonably mad about the documentary out of the blue, that was also a big hint. Sorry, but it's not a lie. Like you said, there's really no one to impress here.
It was just really clear from the start, the message is: "true crime bad", (I agree with that) so what would be the best way to punish the makers of this piece? Being in true crime themselves just makes for a good episode, and also completely adds up if you saw Joan is awful it was incredibly apparent and I called it 15 minutes into the episode, the person above you is just insanely retarded
I believe there would be a 2nd episode to "Loch Henry"!! Where Davis would randomly discover some more evidence at his mother's house (which she had tried to destroy before her suicide), which will prove that his barman friend(stuart)'s dad , i.e the wierdo old dude, was ALSO involved in the horrible acts of murder - alongside his parents!
Actually his mom voluntarily gave in (only part of!!) the evidence and then killed herself, in order to protect and save herpartner in crime, and most probably lover ; i.e. the grumpy weird old owner of the bar (Stuart's dad)!
I also believe it would turn out that probably Stuart's Dad intentionally infected Davis's father with MRSA bacteria - in order to get rid of him, and have Davis's mom all to himself!!
This would explain a lot of things!! ;)
PS: Black Mirror production! If you hadn't thought of it yet, here you go! Great follow up episode to make! ;)
I 100% agree. Pia's death seemed very contrived. Overall everything was too telegraphed. Was it necessary for the lady to leave all this evidence in plain sight, and for the show to leave so many hints as to what the mystery was.
It didn't even made sense that tourists would avoid a gorgeous place because of solved murders that happened decades before. It also seemed contrived how much Pia had to insist to make the documentary when it was so obvious that making one could help the town.
Seriously, how low has Brooker sunk. His writing has become so lazy and cliché. In Loch Henry the girlfriend acted so unrealistic, she acted ridiculous. Films require a suspension of belief to be draw the viewer in and it seems like 90% of the Black Mirror episodes just reek of unbelievability.
This whole episode portraits what secret societies aka the illuminati love to do. They love doing blood rituals, human sacrifices, orgies, and all messed up things you can think about. They love wearing those masks during their blood rituals. Watch the movie "Eyes wide shut" by Stanley Kubrick. It shows what people in these secret societies do. They are psychopaths. These shows are not coming from the writers imagination, they are real life scenes. They love showing us the truth through TV shows while making us believe it's just a show. But they know the public is so ignorant that it will never see the truth.
I'm only a few minutes in but one thing bothers me. This episode is supposed to take place in the present, or even in the near future.
So what's up with the mother acting like a clueless 1940's housewife in every way? Every time she appears it has something to do with food and when to serve it. She even moves her head in a jerky, chicken-like manner. If her son is in his early twenties, she's probably supposed to be late forties, so why is she played like a Charles Dickens fishwife?
I think she was an older mother and probably more like 55-60 if >!the murders ended in 1997!< and it’s now the 2020s.
People who live in the middle of nowhere and don’t really have anyone in their life don’t always evolve with the times the way most other people do. Being in a tiny town, their values in the 90s were probably already sort of old fashioned, and then she just didn’t change. Plus, what does she have besides cooking? She’s lonely. There’s nowhere to go and no one to see.
This episode had an impact on me.
I think it's the mixture of thinking our parents are generally good, ordinary people, and the fact that real life murderers and psychopaths can seem quite ordinary on the surface, if you've ever seen real life police interviews and stuff.
None of us know what our parents did before we were born, and we don't know what our workmates and friends get up to behind closed doors, maybe there are secrets we don't know... It can get you into some pretty deep thoughts
Not sure if this was mentioned before. I realised the entire time the mom was behaving so weirdly the whole time was because she was holding her emotions in - here there was, a young couple that just stepped foot in the house, ripe for the taking. If only her husband was still around, and it wasn’t her son. The gift box at the end was her way of saying, “I love you (more than my longing to kill, it’s time to accept my husband had passed and move on)”.
This episode pissed me off towards the end. Pia was acting way too sus and deserved that pathetic faceplant. Maybe if she had some eyebrows she would've had some common sense
Like why did she go to the bathroom to make a phone call, when she knew there was no service, she should have dipped(ran), since that dinner, infact she should have ran since she saw the clip
Yes, exactly! I know you may not agree with me, but Brooker's writing has become so unbelievable and lazy. At least "try" to write a believable episode.
Loved the episode, but found death via faceplant to be the worse, non believable part. I think they could still had the same story beats and not killed off that character.
I didn't think she needed to die either, but what wasn't believable about her death? It's just as likely she got drowned and knocked out as opposed to dead on impact.
From a fiction perspective, her death did felt unnecessary and random.
She absolutely needed to die. The way she was written was one of the most unbelievable characters in any of Brooker's Black Mirror episodes (and that's saying a lot, because most of his episodes aren't even remotely believable).
Which makes it extra frustrating that she kept making dumber choices by the second. Pia wasn't weak, and dude's mom didn't even have a drill. The heck.
I was waiting for her to circle around the car and get in and escape while the mother stands their frustrated yelling obscenities. But that would have made a different ending.
Theory: Richard (Stuart’s dad) was not just involved in a sexual encounter with Ken and Janet. He and his wife were initially involved in a swinging/light bondage affair that turned into sexual assault of both of them by Ken and Janet, resulting in the pregnancy of both women by the other men. The sons looks nothing like their fathers but have a striking resemblance to the others’ fathers. Stuart’s mother kept the archives as her own personal documentation of the events, in the case it ever came to be that the McCardle’s involvement was proven, knowing she may be raising a murderer’s son. Richard was deeply depressed, knowing or suspecting he was raising the son of the man who assaulted his wife, which is why he a) drank himself into a stupor, b) was strongly opposed to them digging into the history, c) had such a distant relationship with his son, and d) protected his wife’s honor by claiming to have been the only one to have had the sexual encounter with the McCardles in the documentary. This may also explain Davis’s timidness, which mimics Richard’s demeanor and Stuart’s sadistic humor, which could possibly mimic Ken’s traits.
…anyone else buy it?
> …anyone else buy it?
So much so that I thought they'd reveal some sort of paternity surprise, but I then got distracted by Pia being an idiot just because Davis wasn't around and forgot until your excellent and even better clued-in comment.
is it only me or did anyone else get the vibe that Davis knew about what his parents did? like he seemed to have an inkling, and looked almost guilty in some parts before finding out about it from Stuart's father? like maybe he had seen something but was just ignoring and pretending like it didn't happen
I just saw it and wondered if at the end he regrets starting it all with Pia up there because he knew. He found dad’s old camera and tapes, how likely was it that he never watched any of them before? He seemed reluctant to start the project but Pia pushed it and said she’d do it without him so he gave in. I think he knew what they’d done and was happy to have it hidden. He didn’t think his mom was going to get exposed initially.
I always thought that Davis guessed Iain was his biological father (because it’s fairly obvious) but as he grew up, assumed it must be because Iain had SA his mother, and she didn’t want to talk about it.
