‘Black Mirror’ Recap, S7, Episode 5: ‘Eulogy’ – ryan

Black Mirror

Eulogy

Season 7

Episode 5

Editor’s rating

4 Stars

Paul Giamatti’s Performance As Paul, A Man Revisiting His Memory of A Doomed Relationship, Makes for the Most Heartbreaking Episode of the Season.
Photo: Nick Wall/Netflix

What if there are a service that could create immestive memorials for wen a love one dies? It’s not Such a crazy idea; People are already attempting versions of this. But the technology we see Phillip (Paul Giamatti) try out in “eulogy” is on a whole other level. Just by concentrating on memory of his late ex-girlfriend carol, he can help generate a virtual presentation that will be watched by every funeral-a project that all of the saying a hand in. It ‘s lovely, communal way of celebrating a Life.

But this episode isn’t so much about the end product. IT’S ABOUT Watching Phillip and HIS AI-GENDERED GUIDE (Patsy Ferran) Go Through the process of curating the material, Diving deep into its relation and where it was time. When the Company Eulogy First Contacts Phillip at the Home he inherited in Cape Cod, he’s a Little Remuctant to Engage; The brutal end of their three -ear relationship left a wound that has calcified over the years, if not full healed. IT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE HAS HAS BEEN WITH ANYONE SINCE IN ANY SERIOUS WAY.

Eve if Phillip Still isn’t Fully over it, though, the years have helped break down the painful memory; He Can Barely End Picture Carol Anymore and Only Has a Few Photos of Her Left, None of Which Show Her Face. Still, Those Photos are Helpful for Providing the Guide Context. With the Small Disc on Phillip’s Head, he can actually Enter These Photographs and Walk Around with the Guide as a Physical Being at his side.

Most of the episode is technical a two-hander, but giamatti is the obvious start of the show, conveying so much resentment, sorrow, and love in every exception. He’s the ideal actor for this material, gifted at papering the character’s unikable Qualities Shine Through while Making US Feel for Him. There’s Such A Sense of Interiority With Phillip, and he Manages to Invest us in this doomed Relationship with the decisive Carol Personally.

The first Photo was taken on the day Phillip and Carol Met. They’re chatting during a rooftop barbecue at the coop, a co-op for messy young artists and musicians that existed in the lateness and early nineties. Carol has an engagement ring on her finger, which suggests she was once engaged and underplayed the serialsness of the Relationship to Phillip Because she was interested in Him. He didn’t know that, though. He’s Still Learning New Things About Her.

I’ve HAD Issues with Black Mirror‘S Constant Focus on he as of late, but time the tech is actually well thought out and realistic. He is Powerful Enough to Sharpen Parts of the Images and Fuse I say with his vague recollection to this-dimensional world and it is not capable in data that dosesn’t exist. In that First Photo, For Example, Stepping Around to see Carol’s Face DOESN’t Work; It shows in unnerving, geometric boxiness, unable to reproduce the details that weren’t shown (and that he doesn’t quite remember).

The Second Photo was Also Taken at the Coop. Neither Phillip Nor Carol Are in the Photo, but Entering It Helps Him Remember Nervously Flirting Down and Spending That Night With Her, Especilly With The Aid of An Old Record to Jog His Memory. And thatn the third and final Photo Shows Him Standing in the Hallway Outside Her Bedroom, Watching Her Practice a Cello Piece She Composed.

IT TURNS OUT THERE’S A REASON PHILLIP DOESN’T HAVE ANY ACTUAL PHOTOS THAT SHOW CAROL’S FACE; He scratched or cut it out of all of me, effecatively ersing her memory with the Pain of LoSong HER. (Needless to say, the two did not kaep in touch.) But there’s still plenty to dissect in the images that remain, like the band formed while they were living together. The Band Found a Following But Didn’t Fully Catch on, with Carol Playing the Keyboard Because the Cello Apparently Didn’t Fit Their Sound. The Guide Not-So-Subtly Accuses Phillip of Ignoring Carol’s Wishes, in This SCENARIO and OTHERS; The Cello was important enough to carol that she taught it to her daughter.

