Board 8 > San Junipero *Black Mirror Spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

So far it's the only episode with a happy ending
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everyone knows this already. what is the point of this topic

I was caught off guard by this, but yes a happy ending in Black Mirror! There are like two more after this.
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Altma15 posted...

everyone knows this already. what is the point of this topic

I am just watching through the series for the first time. Thanks for the free bump, I guess.

GenesisSaga posted...

I was caught off guard by this, but yes a happy ending in Black Mirror! There are like two more after this.

I can't wait, there was another episode prior to this that I felt was kind of a happy ending 15 million merits, but it is really only a happy ending if he is in a better place.
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Still the best Black Mirror episode.
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SwiftyDC posted...

Still the best Black Mirror episode.

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Hang the DJ also has a happy ending and it's the best episode

The show really should try more happy endings
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USS Callister has a kind of happy ending?
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USS Callister was a pretty bad ending. AI people tricked a human into murdering another human, probably ruining her life.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

It's not a happy ending when someone turns their back on a 52 year marriage to enter into a world of artificial intelligence.

I disagree, she chose to experience love again instead of death.
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Johnbobb posted...

USS Callister has a kind of happy ending?

This was actually the first episode I ever watched, I would not consider it a happy ending.
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Her marriage was already over damn just stop posting ugh

Glad youre enjoying the series! Love that episode.

I think Be Right Back has a pretty neutral ending. I mean it's more sad than bleak which puts it in the top 5 for "happy endings" for Black Mirror in my opinion.
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Can I just say that San Junipero is trash and the most overrated Black Mirror episode ever? Thanks

Also, 5-1 and 5-3 have happy endings too
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UltimaterializerX posted...

IfGodCouldDie posted...

UltimaterializerX posted...

It's not a happy ending when someone turns their back on a 52 year marriage to enter into a world of artificial intelligence.

I disagree, she chose to experience love again instead of death.

Putting yourself inside of AI *is* death.

Dude she was literally dying.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

IfGodCouldDie posted...

UltimaterializerX posted...

It's not a happy ending when someone turns their back on a 52 year marriage to enter into a world of artificial intelligence.

I disagree, she chose to experience love again instead of death.

Putting yourself inside of AI *is* death.

Ok, you're right let me rephrase that. She chose to experience love again, instead of nothingness.
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Nanis23 posted...

Can I just say that San Junipero is trash and the most overrated Black Mirror episode ever? Thanks

Also, 5-1 and 5-3 have happy endings too

I dont agree that its trash, but it certainly doesn't even crack the top 5 episodes for me.
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My view of the world is that it's not possible to transfer consciousness.

However, it is probably possible for an electronic copy of you to experience emotions.

So, she's dead. But a copy of her is having a grand old time with an electronic copy of the other person. The point being that this was way happier of an ending than any prior episode

To be honest, I think many black mirror episodes would he better if they were shortened significantly. When the punchline is predictable and it takes 40 minutes to get there it feels a little bit like a waste
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IfGodCouldDie posted...

UltimaterializerX posted...

It's not a happy ending when someone turns their back on a 52 year marriage to enter into a world of artificial intelligence.

I disagree, she chose to experience love again instead of death.

No dude when your spouse dies im pretty sure you're supposed to get on a boat with their corpse and set yourself on fire

Or maybe bury yourself in their tomb
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UltimaterializerX posted...

As a Christian, turning your consciousness over to AI is mark of the beast type stuff from Revelations. I can't consider that a happy ending, but I get I'm in the minority in believing that on Board 8. I get it though. All good.

If that's your belief, that's fine, I wouldn't lambaste you over it. I personally do not believe that, so I would disagree on that assertion. That would make the scale, in whether on not an ending is happy, subjective. Which is totally fine with me because obviously the intangible aspects of humanity are a fairly subjective.
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There are only three unambiguously happy endings in Black Mirror: San Junipero, Hang the DJ, and Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too. Regarding foolmo's point the first two are brilliant but the last one is the worst they've ever done. They tried for satire and just ended up with the exact thing they were satirising, but with swearing.

There are a few which are mostly or kind of happy. USS Calister as others have mentioned, it is mostly a straight victory but with a really dark edge to it. Striking Vipers too, as the protagonists all get what they want, but ultimately just give up on actually growing or confronting their issues. Though with that said, certain aspects are so ambiguous it depends on your interpretation.
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USS Callister seemed like an unambiguously 'good' ending to me, honestly. Harsh but fair.
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Taking a stab at ranking Black Mirror endings by how "happy" they are:

Unambiguously happy tier
1. San Junipero
2. Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too
3. Hang the DJ

Only somewhat happy tier
4. USS Callister
5. Black Museum
6. Striking Vipers

Not happy tier
Everything else
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UltimaterializerX posted...

Anyway, almost every episode of Black Mirror has a happy ending:

A black slave being freed doesn't qualify?
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UltimaterializerX posted...

I always wondered why Sam didn't try being 'the girl' during that whole thing.

Because he is not gay?
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I agree with those rankings though I would put Be Right Back in the second tier as number 7 - it's sad but ultimately has the character coping woth the issue in their own way, a bit like Striking Vipers.
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Lightning Strikes posted...

I agree with those rankings though I would put Be Right Back in the second tier as number 7 - it's sad but ultimately has the character coping woth the issue in their own way, a bit like Striking Vipers.

