When the cast list for Season 7 of Black Mirror -- which is finally streaming now on Netflix -- was announced, I immediately clocked the episode starring Paul Giamatti. I’m a huge fan of the actor and his movies, so I knew he would hit this out of the park. He does. That wasn’t surprising when I watched the fifth episode of the season, titled “Eulogy.” What surprised me was that it might be the first time I actually want a fictional device featured on an episode of the notoriously technophobic dystopian anthology show.
A Rare Case That A Black Mirror Episode Didn’t End In Dispair
If you’re a fan of the show, I don’t have to tell you that Black Mirror episodes usually leave you with a pit in your stomach and a genuine desire to turn back the clock on technology. “Eulogy” is the rare example of an episode of the show that actually ends on a good note. Some of the best episodes of Black Mirror, like “San Junipero” in Season 3, end like that, for example. Most episodes of Charlie Booker-created series twist your psyche into a pretezel and have you swearing off screen time forever (though it always sucks you back in).
“Eulogy” has a happy ending, and critics are praising the episode, calling it the best of the season. Giamatti’s character, who has been angry at his ex-girlfriend for years, blaming her for all the bad in his life, finally finds peace with himself and their relationship. It’s all due to a little device called simply “eulogy” that allows him to step into old photos and relive the moment almost as if he was back in time and in the place where the photo was taken. He rediscovered what he loved about his ex and how a single moment of miscommunication changed everything for them as a couple.
I Really Want This Device, It Could Be So Cool
I’ve written a lot about nostalgia. As I get older, I find myself naturally getting more nostalgic. I don’t want to relive my past, nor do I want to turn back time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to remember a lot of things in my life with more clarity. As we get older, we forget more; that’s just the way life is. It gets to a point when even some of the most consequential moments, good and bad, become fleeting memories.
The device in the episode doesn’t let Giamatti’s character relive moments, but it opens up the floodgates to unlock the memories of those moments as if they were yesterday. That’s exactly how I want my memories to be. I don’t need to change the bad stuff, and I don’t want to hide in the good stuff. I just want to remember what those moments felt like and recall details I’ve surely forgotten. What were the smells? How did I feel? Those aren’t things you get from a simple photo, but they are more important than the color of the shirt I was wearing, which you can get.
Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, and the way the series plays with it here is amazing. Season 7 of Black Mirror continues to prove that the show is one of the most bingeable shows on Neflix, especially when it digs into an emotion that isn’t just fear or dread.
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