MovieChat Forums > Black Mirror (2011) Discussion > Men agains fire ending

Men agains fire ending

posted 8 years ago by sebastian-arndt-rs-hoes
7 replies | jump to latest

I don't think that I got the ending completely.
Did they wipe his memory and he continued his duty until he got home after the war was over?

[–] kdawggy 8 years ago

I think the episode is underrated, but I didn't get it either.

It appears he was discharged, but elected to keep the visual implant. I suppose if it can make humans look like monsters, it can make a *beep* war-torn homecoming look better. As for the wife or gf, Im not sure if she was ever real. He seemed to only dream about her (and their sleep seemed highly controlled).

[–] hafaball-1 8 years ago

It's a great episode, though maybe a little exposition plagued by a simple concept. I also was confused about the ending, and thought maybe someone could explain it.

Yours is a good one kdawg. I just thought maybe it was as simple as, he got his MASS replaced and they're giving him some R&R, but why in a deserted neighborhood? Why not just throw him in some hole? Was weird

The Black Mirror writers seem to have an affliction to ambiguous endings.

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

[–] ncarrab 8 years ago

A great ending would have been his wife coming out of the house and he sees her as a roach now because maybe he went into the army as a poor person (roach) and with the MASS now he'd see her differently.

[–] Narcissist00 8 years ago

That's what I was expecting, would have been a good way to end!

[–] mincho173 8 years ago

He arrives "home" like a war hero, which means that he choose to forget and get the implant again, which means that he kept killing people and completed his mission, therefore he was able to come "home" and be happy as a successful veteran hero. Except that it was obviously not real and the wife and beautiful house was all an illusion.

[–] sleddawg63 8 years ago

He arrives "home" like a war hero, which means that he choose to forget and get the implant again, which means that he kept killing people and completed his mission, therefore he was able to come "home" and be happy as a successful veteran hero. Except that it was obviously not real and the wife and beautiful house was all an illusion.

I saw it that way as well, but I think it goes a step further. In the episode the Doctor says that the implant overcame the issue of soldiers actually fighting. I think the military also overcame the problems soldiers had of coming home with PTSD or to a world that at times doesn't want them. It wasn't just the main character that had his homecoming fabricated, they probably did that for all returning vets.

[–] laplante-co-672-297856 8 years ago

My take...

He's opted to remove the MASS.

He goes home to see that the home... the wife/girlfriend... that he's always imagined as waiting for him are either: i. implanted false memories; or ii. are long dead, casualties of the war.

He cries as he sees the reality. The final images of the wife/gf emerging from the house are a storytelling technique to contrast what he was expecting versus the reality.

IIRC, he was facing incarceration. Before going to jail, he asked to see his wife. They tell him there is no wife/girlfriend, they take him home to show him. This might even have been an act of compassion on their part so that he doesn't go to jail worried that he has a wife/gf waiting for him.

(We see the car pull away and leave him in front of the house, but they may have simply chosen to give him a few minutes alone to accept the reality and grieve. He's dressed in a full ceremonial uniform which might reflect that he's just appeared in front of a military court...)