TV Obsessive
This week, on The TV Obsessive Podcast Episode 99, Caemeron and Ryan discuss Black Mirror S7E4, “Plaything.” But first, in the news:
- Heartstopper is set to conclude with a movie
- Bill Hader is working on a Jonestown series
- There’s a trailer for Wednesday Season 2
- And Netflix is planning to adjust options for subtitles
On Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 4, “Plaything”
Written by Charlie Brooker, Directed by David Slade
A writer and game reviewer for PC Zone magazine, Cameron, is confronted by the police after shoplifting and is ultimately arrested because he is suspected of killing an unidentified person. While with the police, Cameron talks about his past with game designer Colin Ritman (who we met in “Bandersnatch“) and the game Colin designed called Thronglets.
Thronglets is Colin’s attempt to make a digital lifeform and it’s a game where he has coded them to grow and evolve. After Cameron steals the game from Colin, his connection to the Thronglets continues to grow and gets stronger after taking LSD, which allows him to understand their communication.
When a guest named Lump “kills” the Thronglets, Cameron murders him and hides the body. Over the next few decades, Cameron builds up the game and his connection to the Thronglets, which leads him to surgically placing a port in his brain so he can continue his connection.
During his interrogation, Cameron won’t say who the body is until he gets a piece of paper and a pen. When the police give him these, Cameron draw a code that that the computer servers in the room pick up. This allows the Thronglets to take over the country’s emergency broadcast system and send a noise that reprograms human brains in order to “eliminate conflict.”
- Are the thronglets alive?
- How to interpret the ending?
- Connections with “Bandersnatch”
- Reflections on Lump’s trespasses
Next Time on The TV Obsessive Podcast…
We continue to discuss Black Mirror with a look at “Eulogy.”