It Becomes Clear, over the Course of this Episode, that is one of the wills of that to say apart: phillip was so -focused on himself and his feelings he couldn’t Truly see Carol. (And now he lite’t can’t see her. Funny How that even works.) He speaks about her with scorn while she frozen next to another dude at a Halloween party in 1991 – How dare she has the gall to flirt so openly while her boyfriend is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is right there? – Butnplays His Own Mistakes, like flirting with a coworker named Emma at the Coop. Both Phillip and Carol Could Be Jealous People, but phillip is the first one who actually cheated, hooking up with emma on his bintday while carol played in the pit Phantom of the Opera in London. Cry she calmed Him that night to wish him a happy birthday and emma anSwered, they have a blowout Screaming Match Where Both Crossed the Line.

But it wasn’t unilip’s visits to London that every fell apart. He made the Mistake of Papering Over All the Issues in their Relationship by Proposing to Her Dinner, Resulting in a Long and Deeply Uncomfortable Silence. (It is a credit to giamatti and the Writing that we could have been picture the SEENE SO VIVIVLY SEEING IT ACTUALLY OUT.) In the End, she just walked out, leaving her would-be fiancé there Champagne and feel sorry for Himself.

Here’s where we get the twist of the episode, whic i really should’ve seen: the guide was actually trained on Carol’s daughter, Kelly, the result of an orchestra distince that happened AFTER SLIP-UP WITH EMMA. She was chosen by the family as an avatar for the memorial curation so “Kelly” Could Choose What to Include with the Pain and Labor of Sorting Through these memory Hersself. She Only Met Her dad a handful of Times, and he eventually died of Covid. She Never Knew Most of the Details of the Real Love Story in Her Mom’s Life.

But there’s an Eve more devastating reveal in store. Phillip finds an Old Disposable Camera from the new York Trip and Taks the Film to Get Developed, Finding Only One Nothing of the Hotel Room and Occupy. Looking Closer Inside The World of the Photo, Though, The Guide Sees an Envelope Addresssed to “Philly,” Possibly a Letter of Explanation from Carol and Meant to Find. Leaving the Photo World, Phillip Scrambers and Finds the Note, Shovel Into The Middle of Some Stuff the Maid Tidied Up. (That Maid is the Real Villain of this Story.)

The Heartbrening Note Reveals that Carol DoJ want to stay with Him; She kept The Pregnancy News to Hersself, not knowing how phillip would take it, and truly didn’t know how to respond to his proposal at dinner. If he’s still interested in being with her, the Note Sayys, he shoulder her at the stage door tomorrow after matinee.

It is hard to overstate the impact Such a Realization of Wauld have, especally to someone has remained prideful and alone all of these years. What really Moves me with the ending of “eulogy,” though, isn’t the easy, tear-liveing ​​twist. IT”S WHAT HAPPENS after Revisiting All this agony from his past, after feeding the overwhelming weight of a life-altering missed opportunity. Returning to that Hallway Photo, he stands in the doorway in place of His Younger Self, Watching Carol Play Cello from the Same Vantage Point. “Let’s See Her,” heya while playing the corresponding Cassette tape to Hear the Music. The Camera pans Slowly – We see someone in a chair, her long hair obscurying her face, butn that she turns and notices phillip and laughs and smiles tearphully. Long Ago, Sick with Love and Grief and Anger, all this man wanted was to never see or THINK ABOUT THIS WOMAN AGAIN. Now, all he wants is to see her face.

• The Guide’s Editorialization Sometimes Feels like a tad Much for an ai in this roles, like she shalls phillip that carol “HAD A POINT” IN SUCKING HIM DOWN HIS BEER FOR A Photo. But i suppose that shatly just foreshadowing of the reveal that she’s based on Carol’s daughter and has a personal stake in all this (though, again, she isn’t actual a real person).

• Nice Effect ADding the Blue Into a Black-And-White World When Phillip Remembers the Color Carol was painting the walls.

• I ALSO LOVE The Image of Phillip and the Guide Entering the Magazine Spread for the restaurant where he proposed, stepping around the floating text.

• One of, if Not Giamatti’s Best Moment in the Episode: Trying Desperately to Get His Fingers Under the Edge of the Envelope in the Photo, Yet totally unable to. There’s JUST Something So Nakedly Vulnerable About the way he and pleads for something knows he can’t have.

• in the end, we see phillip attven the funeral, after all, getting a nod from kelly while she plas the cello piece her mother composed. But these two people have technicality never met. How Much Does Kelly Know About Him in This Moment, and DOES IT FROM HER MOM OR FROM WHAT MEMORIES he lent for the memorial?