LogFAQs > #883660587

Of course, the ultimate point of all this is the reveal that Matt and Joe are indeed in a cookie, which I pieced together a bit late but still before they pulled back the curtain. It's one of those twists that doesn't really ruin it if you figure it out a few minutes before you're "supposed to," as it puts everything in beautifully warped context. Joe's story itself is sad and compelling on its own, but isn't really the crux of the episode. Perhaps part of it was that the concept of "blocking," while creepy to think about, felt a bit reminiscent of The Entire History of You (especially given the repeated context of a cheating significant other with a baby that turns out not to be the main character's), but in any case, I was still interested in what Joe's deal was but far MORE interested in why it mattered so much. The truth of Joe's responsibility for the deaths of Beth's father and daughter was very tragic and more than a little creepy -- that whole scene in their house where he is teetering on the edge of a mental break, murmuring "I want to see my daughter," was fantastically done, helped out by a great callback to "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is" from 15 Million Merits. If I'm nitpicking any further, I must say I was taken out of the scene a bit by the little girl's complete non-reaction to... well, anything. I'm not sure if the little actress just wasn't great or if they intentionally shied away from showing a little kid in too much distress, but I didn't buy it and it did distract me a little bit. However, as I've said, the real point here is the purpose of the entire episode, not the murder itself.

Needless to say, boy, does White Christmas reward your patience. The last 5-10 minutes are just so goddamn harrowing. Learning they've been in a cookie the whole time is a great moment, but even better is how it ties all the way back to that first story when we learn Matt is only there to try to lighten his sentence for the seduction coaching and failure to report Harry's death. His sentence of being blocked by everyone on the planet and being displayed in glowing red seems a bit disproportionate; it's a fate arguably worse than death for the crime of being a virtual Peeping Tom, but this IS Black Mirror, after all. It's not really a show known for portrayals of a particularly fair and forgiving society, and I very much liked the touch that Matt's fate of forever only seeing static where people used to be is perhaps the titular white Christmas. Of course, speaking of fates worse than death, the iconic final scene of the Joe AI doomed to sit in the kitchen from the worst day of his life, listening to "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" for millions and millions of years is just bizarrely dark in the best way. The dread mounting as that peppy song just gets louder and louder is perfect, and I can't give the episode enough credit for an ending that not only horrifies, but also ties back to the earlier question of "does it count as torture if it's not real?" from the second narrative. The real Joe will likely get a second-degree murder charge for the father and manslaughter for the daughter (that's a rhyme I never hope to make again), with a heavy but reasonable sentence in prison and possible hope for parole. His AI, however... yeesh.

All told, it was probably not possible for White Christmas to tell three equally amazing, flawless mini-stories and tie them all together with absolute perfection; the three mini-arcs inherently invite comparison between themselves while also building a necessary "cool, but where is this going?" mentality. That said, the episode does just about the best job possible. It's riveting, heartbreaking, and scary with fantastic acting throughout (I do love Jon Hamm's ability to play suave, charismatic, but ultimately cowardly men), and easily slides into my top five.
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-Shred