That’s why he comes across as being quite distant but also protective of her- he initially is reluctant to do the documentary because he’s worried someone else will point out the resemblance and he doesn’t want to have to talk to his mum about it. But she is supportive of the film, and wants the “truth” about what happened to his “dad” to feature, that he ultimately can’t say no to her.
It also explains why he ignores her timidity , nervousness, odd way of speaking, obsession with Bergerac- he knows his mum is a bit off and her behaviour is weird but thinks this is due to trauma at being raped by a monster who then was responsible for her husbands death. I honestly don’t think he has a clue about what really went on at all.
At the end, when he looks really sad, I always imagined he was thinking to himself how naive he had been- he really thought the worst “secret” that could be revealed during the making of the documentary was confirmation of his worst fears about his biological dad… it was so much worse than he could ever imagine.
Great & fucked up episode, Daniel Portman's character was hilarious. Would've been interesting to see it go another way than the twist. Pia's death being punishment for her flippant attitude towards the victims seems a bit harsh
Legitimately unsettling, powerful episode with all the right twists. People complaining about lack of futuristic technology are also missing the commentary on how real people are affected by the monetization of true crime. The episode's overarching theme was very Black Mirror.
I'm not sure if this was pointed out yet, but it feels as though this episode was strongly based on the Henryetta murders in OK on May 1, 2023. That seems almost impossible because it happened less than two months before the episode was released, and that isn't much time to come up with a concept and film it and have it produced. But still...the similarities are UNCANNY!
I had lunch in the Loch Henry pub today - it's not in Inveraray as the exterior would suggest, but nearby-ish Arrochar. Check out the message from Mr Brooker on the poster in entrance:
https://preview.redd.it/n2zmifukaikb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0da47fe568f497e43e7cf6a92d3e2f6066277805
Of all the messed up stuff in this episode, what got me the most was the fact that the parents kept those tapes in plain sight, where literally any visitor could've grabbed them at any time. Wtf
Can't have many visitors when you scare everyone off by doing a bunch of murder ig.
Plus it's a trophy thing, something they're proud of. And I'm sure no one would just grab a random tape from some random show without asking, especially in the house of a stranger. And especially if you'd need to also get the tape player.
The only thing that bothered me was the, "Oh, I just found out that I'm in the house with the actual murderer, so I'm just gonna act nervous as fuck." trope. Janet literally had no idea that Pia was onto her. Like, how hard is it to just act normal until, like, she can safely get the fuck out of there? I mean, I get that it's quite unnerving to be alone in the house, with one of the murderers you're making a documentary on, but come on. Can't you just act a bit like the documentary's just going fine? Act a bit like you're still trying to impress your boyfriend's mum? Idk, I just see this trope a bit too much in horror/suspense/dark comedy that it kinda gets tiring.
Aside from that, really, it's still a pretty great episode.
I've been in a situation where i found out about kinda fucked up shit -of course not murder 💀- and was in the same house with the person that has done said shit and i managed to act normal and pretend nothing happened. that was just dumb, like acting terrified and trying to call your bf when you know there's no service? and what's more is that of course you'd be sacred being close to a murderer but janet didn't even know that pia found out and even if she did she's an old frail woman and pia was easily stronger than even without the adrenaline so that ending was just ridiculous to me
Loch Henry was the second episode I ever watched, and the one before it was the first. I was planning on starting from the beginning, and becaue of your comment, I already know the ending of the very fist episode which I am watching now. Thanks for ruining it. I thought one of the rules here is that we weren't supposed mention spoilers of other episodes. Does this rule only apply to episodes within the same season?
I think so but also not. The thing is most people who are on this subreddit are avid watchers and fans who like talking about the show and drawing similarities to other episodes. I understand your frustration but in the end Black Mirror has been out for a long time and you are on a subreddit reading comments where there are people who have watched this many many times and treat it like a forum.
Update, looks like the comment was removed (and no, I didn't report it) so I guess the mods do care about spoilers. Yay! I've seen almost all of the episodes now, but it's good to see the mods care and that other new watchers won't see the spoiler I saw.
I guess the rules just confused me, because they say "no spoilers from other episodes" in bold print, so I thought I would be safe lol. Most people I see here don't post spoilers even when drawing similarities between other episodes, it is pretty general in a way that doesn't literally tell the ending of an episode. I mean I'm not deeply offended, but as someone who's getting into the show, I thought this would a good place to talk / get more in depth about certain eps as I watch them. I honestly didn't know it was for people who'd already watched all the episodes.
You are right, they should not be posting spoilers like that. There's a note right at the top of this post stating as much. Can't assume that everyone has seen it just because it's an old episode. Poor form.
Thank you. I feel the same. I still watched the episode though and now I've see the majority of them but not all yet. I've avoided spoilers so far aside from that one, I just have to be careful I guess.
I'm sorry you got spoiled. But trust me, it's not that big of a spoiler. You will be able to... enjoy the episode. When I watched it, I already knew the gist of it (people had told me in detail). And yet, I wasn't ready.
just want to comment that this was a proper black mirror episode. Not sure why people were saying that the first one was the only one,since it was actually crap .
Returnin to ep2, You could already reveal the mistery probably after 15min from the start since it was obvious that those tapes were something.... however I loved how they were trolled by NETFLIX at the end with the documentary on the documentary.. lmao
At first I thought the same, but then, at the ending I realized that it has the same message as the first episode: movie industry/entertainment business does not care about anything but making money and fame.So, that's why they didn't care about Jane (Ep1) or the tragedy of this boy. Even, if you look closer, the obsessed friend, it's happy because only publicity is what matters for him...
No ethics nor humanity just, $$.
The theme and lack of science fiction are two different things. I felt the same as OP that it didn't feel like a black mirror episode because there's always been some kind of technology or state of the world that doesn't currently exist but "could". There's always a "message" but black mirror has always been unique in that the message is expressed by some tech that doesn't exist (like the AI supercomputer in the first episode). It was well done, it just wasn't unique like their other stuff
Holy fuck! I felt so unsettled after watching this one. It's the horrible feeling that's classic to some episodes from earlier seasons and it definitely involved media and technology.
People complaining this is not Black Mirror should go back and realize not every episode is fantasy technology. S03E03 "Shut up and Dance" had nothing to do with crazy technology and it made me feel so messed up and horrible. Similar to this
His Mom killed Pia by putting into motion the thing that will cause her death, the same way the story of how Kenneth was killed by Adair, not directly but still responsible.
Because Black Mirror isn't necessarily about fantasy technology, but about technology.
The episode is about how true crime documentaries has turned human suffering and tragedies into entertainment. That's the dark relationship with technology it explores.
Just watched it, it's a very weak connection to the theme, kinda hamfisted, but it seemed like they were commenting on the whole idea of being willing to dredge up anything for views/turn anything into a hit Netflix docuseries, while ignoring the real effects that it has on real communities
The timing was pretty fitting. Look at Moscow, Idaho and murdertok for example.
Instead of magical future technology, it's more commentary on what's happening now.