Damn, I can't believe I forgot that one. I'd actually slot it at #6 and move Striking Vipers down.
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Xeybozn posted...

Taking a stab at ranking Black Mirror endings by how "happy" they are:

Unambiguously happy tier
1. San Junipero
2. Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too
3. Hang the DJ

Only somewhat happy tier
4. USS Callister
5. Black Museum
6. Striking Vipers

Not happy tier
Everything else

I find it kinda funny that San Junipero and Hang the DJ are two of my favorite episodes lol. And they were both romance driven with happy endings. My own dating life is sad and pretty nonexistent v_v
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don't worry user Waluigi1, we all love you here
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Yeah riiight lol
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just rewatched San Junipero with my girlfriend, who was seeing it for the first time

Johnbobb posted...

SwiftyDC posted...

Still the best Black Mirror episode.

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Hang the DJ wasn't that happy. The digital people in that episode were deleted after serving their purpose.

San Junipero's ending also has a dark side to it. They make a pretty big deal out of the people in the sadism club who chase extreme thrills because they lived so long they got tired of normal pleasures. And the shot of the computers holding the "souls" at the end was pretty ominous, even if set to happy music.

However, I think the dark side of San Junipero's ending makes the happy side even more beautiful, because no matter what happens, the two main characters are going to love each other through it. It's a fantastic rejection of the series' previous pessimistic attitude while acknowledging the points of earlier episodes.

Mythiot posted...

Hang the DJ wasn't that happy. The digital people in that episode were deleted after serving their purpose.

So? They were just fake digital constructs. That's one thing that black mirror tends to push a lot and I just can't seem to care since none of them are real. It's like, whatever they aren't actual people.
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I care for the AIs. Cookies have it rough
I am that guy from the white christmas I guess
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It's classic existential dread. This copy of you, this AI, this cookie, it is you, in every sense of the word. You aren't your brain, you aren't your body, you are an emergent ever-changing entity that uses your flesh vehicle to interact with the world. You have a body of constantly changing cells that will not be the body that you started with, so what difference is it to switch bodies, to not have a body at all, to use a robot body, to become software? Religious folks seem to already have no problem with this with their conception of a soul, but they do have a problem with the cookie, but seeing as how we have no real concept that our "self" will survive the death of the flesh vehicle why isn't the AI copy seen in a better light. Would it be better if it was the only one left? The AI would wake up with a continuous unbroken line from your last memory to it's first, knowing that it is you, because what else would it be?

Yeah, but it can exist while you are still alive, and you do not experience it, so it is not you.

As a simulation exists, it gains experiences, forms opinions, and becomes a different person.

If we are to consider that 'you'- with a different structure- should we consider your children 'you'? After all, they are similar to you, just with changed cells. They even originate from your own cells

In fact, all human beings are composed fairly similarly. But we can all agree that other people don't count as "you", even if they share the same interests or behaviors

Basically, just have human empathy. Don't let the fact that a simulation is based off of you influence how you feel about said simulations.

If it's wrong to simulate torture on a simulation, it's wrong and doesn't matter whether it is your copy or not. If it's wrong to turn off the computer running a simulation, it's wrong no matter what it is running

It would make sense for a show to emotionally pull in the skeptical viewer and force them to care with "no John, YOU are the simulation". Contrast this with Ex Machina, shown from the perspectives of a reporter and a designer, never the machine
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There's not much difference between a sufficiently advanced AI and a human being.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

KamikazePotato posted...

There's not much difference between a sufficiently advanced AI and a human being.

One has a soul. Pretty big difference.

Well, that's debatable.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

KamikazePotato posted...

There's not much difference between a sufficiently advanced AI and a human being.

One has a soul. Pretty big difference.

As soon as you can prove or detect it, I'll consider this an argument.
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Assuming that souls exist, I dont think there's anything that precludes AI from having them.
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Yes you could feel sorry for the AIs, but that doesn't make the ending sad necessarily. They have no other identity or chance of "life" outside of the program, so there is really no loss. They are actually given an awesome opportunity to taste a bit of life. San Junipero is similar since they would just be dead otherwise.

The sad part though is imagining that our lives are actually just in an AI simulation like them, and we'll be discarded in a millisecond of real time. But that idea is really old and not the point of the episode.

What's cool is that our modern neural network AI does literally work like what was shown in the episode. You have to train the program with real data, like raising a baby, and then you ask it a question as if it's a person with a brain. Then you just throw it away .
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UltimaterializerX posted...

KamikazePotato posted...

There's not much difference between a sufficiently advanced AI and a human being.

One has a soul. Pretty big difference.

What if God can give an AI a soul once it crosses into human levels of intelligence? Especially if that intelligence was copied directly from an ensouled creature's brain?

oh man is today the day that a group of message board users finally come together to determine the existence of the human soul
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Waluigi1 posted...

Mythiot posted...

Hang the DJ wasn't that happy. The digital people in that episode were deleted after serving their purpose.

So? They were just fake digital constructs. That's one thing that black mirror tends to push a lot and I just can't seem to care since none of them are real. It's like, whatever they aren't actual people.

Um, Black Mirror pushes the opposite, that all these "digital constructs" are real people for all intents and purposes. You can't watch White Christmas and U.S.S. Callister without empathizing with them.