Hotel Reverie Features One Of Black Mirror's Most Haunting And Heartbreaking Endings, And I Have To Talk About It

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for the Black Mirror Season 7 episode “Hotel Reverie.” If you haven’t watched it yet, please turn back and check it out with your Netflix subscription before proceeding any further.

Since its debut more than a decade ago, Black Mirror has given viewers some of the darkest episodes of TV ever, a few dozen unforgettable stories about the pitfalls of technology, and shocking endings none of us will soon forget. And it looks like that trend is continuing with the show’s seventh season, which just premiered on the 2025 TV schedule. And while I haven’t had a chance to dive into all six of the new tales like “Common People” or “USS Callister: Into Infinity” (that will change soon enough), I did spend some time with “Hotel Reverie,” a transfixing (and extensive) story about an actress recreating a classic black-and-white film.

Let me tell you, I’ve watched my fair share of the best Black Mirror episodes over the years, but “Hotel Reverie” has what could be one of the most haunting and heartbreaking endings the show has ever created. And yeah, I have to talk about it…

So, What Happens At The End Of Hotel Reverie?

Those who have watched the episode know that it centers on frustrated actress Brandy Friday (Issa Rae) as she is hired by an AI company and a struggling film studio to remake a classic black-and-white film, Hotel Reverie. After being placed in the film as the gender-swapped male lead, Brandy becomes trapped in the program (only hours for those in the real world, but weeks for her). During that time, she forms an intense romantic relationship with the digital reconstruction of the movie's main character, Clara Ryce-Lechere, who's played for the fictional actress, the late Dorothy Chambers’ (Emma Corrin).

After a series of missed cues and wrong lines, the program begins to fall apart and deviate from the original film, with Clara being shot and killed at the end instead of surviving until the credits roll. Brandy is brought out of the program before she gets trapped in it forever and is given a special phone by Redream representative Kimmy (Awkwafine) to reconnect with Dorothy, or at least a digital version of the late actress.

Brandy Getting To Reconnect With The AI Version Of Dorothy Was Romantic, But It's Like Talking To A Digital Ghost

While I will admit that Brandy getting to reconnect with Dorothy using that wild rotary phone was romantic and offered some closure (and maybe a hint at her future), I must point out that this is utterly haunting and heartbreaking. It’s like she is talking to a digital ghost, but there’s also something more tragic to it all.

It’s pointed out early in the episode of the 2025 Netflix show that the real Dorothy had a tragic ending to her life after being chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood machine more than a half-century earlier. This isn’t Brandy speaking with Dorothy or falling in love with her, but instead a digital recreation of her, like some AI girlfriend whose sole purpose is to fulfill the emotional (and maybe physical) needs of the user. And I think maybe that’s the point…

And In A Way, That's More Haunting And Heartbreaking Than Being Trapped In A Computer Program

I’m not saying being trapped in a digital recreation of a black-and-white movie wouldn’t be a terrible fate, but Brandy’s relationship with Dorothy moving forward seems even more haunting and heartbreaking. At least in Hotel Reverie, the actress was able to see and touch the woman she loved; she now can only talk to her over the phone, and even then it’s another digital ghost that has no memory of their time together or their experiences.

But this is the bittersweet and haunting ending that makes “Hotel Reverie” so much fun to think about. Brandy survived, but she came back to a world that is vastly different than the one in which she lived only a few hours earlier.

Now that the entirety of Black Mirror Season 7 has been added to Netflix, all I can do is watch the remaining five episodes from the great anthology series and see if they impact me in this way.