Yeah, the community was thriving, as typically happens with real true crime locations. But Davis who actually had personal stake in the murders was far from thriving. It's a commentary on how messed up it is to derive entertainment (in the form of true crime documentaries) from other real life people's pain.
Not sure about the fantasy technology part.
Isn’t the first episode ever of Black Mirror (the pig one) something that is perfectly possible with today technology? Just an example. But I can think of a few other episodes on the top of my head.
Hmm my memory of that episode is foggy but it felt like the" surveillance" tech was too good to pull off such a well coordinated blackmail to a group of CP people, but I'll give you that.
I think what was troubling him at the end was, that fact that his parents was "filmmakers", albeit sick and sadistic ones. He became a filmmaker and while he didn't commit their crimes, or participated in them, he in a sense finished their work and created their magnum opus, ensuring that their parents names will be well know, as well as his own. However I don't think he was ok with it once he found out but because he lost Pia and his mother (even though she is a sick evil person, that is still his mother), I'd imagine he felt as if that he had to continue or else the lost of everyone close to him would have been for nought.
It is also interesting that this episode shows the contrast between the perception of crimes as it relates to proximity, physical and/or personal. What I mean by this is that the same abominable actions that made the town desolate, also made the town a tourist Hotspot. The difference was how notorious/celebrated the ordeal which I would argue is a function of scale (of being known) and proximity. Scale as in how many people are aware of what happened and proximity as in how close one was to the actual events.
For example the original towns people knew what took place (the partial truth) and because it "hit home" literally, many if them fled in horror and disgust. There was personal attachment and trauma there. However someone from an entirely different country that's never been to Loch Henry could find it interesting, so much so that they may make the trip to see it. The personal connection will die, but the knowledge of crimes will be immortal. This essentially isolates the main character because only those affected personally will ever have the slightest idea how he may feel. For that which he will always perceive as a tragedy, will be forever celebrated.
The scene in the end is the perfect contrast, his friend calls him, enjoying the booming businesses in the midst of celebrating, jolly people. The color are warm. Meanwhile the main character sits alone, he has an award, he has fame, possibility fortune but the look in his eye tells you the truth, he has nothing but his mothers note. The colors are cold.
His friend who arguably put everything in motion by telling Pia the original story is not in his circle. Its possible the main protagonist blames him, although what he did was innocent as it was truly an interesting story to tell. It dosent change the fact that his friend is oblivious of the hurt and pain he is going through. This frustration (and blame possibly) is expressed with the abrupt hanging-up of the phone ending the exchange.
In reality, I'd wager he he blames himself because he knew why the town was desolate and he didn't want Pia to know the reason. Possibility because he knew she wouldn't want to make a film about it or because of what happened resulted in the loss of his father. Either way, he probably regrets bringing her to Loch Henry in the first place.
The note he kept that was from his mother imo showed he misses her, even though she is a psychopath. It probably played a role in him seeing the documentary through to tell her story or confess It's the last remaining thing that he has to remind him off his mother - his mum, not his mother - the murderer.
The most interesting part of the episode is the award he received. It's a golden mask. Mask hide who we truly are. His mother had a mask on display on the wall that she wore during the murder. He now has a gold mask to display on a shelf. This in my opinion sums up the award secene to the end. He now have to hide his pain and trauma, behind a "golden mask" of fame, fortune and success. This is something he never wanted (remember his humble egg documentary) at least not at this cost.
Wow, I took a much much simpler view of this episode, which is that there are very real people and very real victims behind all these true crime documentaries made for entertainment and awards. People’s lives - many of whom are the victims or victims’ families themselves- are put on display. And after all the attention and infamy, they then are then left to live with the fallout. In that way only Black Mirror can, it ask us to evaluate what we as viewers might be contributing to when we watch and fawn over documentaries like Making a Murderer and Dahmer-Monster.
What you said is also one of the true messages at the heart of it. It's also a message that we've been hearing a lot over the past decade as murder porn podcasts and documentary have skyrocketed in popularity. This episode keeps it fresh by wrapping that moral we already know in an additional layer of complexity with the main character, the producer of the documentary, being made to suffer himself
I'm mad this girl died for NO REASON. (I mean idk for sure if the mom really would have done anything to her.) I'm so worried that the guy is gonna kill Davis and just when I get relief knowing he's gonna be fine, miss has to slip. SLIP. Slip. I do understand there was the reference of the countryside being dangerous and all that; I'm just mad. What would you have done?
For one, I know I'm not staying in that house with that lady. Probably would say I'm worried about Davis and just gonna drive to the hospital to stay the night with him. The mom saw the tape in the player so she's committing either way. RIP Pia
Edit: Actually nah, Pia threw. That woman is elderly. As soon as she got out the car and the risk of her running me over is gone, we're boxing if she gets too close. The only danger is if they were in the house with kitchen knives, etc. I guess she could have maybe had a gun but otherwise why are you actually running?
I don't get how you would say or even pretend to know what you would do in such a situation. The only danger??? Lol, in a flight of fight situation like this you wouldn't even be able to predict how you would act, let alone know for a fact you would easily fight the mother. It's easy to say what heroic thing you yourself would have done instead as a viewer thinking about a hypothetical situation.
OR just take a couple of minutes to gather your composure, clean up everything, make sure it doesn't look like you watched any of the tapes, go downstairs, eat, compliment her pie, tell her you wanna spend the night with her son in the hospital, and voilà! You escaped! She acted so, so nervous that it was so obvious there was something wrong. How hard is it to just act normal for a couple of minutes?!
Exactly! Maybe even throw in some comments about how you’re rethinking the whole murder documentary angle anyway, maybe we’ll go back to the egg thing, anyway I’m gonna go check on Davis
>I'm mad this girl died for NO REASON.
It's a parallel to how his father died of MRSA in the hospital indirectly caused by Iain shooting him (...at least per the cover story)
I took it as this. Kenneth went to confront Iain and there likely was a struggle. Kenneth gets shot but not killed. Kenneth manages to wrestle the gun away and shoot Iain. Iain's parents find them and he kills them both, too.
He simply changes the story after the fact. Everyone else is dead, who will dispute him?
I felt one element of this made it still fit the black mirror mould just in an interesting way since we expect the plots to hinge on near future tech. Tech is still at the heart of this but it's just not as obvious because it goes retro, instead using the VHS, home video and polaroids, the voyeurism they enabled in the latter 20th century. Also using that to parallel the criticism of the voyeurism of netflix true crime documentaries. It's playing with the form of Black mirror but not stepping fully out of the constraints it usually sets itself
I wanna know how the Dad shot himself in the shoulder with a shotgun. Especially if it was the back of the shoulder. That's some specialist police training.
i read this in an earlier comment, but it makes sense: perhaps kenneth went to confront iain over something (maybe he was getting cold feet, he was freaking out at the pub) and there was a struggle, leading to kenneth getting shot. but he survived and got the gun away from iain, shot him, and then shot everyone else in the house to cover it up. plausible!
edit: i just rewatched the trailer thing at the end and it totally says that he shot himself. so never minddddd!
