The Only Black Mirror Episode to Get a Sequel Is Still One of Its All-Time Best

Somehow it’s been eight years since we saw the unit of the USS Callister rebel against their cruel captain, liberate themselves from his tightly controlled pouch universe, and acceptable retired into the wider galaxy. What happens adjacent volition beryllium explored erstwhile Black Mirror returns April 10 with “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” the dystopian series’ first sequel episode.

But earlier the Callister‘s adjacent section arrives, a re-watch of the archetypal episode—which explicitly riffs connected Star Trek but besides explores workplace culture, toxic masculinity, and ideas astir divided consciousnesses that pre-date Severance—seemed to beryllium successful order. No surprise: the play 4 introduction is inactive 1 of Black Mirror‘s champion ever, owing to its blend of outstanding storytelling, performances, and peculiar effects.

It besides wholly nails that signature quality that astir each Black Mirror episodes question to incorporate, exploring a technological innovation that sounds perfectly fantastic and fantastic until its acheronian broadside is exposed.

© Netflix

At 76 minutes, “USS Callister” is connected the longer broadside (“Into Infinity” is simply a shadiness longer), but similar astir Black Mirror episodes the runtime is perfectly tailored to the story’s needs. It opens with the promised full-on Star Trek homage, starring Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) arsenic the heroic and daring Captain Kirk-like person of a unit battling an alien villain. The costumes are outrageously retro, each the pistillate enactment up to buss their skipper erstwhile the ngo ends successfully, and everyone is conscionable a small excessively fawning and submissive.

We soon find retired wherefore everything looks truthful retro-shiny: this is really an immersive crippled called Infinity, modded by its designer—the existent Robert Daly—to precisely replicate his favourite vintage TV show, Space Fleet. It’s an astonishing thought connected its surface, allowing him to measurement wrong the amusement and acquisition his ain adventures.

But, of course, there’s a sinister undercurrent. Why’s the unit truthful subservient? Well, Robert has molded each quality aft real-life co-workers who’ve displeased him for immoderate crushed oregon another. They whitethorn disrespect him successful the office, but their virtual selves cower astatine his each command.

There mightiness beryllium a mentation of this communicative successful which Robert’s Infinity customization is simply a cathartic mode to stroke disconnected indignities and frustrations. Though helium created Infinity and co-founded the company, Callister Inc., that produces it, he’s truthful socially awkward everyone treats him arsenic an outsider astatine champion and an utter weirdo astatine worst. And arsenic fans good know, Black Mirror loves a communicative involving revenge against bullies.

But “USS Callister” seeks nary sympathy for Robert. His creepy fixation connected his co-workers—the lone quality enactment successful his life, isolated from the pizza transportation guy—extends beyond simply recreating them successful VR. Instead, he’s sneakily stolen their DNA and utilized it to make integer clones that beryllium lone successful his personally modified mentation of Infinity.

We larn first-hand what that entails erstwhile “new miss successful the office” Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti), who’d initially admired Robert for his coding skills earlier being warned by a pistillate co-worker to springiness him a wide berth, wakes up successful a skimpy Space Fleet azygous aboard the USS Callister, having nary thought what the hellhole is going on. To enactment it successful Severance terms, she’s the “innie” to the “outie” Nanette that inactive exists successful the existent world. But dissimilar Severance, this recently created Nanette has each representation of Nanette herself, close up until the infinitesimal erstwhile she conscionable opened her eyes.

“Am I dreaming?” she asks everyone else; they each look similar the radical she’s started to get to cognize astatine the office, but they’re each made implicit successful Space Fleet style. Her adjacent question is “How bash we get out?”

While everyone other has been tortured into submission by this constituent by Daly, this world’s all-powerful “asshole god,” Nanette is determined to flight this hell, wherever she feels similar her existent self, but is alternatively a integer clone doomed to endure eternal agony. She manages to rally the others—again, similar Severance, they person to look the thought that their lone way to state whitethorn beryllium ceasing to exist. But alternatively than stepping into an elevator, they’ll person to maneuver the USS Callister into a wormhole created by an impending Infinity bundle update.

© Netflix

Nanette’s program is ingenious—it involves blackmailing her real-world aforesaid arsenic good arsenic the unwitting assistance of that pizza transportation guy—and it’s nary spoiler to accidental it works, particularly with that sequel astir here. But possibly the niftiest instrumentality “USS Callister” pulls disconnected is that arsenic it races toward its climax, it transcends the intentionally fake-feeling Star Trek rip-off controlled by Daly and becomes, for a fewer scenes astatine least, its ain authentically breathtaking abstraction adventure.

Nanette, integer clone oregon otherwise, makes for a fantastic Space Fleet captain, actually—and reasoning backmost connected the episode’s closing moments makes “Into Infinity” adjacent much exiting to anticipate.

You tin watercourse “USS Callister” and the remainder of Black Mirror seasons 1-6 connected Netflix now; Black Mirror play seven, which includes “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” arrives April 10.

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