I've just finished watching Playtest and I have a few questions about the end. So the test didn't start to go wrong until his mum phoned and caused the interference. Does that mean that everything he experienced up until that point, including being stabbed by 'Sonja', being lead upstairs by the voice in his head, the part where he temporarily loses his memory, right down to the flight home and seeing his mum again, all happened before things started to go wrong, and lasted less than 0.04 seconds? Were all those experiences, then, intended by the game developers? And how would it have played out if his mum hadn't phoned?
Or did the radio waves created from the incoming call start all the simulated craziness he experienced, his phone didn't start vibrating until he was back 'home' in the simulation, and that's when his unconscious brain heard the vibration and interpreted it, coincidentally, as his mum trying to phone him?
Either way it's a mind-blowing episode. It very much reminded me of the film eXistenZ.
The phone call happened before anything actually happened. If you watch the episode again it happens right when she starts the download. His brain fire in all cylinders and it went crazy with the download. Everything that happened was basically a hallucination while he was dead.
I love the ending "called mom." It is the biggest FU I have ever seen.
Good point, that's what I thought. So my question changes. What is the message of this episode? Every other episode I've seen has a definite message about our society and what could go wrong in the future if our addiction to technology and social media continue as they are. But I can't see that theme in Playtest. The guy dies as a result of an accident while trialling new technology. Throughout history people have died in accidents, and usually when that happens people investigate what went wrong and how they can prevent it in the future, which would almost certainly have happened after the events in the episode. After he died, if the company was allowed to continue operating, they'd have no doubt set up a barrier around the room or building to block phone signals, or modified the technology so it's not affected by phone signals. The episode said nothing about the rights or wrongs of the technology itself, or how advanced virtual reality gaming might affect our society.
I do have a suggestion for how, in my opinion, the episode could have been better and had a stronger message; He was really in a simulation designed to evoke fear up until the giant spider with the bully's face, he maybe sees a few other scary things but ultimately knows they're not real, then he's unplugged, he completes some sort of questionnaire and gets paid. But the test alters his brain and makes him less susceptible to fear, he becomes a thrillseeker and takes reckless chances with his life in the real world, ultimately resulting in his death.
The lady did tell him to turn off his phone because it interferes with the signal. He decided to turn it back on and try to take a picture to steal information about the company. The message for this episode is very clear and basic (which in my opinion makes it harder to see because BM is typically more hidden).....
If you want somebody to stop calling you, call them. Which is why it is such a great ending with the typing of "called mom." He finally "called" her, so she will not be calling him back because he is dead. Most people run away from their problems and fears instead of taking them on head on. He feared calling his mom more than playing a game that is built to play off of your fears....in the end you can't run away forever, and it got him killed.
True, I hadn't thought of if that way. Though Katie should have made him aware of the full risks of leaving his phone on, rather than just saying it interferes with the signal. I'm sure if he'd known that leaving his phone on could result in his death, he wouldn't have turned it back on to get the photo.
Yes he wasn't perfect. He could have had a better relationship with his mother. He could have phoned his mum and explaind that he needed money to get back home. Yes he was probably working illegally as he wasn't travelling to work, so would have probably been on a tourist visa. And yes he blatantly ignored what Katie said about turning off his phone. But none of these things gave his death any meaning from a narrative point of view, in my opinion. His death was still a random accident.
I suppose one message the episode conveys is about working on relationships while you have the chance, because you don't know when you're going to die. That's a good message, but it doesn't have anything to do with technology, the media or wider societal problems, so it doesn't seem like it fits in with the rest of Black Mirror.
All very good points. I think the only thing I can add is that the technology aspect is that even with so much technology people still revert to their baser instincts and ignore their problems. You would think that over time people would evolve in that respect, but the show implies the exact opposite.
Shut up and Dance is similar in the aspect of not having too much to do with technology. As far as I'm concerned that episode could have taken place today. It does send a message that you should be careful what you do/say on the Internet. All that information can be stolen.
I'm working through Black Mirror one episode at a time. Shut up and Dance is next on the list, followed by San Junipero, which half the threads here seem to be about. But I'm only reading threads for episodes I've watched, so no spoilers please. :-)