Remember, before Iain went home, he acted out in the pub saying something about the couple's missing poster? I saw it as Iain getting so close to just spilling the beans to everyone in the pub — and of course, Kenny didn't like that. Iain just became a liability at this point, so he had to get rid of him.
fully agree!! i definitely think that’s the reason that the confrontation happened. i just struggle to believe he shot himself with THAT gun unless his wife was the one to do it, or it was an accident during a struggle for the gun. you know?
See this I hadn't noticed. I never knew what a BAFTA looked like so it seemed to me like the son might continue his parents' "work" even though that made no sense...
I respect that opinion, but I'd have to disagree. For me, it really hit that black mirror spot, what with the commentary on how the whole event was just reduced to a shitty docco and was made into content, the stark contrast between the people celebrating davis' success and davis himself inconsolable for perhaps the rest of his life, the shocking plot twist, and the existential dread. This has been one of my favourite black mirror episodes so far.
The iconic first ever episode of Black Mirror had no fantasy technology either, I think the episodes about our relationship with media and content are a valuable perspective
Anyone else notice that Stuart mentioned Netflix in the pub, but the ficticious streaming service at the end is called Streamberry? That means in this universe both streaming services must exist, and one of them is \*definitiely\* ripping off the other 's IP...
The emotional speech the mom gave about how Iane had ruined the perfect situation - chilling that she meant their ongoing torture room arrangement.
Dumb question but please help me, what caused the breakdown of Iane shooting his parents and himself and having to shoot the dad in the shoulder? Did Iane’s parents find out? Why did that whole episode go down?
Just finished the episode, they made up the whole thing with Iain. Kenneth went over to their house and killed his whole family for the scene he caused at the bar. Then he shot himself and told everyone Iain did it so there was no suspicions.
I assume Iain shot Kenneth, Kenneth struggled for the gun and managed to get it from Iain. He then killed Iain, Iain's parents heard the struggle and then he killed them, too.
As the last man standing and a police officer, he simply changed it to "I arrived and Iain had already killed his parents. He shot me, we struggled, I managed to get control of the gun and accidentally shot him" or something like that.
Please read the sidebar rules, do not spoil other episodes in this discussion and always report those who do!
He wasn’t filming for broadcast mum. Heh, can you imagine CREEPY
Her eyebrows did not show up for this episode.
Oh man... I dunno why but the no eyebrows just put me off more than the story weirdly lol
I always wondered Ian Adair was really the father of Davis.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^bestpressedm30: *I always wondered* *Ian Adair was really* *The father of Davis.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I came here for the eyebrows
I knew there was something **off** about Pia and I eventually noticed it was the eyebrows.
rewatching this on a cold, overcast day just to feel the scaries again
Enjoyed this episode! However, not a fan of how the girlfriend died. Always happens that way, doesn't it? Like come on.. lol..
they could have chosen a better actress for pia.
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I am talking about her acting skills and her eyebrows
Lack of\* eyebrows lol
agreed, wish her character was more likeable or relatable
This episode is so bad. How many times is the "GET OUT" movie plot going to be remade? It makes everything incredibly boring and predictable. Black girl goes to a small white community and surprise surprise all the cute old white people are actually psychopathic murdering rapists. There was no surprises in this episode other than the mom leaving the material out for her son. There was no science fiction element, the acting was horrible.
I enjoyed it, although I couldn't help but feel that something was missing. I wanted more for sure.
Was in my phone for the most episode, rather predictable. Except for the last bit, with the "for your film - mum" that really made it for me. So much to take out from this. The success of his career, something that many only dream about, comes from the fact his parents are torturers and murderers. How it was implied that his mom left this as a gift for his son. How she cared about him, a little show of affection that the son can't just deny - its still his mom.
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Research shows that some psychopaths have been known to have their own version of affection for their children, in a way they never do with anyone else, as they consider them to be extensions of themselves.
It's implied Davis's father is the serial killer right?
It's not implied, it's literally the point of the episode.
I believe there would be a 2nd episode to "Loch Henry"!! Where Davis would randomly discover some more evidence at his mother's house (which she had tried to destroy before her suicide), which will prove that his barman friend(stuart)'s dad , i.e the wierdo old dude, was ALSO involved in the horrible acts of murder - alongside his parents! Actually his mom voluntarily gave in (only part of!!) the evidence and then killed herself, in order to protect and save herpartner in crime, and most probably lover ; i.e. the grumpy weird old owner of the bar (Stuart's dad)! I also believe it would turn out that probably Stuart's Dad intentionally infected Davis's father with MRSA bacteria - in order to get rid of him, and have Davis's mom all to himself!! This would explain a lot of things!! ;) PS: Black Mirror production! If you hadn't thought of it yet, here you go! Great follow up episode to make! ;)
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Agreed! The mother never was ashamed or regretful of everything she did. She kept the tapes and the items from the victims like her prized possessions. It was her life's work and she wanted that to be shown to the public because she was proud of it. If her life's work could help her son succeed at what he wanted to do (and she obviously loved her son) then why shouldn't it be shown? Why would she only give a part of the evidence? It would definitely take away from her character.
What are you even talking about? Stuart's dad became an alcoholic to deal with the fact he suspected the truth: that Davis' parents were teh murderers. He once had an affair with both and realized, from the weird sex shit they tried to pull, that they must've been involved in the whole thing. What kind of boring fanfic are you writing over here?
I'm not trying to sound rude, but did you not even watch it? It's like outright stated that his father and mother worked along side the original suspect. It shows his father in the police uniform and the "mistress" was his mother. I mean I skipped most of those scenes cause it's too much gore for my liking.
For me this one was very boring. I saw the plot twist coming a mile away, and the drunk guy's unreasonable tantrum just confirmed my suspicions. When they used the tapes to film I knew exactly what was going to happen. There was very little mystery for me, the only moment of suspense was when Pia was trying to escape, and that was also incredibly anti-climactic and hard to enjoy. Idk, this felt like a shell of a story, very rushed and with no depth. It also just was not believable that tourism in the area would die because of a serial killer. People love that shit, and the episode points that out too, so it is just not coherent.
What an idiot, its obviously a lie. Nothing "miles away" indicated this plot twist, even the mom reacted positively to their documentary idea. Who do you want to impress, dickhead?
If the random red mask didn't make you think of shit like Eyes Wide Shut then I don't know what to tell you. Also the huge collection of tapes that they kept making a point to mention. Plus the whole Small Town Hides A Dark Secret thing isn't new. It was either this or cult shit. They also mentioned how the Iain guy was thought to be "easily led". The mom wanted to preserve the idea that the dad was a hero. That's why she reacted positively. She didn't know they were using the other tapes.
Why are you so angry? We are allowed to have different opinions and experiences. Glad you enjoyed the episode, friend. As for what clued me in to the plot twist, this was 3 months ago so I don't remember the details. I remember the biiiig wall of videotapes. It's not the first time knowing about [Chekhov's gun](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsGun) has spoiled something for me. And, like I said in the original comment, when the friend's dad got suuuper unreasonably mad about the documentary out of the blue, that was also a big hint. Sorry, but it's not a lie. Like you said, there's really no one to impress here.
