LogFAQs > #893152685

4x2 - Arkangel

We open to a woman being operated on, looks like a C-Section. Hints at an issue? The dog barking a couple years later points the same way. The cat doesn't seem as distressed though.

...and she's missing. Followed the cat to the tracks.

We're in some sort of medical institution. We're implanting some tech which is inevitably going to get Black Mirror'd up. Oh, it's a tracking device. And a complete big brotheresque control system. Creepy af.

Also, the idea of making something scary seem innocent feels very dangerous, even beyond standard Black Mirror weirdness.

Yeah, as we pass the barking dog again, it's been filtered to appear smooth and unthreatening and will definitely rip her to pieces. Maybe.

We also get a filter on grandpa falling down, which sends a positive signal to the mother of a problem.

And timeskip. Grandpa died. Mum being sad is triggering. I guess once you understand the filter means bad, there's less danger of going into it.

Filtering of her own drawings and then injury is interesting. There is in fact a lack of concept of danger as a result of the removal of learning. Turning the system off gives complete freedom to someone who has never had it, but also the full spectrum of negative emotion to someone incredibly unequipped to handle them. You could take the story in either direction. Careening out of control or fetal position.

And naturally, the urge to watch is too strong for the mother to resist.

As the boy gives her a quick overview of all the bad things in the world, this feels like we're creating a psychopath? We develop a lack of fear of the dangers in the world (the dog) quickly, and that dog has to be fucking old by now.

Mum is on a date and we're rebellious teenage types now, partying and doing drugs on the beach after sunset. Mum is screwing the patient she was seeing in the past. When Mum does a check on the girls and doesn't have her show up, we're inevitably getting the ArkAngel switched back on. I like that they went to the effort of plugging it in, because I was about to type how dead that battery should be.

And Mum gets to see Sara have sex. And then neither of them owns up later.

I like the boyfriend because he's not an idiot, but they're both going to get fucked on coke. Also, he reminds me super hard of bane. Straight up Narcotic Alert via ArkAngel.

And via google image search, Mum is going to identify the boyfriend and report him to his boss? No, just going to him directly and blackmailing him to stay out of Sara's life.

I guess the dog did die? Or the owners moved away.

Boyfriend fails to come clean face-to-face so that relationship is dead. Looks like we might just be looking at tech enabling an overbearing mother? Because Sara has basically grown up normally.

And now Mum is dosing Sara with something without her knowledge and it seems like that's having adverse affects. And it was a contraceptive pill. The nurse seems like good people, but now Mum is busted. Sara finds the box in the trash to confirm it and before long finds the ArkAngel as well. Sara is done, she's planning on running away. The filter gets enabled allowing Sara to beat the shit out of Mum with the ArkAngel itself, causing enough damage to break the thing. Mum didn't die from injuries sustained though.

I assume Sara goes back to the boyfriend now? ...or just away. And we're done there.

Verdict:

Another very safe episode - there were throwbacks again to past Black Mirror tech, the ArkAngel had hints of blocking people from White Christmas, the rewinding and reviewing eyepiece from The Entire History of You, Hated in the Nation's amending of distressing imagery. There were lots of directions this episode could have gone, but this felt very tame. It felt more like a cautionary tale against overbearing parents unable to let their children age, rather than technology.
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