Okay guys, you’re going to hate me. But I’ve put off so many things that I have no choice but to take care of them this week. So I’m not sure I’m going to be posting much, if at all. I don’t have the time.
With that said, I wanted to leave you with my thoughts on the last two episodes in Black Mirror, Hotel Reverie and Eulogy. In classic Black Mirror fashion, one was the worst episode of the season and the other was the best.
What’s interesting about this is they both use the same type of concept, which reminds us how even a small change in the way a concept is approached can have an outsized effect on the quality of the story.
In Hotel Reverie, we follow a modern day movie star who is placed inside an old movie where she’s replacing the star. In Eulogy, we follow a man who’s placed inside old photos that bring back heartbreaking memories of his ex-girlfriend. In the former, nothing really makes sense. A movie star shows up to a new digital production and has no idea what she’s doing and they say to her, “You know all 500 of your lines by heart right?” And she’s like, “Uh, yeah,” and they then drop her into the old movie where she’s expected to say all those lines in one uninterrupted take. As if that makes sense. Not to mention she’s a black actress replacing a white male actor in a 1940s love story that I guess was going to be rereleased with her playing the new part. Like audiences would just accept that? Nothing in this episode made sense.
But Eulogy was really thoughtful and interesting. It follows this older man who has to go through old photos of him and his ex-girlfriend to find memories that they’re going to use at the now dead ex-girlfriend’s funeral.
The whole thing is this cool mystery as we go back from photo to photo, each one giving us a little more information on their relationship and what happened to make him so bitter with her. There are little twists along the way. And the ending is really good. It’s a wallop of an emotional punch. I recommend it to anyone who wants to see how to write a simple story out of a strong hook.
I will try to post again this week but I can’t promise anything!