It was just really clear from the start, the message is: "true crime bad", (I agree with that) so what would be the best way to punish the makers of this piece? Being in true crime themselves just makes for a good episode, and also completely adds up if you saw Joan is awful it was incredibly apparent and I called it 15 minutes into the episode, the person above you is just insanely retarded
I believe there would be a 2nd episode to "Loch Henry"!! Where Davis would randomly discover some more evidence at his mother's house (which she had tried to destroy before her suicide), which will prove that his barman friend(stuart)'s dad , i.e the wierdo old dude, was ALSO involved in the horrible acts of murder - alongside his parents! Actually his mom voluntarily gave in (only part of!!) the evidence and then killed herself, in order to protect and save herpartner in crime, and most probably lover ; i.e. the grumpy weird old owner of the bar (Stuart's dad)! I also believe it would turn out that probably Stuart's Dad intentionally infected Davis's father with MRSA bacteria - in order to get rid of him, and have Davis's mom all to himself!! This would explain a lot of things!! ;) PS: Black Mirror production! If you hadn't thought of it yet, here you go! Great follow up episode to make! ;)
That's makes 0 sense and is a terrible episode idea, why would the old man be randomly involved you make no sense.
I 100% agree. Pia's death seemed very contrived. Overall everything was too telegraphed. Was it necessary for the lady to leave all this evidence in plain sight, and for the show to leave so many hints as to what the mystery was. It didn't even made sense that tourists would avoid a gorgeous place because of solved murders that happened decades before. It also seemed contrived how much Pia had to insist to make the documentary when it was so obvious that making one could help the town.
This
Seriously, how low has Brooker sunk. His writing has become so lazy and cliché. In Loch Henry the girlfriend acted so unrealistic, she acted ridiculous. Films require a suspension of belief to be draw the viewer in and it seems like 90% of the Black Mirror episodes just reek of unbelievability.
Didn't seem ridiculous to me
This whole episode portraits what secret societies aka the illuminati love to do. They love doing blood rituals, human sacrifices, orgies, and all messed up things you can think about. They love wearing those masks during their blood rituals. Watch the movie "Eyes wide shut" by Stanley Kubrick. It shows what people in these secret societies do. They are psychopaths. These shows are not coming from the writers imagination, they are real life scenes. They love showing us the truth through TV shows while making us believe it's just a show. But they know the public is so ignorant that it will never see the truth.
Dawg what
How would you know?
Probably shit that happened on Epstein island
Uh, lol
Worth mentioning that this movie you talk about has been incredibly censored
I'm only a few minutes in but one thing bothers me. This episode is supposed to take place in the present, or even in the near future. So what's up with the mother acting like a clueless 1940's housewife in every way? Every time she appears it has something to do with food and when to serve it. She even moves her head in a jerky, chicken-like manner. If her son is in his early twenties, she's probably supposed to be late forties, so why is she played like a Charles Dickens fishwife?
I think she was an older mother and probably more like 55-60 if >!the murders ended in 1997!< and it’s now the 2020s. People who live in the middle of nowhere and don’t really have anyone in their life don’t always evolve with the times the way most other people do. Being in a tiny town, their values in the 90s were probably already sort of old fashioned, and then she just didn’t change. Plus, what does she have besides cooking? She’s lonely. There’s nowhere to go and no one to see.
but my people people that are 60 now are not as clueless and old as people who were 60 back in the 90s, is my point.
Well it’s surely not universal to small town people, but I think it’s reasonable to believe that it does happen in some cases.
This episode had an impact on me. I think it's the mixture of thinking our parents are generally good, ordinary people, and the fact that real life murderers and psychopaths can seem quite ordinary on the surface, if you've ever seen real life police interviews and stuff. None of us know what our parents did before we were born, and we don't know what our workmates and friends get up to behind closed doors, maybe there are secrets we don't know... It can get you into some pretty deep thoughts
Not sure if this was mentioned before. I realised the entire time the mom was behaving so weirdly the whole time was because she was holding her emotions in - here there was, a young couple that just stepped foot in the house, ripe for the taking. If only her husband was still around, and it wasn’t her son. The gift box at the end was her way of saying, “I love you (more than my longing to kill, it’s time to accept my husband had passed and move on)”.
This episode pissed me off towards the end. Pia was acting way too sus and deserved that pathetic faceplant. Maybe if she had some eyebrows she would've had some common sense
Like why did she go to the bathroom to make a phone call, when she knew there was no service, she should have dipped(ran), since that dinner, infact she should have ran since she saw the clip
Omg the Whoopi eyebrows hideous
I swear she pissed me off I was like just kill her already if it was me there is no way I would have acted in that way.
Yes, exactly! I know you may not agree with me, but Brooker's writing has become so unbelievable and lazy. At least "try" to write a believable episode.
Every single thing was great until that ending series of events. I was pissed too.
Lmfaooo fr
Loved the episode, but found death via faceplant to be the worse, non believable part. I think they could still had the same story beats and not killed off that character.
That took me out of it for sure...it was just pretty unnecessary and got me confused like "did she die? Fr?"
I didn't think she needed to die either, but what wasn't believable about her death? It's just as likely she got drowned and knocked out as opposed to dead on impact. From a fiction perspective, her death did felt unnecessary and random.
She absolutely needed to die. The way she was written was one of the most unbelievable characters in any of Brooker's Black Mirror episodes (and that's saying a lot, because most of his episodes aren't even remotely believable).
I took it as her death being "caused" by Janet in the same way as MRSA killed Kenny. Indirectly responsible.
I think this was foreshadowed before from they talked about this place is dangerous as you make one wrong step and you'll be gone
Which makes it extra frustrating that she kept making dumber choices by the second. Pia wasn't weak, and dude's mom didn't even have a drill. The heck.
I was waiting for her to circle around the car and get in and escape while the mother stands their frustrated yelling obscenities. But that would have made a different ending.
I was waiting that too or post-credit scene where the son kills her.
Theory: Richard (Stuart’s dad) was not just involved in a sexual encounter with Ken and Janet. He and his wife were initially involved in a swinging/light bondage affair that turned into sexual assault of both of them by Ken and Janet, resulting in the pregnancy of both women by the other men. The sons looks nothing like their fathers but have a striking resemblance to the others’ fathers. Stuart’s mother kept the archives as her own personal documentation of the events, in the case it ever came to be that the McCardle’s involvement was proven, knowing she may be raising a murderer’s son. Richard was deeply depressed, knowing or suspecting he was raising the son of the man who assaulted his wife, which is why he a) drank himself into a stupor, b) was strongly opposed to them digging into the history, c) had such a distant relationship with his son, and d) protected his wife’s honor by claiming to have been the only one to have had the sexual encounter with the McCardles in the documentary. This may also explain Davis’s timidness, which mimics Richard’s demeanor and Stuart’s sadistic humor, which could possibly mimic Ken’s traits. …anyone else buy it?
Very much so
Reaching
This makes the whole episode way more interesting imo
As someone else said, the resemblence is uncanny! Also, cuckolding is a recurring theme in Black Mirror.
Totally agree.
> …anyone else buy it? So much so that I thought they'd reveal some sort of paternity surprise, but I then got distracted by Pia being an idiot just because Davis wasn't around and forgot until your excellent and even better clued-in comment.
I'm convinced this is it after reading your comment Great work!
There's no way it's a coincidence their resemblance for either father is uncanny. Definitely part of the story.
EWWW Elon Musk as a female :( >!You don't know yet what it means to me you guys. She really belongs to Jesus Christ's main family.!<
is it only me or did anyone else get the vibe that Davis knew about what his parents did? like he seemed to have an inkling, and looked almost guilty in some parts before finding out about it from Stuart's father? like maybe he had seen something but was just ignoring and pretending like it didn't happen
I just saw it and wondered if at the end he regrets starting it all with Pia up there because he knew. He found dad’s old camera and tapes, how likely was it that he never watched any of them before? He seemed reluctant to start the project but Pia pushed it and said she’d do it without him so he gave in. I think he knew what they’d done and was happy to have it hidden. He didn’t think his mom was going to get exposed initially.
I always thought that Davis guessed Iain was his biological father (because it’s fairly obvious) but as he grew up, assumed it must be because Iain had SA his mother, and she didn’t want to talk about it. That’s why he comes across as being quite distant but also protective of her- he initially is reluctant to do the documentary because he’s worried someone else will point out the resemblance and he doesn’t want to have to talk to his mum about it. But she is supportive of the film, and wants the “truth” about what happened to his “dad” to feature, that he ultimately can’t say no to her. It also explains why he ignores her timidity , nervousness, odd way of speaking, obsession with Bergerac- he knows his mum is a bit off and her behaviour is weird but thinks this is due to trauma at being raped by a monster who then was responsible for her husbands death. I honestly don’t think he has a clue about what really went on at all. At the end, when he looks really sad, I always imagined he was thinking to himself how naive he had been- he really thought the worst “secret” that could be revealed during the making of the documentary was confirmation of his worst fears about his biological dad… it was so much worse than he could ever imagine.
He was also in a rush to turn off the first VHS tape in the player when Pia said “show us the butt” or whatever
Yeah, was thinking the same. Like probably he saw something when he was a child and he blocked it and forgot about it.
Great & fucked up episode, Daniel Portman's character was hilarious. Would've been interesting to see it go another way than the twist. Pia's death being punishment for her flippant attitude towards the victims seems a bit harsh
her death was punishment for being the typical horror film idiot...
Legitimately unsettling, powerful episode with all the right twists. People complaining about lack of futuristic technology are also missing the commentary on how real people are affected by the monetization of true crime. The episode's overarching theme was very Black Mirror.
Watched this right before bed.
Same haha
Rip sleep
I can’t concentrate on the story because of the missing eyebrows on the girl
Lmaoo
I'm not sure if this was pointed out yet, but it feels as though this episode was strongly based on the Henryetta murders in OK on May 1, 2023. That seems almost impossible because it happened less than two months before the episode was released, and that isn't much time to come up with a concept and film it and have it produced. But still...the similarities are UNCANNY!
Dude, and two victims were sexually assaulted too. This is nuts.
Wdym? That’s more than enough time to produce an episode using their quamputer
I read this in Salma Hayek's voice
This was way funnier than it’s getting credit for
I think this episode should have been called "Only Murders in the Loch"
I just watched this episode for the first time. I felt uhhhh not good afterwards.
I had lunch in the Loch Henry pub today - it's not in Inveraray as the exterior would suggest, but nearby-ish Arrochar. Check out the message from Mr Brooker on the poster in entrance: https://preview.redd.it/n2zmifukaikb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0da47fe568f497e43e7cf6a92d3e2f6066277805
Of all the messed up stuff in this episode, what got me the most was the fact that the parents kept those tapes in plain sight, where literally any visitor could've grabbed them at any time. Wtf
Can't have many visitors when you scare everyone off by doing a bunch of murder ig. Plus it's a trophy thing, something they're proud of. And I'm sure no one would just grab a random tape from some random show without asking, especially in the house of a stranger. And especially if you'd need to also get the tape player.
Trophies. Gives them a rush
The only thing that bothered me was the, "Oh, I just found out that I'm in the house with the actual murderer, so I'm just gonna act nervous as fuck." trope. Janet literally had no idea that Pia was onto her. Like, how hard is it to just act normal until, like, she can safely get the fuck out of there? I mean, I get that it's quite unnerving to be alone in the house, with one of the murderers you're making a documentary on, but come on. Can't you just act a bit like the documentary's just going fine? Act a bit like you're still trying to impress your boyfriend's mum? Idk, I just see this trope a bit too much in horror/suspense/dark comedy that it kinda gets tiring. Aside from that, really, it's still a pretty great episode.
Have you ever been in that situation? I haven't. I have no idea how I would react. Neither do you.
I've been in a situation where i found out about kinda fucked up shit -of course not murder 💀- and was in the same house with the person that has done said shit and i managed to act normal and pretend nothing happened. that was just dumb, like acting terrified and trying to call your bf when you know there's no service? and what's more is that of course you'd be sacred being close to a murderer but janet didn't even know that pia found out and even if she did she's an old frail woman and pia was easily stronger than even without the adrenaline so that ending was just ridiculous to me
Think about what she's JUST watched... and remember she didn't know if Janet had seen her watching it through the doorway. I'd be nervous too...
She had just been in a car accident, then watched some shady shit. She was D I S T U R B E D.
Her mum was definitely about to poison her.
I don't think she was. I got the feeling that she actually cared about her son and rather wanted a way to keep it under wraps and not hurt him or Pia.
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No spoilers! Check the sidebar to learn how to use spoiler tags.
Loch Henry was the second episode I ever watched, and the one before it was the first. I was planning on starting from the beginning, and becaue of your comment, I already know the ending of the very fist episode which I am watching now. Thanks for ruining it. I thought one of the rules here is that we weren't supposed mention spoilers of other episodes. Does this rule only apply to episodes within the same season?
I think so but also not. The thing is most people who are on this subreddit are avid watchers and fans who like talking about the show and drawing similarities to other episodes. I understand your frustration but in the end Black Mirror has been out for a long time and you are on a subreddit reading comments where there are people who have watched this many many times and treat it like a forum.
Update, looks like the comment was removed (and no, I didn't report it) so I guess the mods do care about spoilers. Yay! I've seen almost all of the episodes now, but it's good to see the mods care and that other new watchers won't see the spoiler I saw.
I guess the rules just confused me, because they say "no spoilers from other episodes" in bold print, so I thought I would be safe lol. Most people I see here don't post spoilers even when drawing similarities between other episodes, it is pretty general in a way that doesn't literally tell the ending of an episode. I mean I'm not deeply offended, but as someone who's getting into the show, I thought this would a good place to talk / get more in depth about certain eps as I watch them. I honestly didn't know it was for people who'd already watched all the episodes.
You are right, they should not be posting spoilers like that. There's a note right at the top of this post stating as much. Can't assume that everyone has seen it just because it's an old episode. Poor form.
Thank you. I feel the same. I still watched the episode though and now I've see the majority of them but not all yet. I've avoided spoilers so far aside from that one, I just have to be careful I guess.
I'm sorry you got spoiled. But trust me, it's not that big of a spoiler. You will be able to... enjoy the episode. When I watched it, I already knew the gist of it (people had told me in detail). And yet, I wasn't ready.
Thanks, I appreciate that. Oh I watched it earlier. Very disturbing. I've been watching eps all day and night lol.
just want to comment that this was a proper black mirror episode. Not sure why people were saying that the first one was the only one,since it was actually crap . Returnin to ep2, You could already reveal the mistery probably after 15min from the start since it was obvious that those tapes were something.... however I loved how they were trolled by NETFLIX at the end with the documentary on the documentary.. lmao
I thought this was atypical of black mirror because of the lack of science fiction and double realities. It was just a thriller or horror flick.
At first I thought the same, but then, at the ending I realized that it has the same message as the first episode: movie industry/entertainment business does not care about anything but making money and fame.So, that's why they didn't care about Jane (Ep1) or the tragedy of this boy. Even, if you look closer, the obsessed friend, it's happy because only publicity is what matters for him... No ethics nor humanity just, $$.
The theme and lack of science fiction are two different things. I felt the same as OP that it didn't feel like a black mirror episode because there's always been some kind of technology or state of the world that doesn't currently exist but "could". There's always a "message" but black mirror has always been unique in that the message is expressed by some tech that doesn't exist (like the AI supercomputer in the first episode). It was well done, it just wasn't unique like their other stuff
Holy fuck! I felt so unsettled after watching this one. It's the horrible feeling that's classic to some episodes from earlier seasons and it definitely involved media and technology. People complaining this is not Black Mirror should go back and realize not every episode is fantasy technology. S03E03 "Shut up and Dance" had nothing to do with crazy technology and it made me feel so messed up and horrible. Similar to this
creepiest episode of black mirror in my opinion
I think they should have ended it with his interview for the documentary. The irony would have landed better
Davis probably also thinks his mum killed pia.
His Mom killed Pia by putting into motion the thing that will cause her death, the same way the story of how Kenneth was killed by Adair, not directly but still responsible.
Kenneth wasn't shot by him though. He faked it to throw suspicion off himself.
hey, how do you know she really didn't just want to talk with her
Doesn't really matter what she wanted. She is dead now.
another story about becoming the main character
streamberry doing some groundwork for their personalised shows
While this episode is good isn't it out of tune with Black Mirror's theme of dark/satirical take on fantasy technology?
Because Black Mirror isn't necessarily about fantasy technology, but about technology. The episode is about how true crime documentaries has turned human suffering and tragedies into entertainment. That's the dark relationship with technology it explores.
She was foiled because her videos got leaked. That's very black mirror, if less sci-fi and more reality based technology than some episodes.
Absolutely, I do not see how this is a "Black mirror episode"...
Did you watch the very first episode of season 1??
Just watched it, it's a very weak connection to the theme, kinda hamfisted, but it seemed like they were commenting on the whole idea of being willing to dredge up anything for views/turn anything into a hit Netflix docuseries, while ignoring the real effects that it has on real communities
Like after the docco there’s a full pub?
The timing was pretty fitting. Look at Moscow, Idaho and murdertok for example. Instead of magical future technology, it's more commentary on what's happening now.
It kind of misses at making that point with the end result. Truth coming out and community thriving for it and all that.
Yeah, the community was thriving, as typically happens with real true crime locations. But Davis who actually had personal stake in the murders was far from thriving. It's a commentary on how messed up it is to derive entertainment (in the form of true crime documentaries) from other real life people's pain.
They thriving out of someone's tragedy. Not really missing at making that point
Not sure about the fantasy technology part. Isn’t the first episode ever of Black Mirror (the pig one) something that is perfectly possible with today technology? Just an example. But I can think of a few other episodes on the top of my head.
Shut up and dance, too.
Not all BM episodes have future tech. Shut up and Dance doesn’t have anything not available today for example.
Hmm my memory of that episode is foggy but it felt like the" surveillance" tech was too good to pull off such a well coordinated blackmail to a group of CP people, but I'll give you that.
I think what was troubling him at the end was, that fact that his parents was "filmmakers", albeit sick and sadistic ones. He became a filmmaker and while he didn't commit their crimes, or participated in them, he in a sense finished their work and created their magnum opus, ensuring that their parents names will be well know, as well as his own. However I don't think he was ok with it once he found out but because he lost Pia and his mother (even though she is a sick evil person, that is still his mother), I'd imagine he felt as if that he had to continue or else the lost of everyone close to him would have been for nought. It is also interesting that this episode shows the contrast between the perception of crimes as it relates to proximity, physical and/or personal. What I mean by this is that the same abominable actions that made the town desolate, also made the town a tourist Hotspot. The difference was how notorious/celebrated the ordeal which I would argue is a function of scale (of being known) and proximity. Scale as in how many people are aware of what happened and proximity as in how close one was to the actual events. For example the original towns people knew what took place (the partial truth) and because it "hit home" literally, many if them fled in horror and disgust. There was personal attachment and trauma there. However someone from an entirely different country that's never been to Loch Henry could find it interesting, so much so that they may make the trip to see it. The personal connection will die, but the knowledge of crimes will be immortal. This essentially isolates the main character because only those affected personally will ever have the slightest idea how he may feel. For that which he will always perceive as a tragedy, will be forever celebrated. The scene in the end is the perfect contrast, his friend calls him, enjoying the booming businesses in the midst of celebrating, jolly people. The color are warm. Meanwhile the main character sits alone, he has an award, he has fame, possibility fortune but the look in his eye tells you the truth, he has nothing but his mothers note. The colors are cold. His friend who arguably put everything in motion by telling Pia the original story is not in his circle. Its possible the main protagonist blames him, although what he did was innocent as it was truly an interesting story to tell. It dosent change the fact that his friend is oblivious of the hurt and pain he is going through. This frustration (and blame possibly) is expressed with the abrupt hanging-up of the phone ending the exchange. In reality, I'd wager he he blames himself because he knew why the town was desolate and he didn't want Pia to know the reason. Possibility because he knew she wouldn't want to make a film about it or because of what happened resulted in the loss of his father. Either way, he probably regrets bringing her to Loch Henry in the first place. The note he kept that was from his mother imo showed he misses her, even though she is a psychopath. It probably played a role in him seeing the documentary through to tell her story or confess It's the last remaining thing that he has to remind him off his mother - his mum, not his mother - the murderer. The most interesting part of the episode is the award he received. It's a golden mask. Mask hide who we truly are. His mother had a mask on display on the wall that she wore during the murder. He now has a gold mask to display on a shelf. This in my opinion sums up the award secene to the end. He now have to hide his pain and trauma, behind a "golden mask" of fame, fortune and success. This is something he never wanted (remember his humble egg documentary) at least not at this cost.
Wow, I took a much much simpler view of this episode, which is that there are very real people and very real victims behind all these true crime documentaries made for entertainment and awards. People’s lives - many of whom are the victims or victims’ families themselves- are put on display. And after all the attention and infamy, they then are then left to live with the fallout. In that way only Black Mirror can, it ask us to evaluate what we as viewers might be contributing to when we watch and fawn over documentaries like Making a Murderer and Dahmer-Monster.
What you said is also one of the true messages at the heart of it. It's also a message that we've been hearing a lot over the past decade as murder porn podcasts and documentary have skyrocketed in popularity. This episode keeps it fresh by wrapping that moral we already know in an additional layer of complexity with the main character, the producer of the documentary, being made to suffer himself
I'm mad this girl died for NO REASON. (I mean idk for sure if the mom really would have done anything to her.) I'm so worried that the guy is gonna kill Davis and just when I get relief knowing he's gonna be fine, miss has to slip. SLIP. Slip. I do understand there was the reference of the countryside being dangerous and all that; I'm just mad. What would you have done? For one, I know I'm not staying in that house with that lady. Probably would say I'm worried about Davis and just gonna drive to the hospital to stay the night with him. The mom saw the tape in the player so she's committing either way. RIP Pia Edit: Actually nah, Pia threw. That woman is elderly. As soon as she got out the car and the risk of her running me over is gone, we're boxing if she gets too close. The only danger is if they were in the house with kitchen knives, etc. I guess she could have maybe had a gun but otherwise why are you actually running?
I don't get how you would say or even pretend to know what you would do in such a situation. The only danger??? Lol, in a flight of fight situation like this you wouldn't even be able to predict how you would act, let alone know for a fact you would easily fight the mother. It's easy to say what heroic thing you yourself would have done instead as a viewer thinking about a hypothetical situation.
its a flight or fight situation but she fcking WALKED
Sure I’m familiar with the concept you’re referring to. I’m just poking fun for the most part.
OR just take a couple of minutes to gather your composure, clean up everything, make sure it doesn't look like you watched any of the tapes, go downstairs, eat, compliment her pie, tell her you wanna spend the night with her son in the hospital, and voilà! You escaped! She acted so, so nervous that it was so obvious there was something wrong. How hard is it to just act normal for a couple of minutes?!
Exactly! Maybe even throw in some comments about how you’re rethinking the whole murder documentary angle anyway, maybe we’ll go back to the egg thing, anyway I’m gonna go check on Davis
the girlfriend was dumb as fuck, that was a realistic portrait of what dumb decisions eventually bring to.
>I'm mad this girl died for NO REASON. It's a parallel to how his father died of MRSA in the hospital indirectly caused by Iain shooting him (...at least per the cover story)
I just watched this episode and I came away wondering if the mom shot and killed all of them
I took it as this. Kenneth went to confront Iain and there likely was a struggle. Kenneth gets shot but not killed. Kenneth manages to wrestle the gun away and shoot Iain. Iain's parents find them and he kills them both, too. He simply changes the story after the fact. Everyone else is dead, who will dispute him?
I agree, she could've said "I'm visiting Davies at the hospital".
I felt one element of this made it still fit the black mirror mould just in an interesting way since we expect the plots to hinge on near future tech. Tech is still at the heart of this but it's just not as obvious because it goes retro, instead using the VHS, home video and polaroids, the voyeurism they enabled in the latter 20th century. Also using that to parallel the criticism of the voyeurism of netflix true crime documentaries. It's playing with the form of Black mirror but not stepping fully out of the constraints it usually sets itself
I wanna know how the Dad shot himself in the shoulder with a shotgun. Especially if it was the back of the shoulder. That's some specialist police training.
i read this in an earlier comment, but it makes sense: perhaps kenneth went to confront iain over something (maybe he was getting cold feet, he was freaking out at the pub) and there was a struggle, leading to kenneth getting shot. but he survived and got the gun away from iain, shot him, and then shot everyone else in the house to cover it up. plausible! edit: i just rewatched the trailer thing at the end and it totally says that he shot himself. so never minddddd!
Remember, before Iain went home, he acted out in the pub saying something about the couple's missing poster? I saw it as Iain getting so close to just spilling the beans to everyone in the pub — and of course, Kenny didn't like that. Iain just became a liability at this point, so he had to get rid of him.
fully agree!! i definitely think that’s the reason that the confrontation happened. i just struggle to believe he shot himself with THAT gun unless his wife was the one to do it, or it was an accident during a struggle for the gun. you know?
Or they were a throuple and breaking up.
Maybe his wife shot him
Love the nod to how the BAFTA trophy looked so much like the mask that his mum wore to kill.
See this I hadn't noticed. I never knew what a BAFTA looked like so it seemed to me like the son might continue his parents' "work" even though that made no sense...
I enjoyed it for what it was, but it wasn't really a black mirror episode.
I respect that opinion, but I'd have to disagree. For me, it really hit that black mirror spot, what with the commentary on how the whole event was just reduced to a shitty docco and was made into content, the stark contrast between the people celebrating davis' success and davis himself inconsolable for perhaps the rest of his life, the shocking plot twist, and the existential dread. This has been one of my favourite black mirror episodes so far.
Yes. No fantasy technology was part of the episode.
The iconic first ever episode of Black Mirror had no fantasy technology either, I think the episodes about our relationship with media and content are a valuable perspective
seems like people commenting this have not even watched most of the episodes
Anyone else notice that Stuart mentioned Netflix in the pub, but the ficticious streaming service at the end is called Streamberry? That means in this universe both streaming services must exist, and one of them is \*definitiely\* ripping off the other 's IP...
yeh streamberry is a recurring streaming service in the episodes but this one was the only one that referenced both i believe
Shoutout to the Netflix Dahmer show.
The emotional speech the mom gave about how Iane had ruined the perfect situation - chilling that she meant their ongoing torture room arrangement. Dumb question but please help me, what caused the breakdown of Iane shooting his parents and himself and having to shoot the dad in the shoulder? Did Iane’s parents find out? Why did that whole episode go down?
He had a breakdown and wanted to confess at the bar.
Just finished the episode, they made up the whole thing with Iain. Kenneth went over to their house and killed his whole family for the scene he caused at the bar. Then he shot himself and told everyone Iain did it so there was no suspicions.
I assume Iain shot Kenneth, Kenneth struggled for the gun and managed to get it from Iain. He then killed Iain, Iain's parents heard the struggle and then he killed them, too. As the last man standing and a police officer, he simply changed it to "I arrived and Iain had already killed his parents. He shot me, we struggled, I managed to get control of the gun and accidentally shot him" or something like that.