Eulogy is the anthology’s most ‘heartfelt and quietly devastating’ episode ever

Viewers have been “shattered” by Eulogy, an emotional new episode within the seventh season of Charlie Brooker’s collection, starring Paul Giamatti.

Since 2011, Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones’ dystopian anthology collection, Black Mirror, has introduced 34 tales concerning the darkish facet of know-how: how pc techniques and digital devices may distort, warp and even finish life for people.

There have been the stunning, twist-filled episodes – a major minister is pressured to have intercourse with a pig on reside TV to launch a kidnapped princess (Nationwide Anthem); a lady chased by bounty hunters on a sadistic actuality TV present is revealed to be a child-killer (White Bear) – however every now and then, there is a story that transcends the “what if know-how went unhealthy?” theme and as a substitute manages to seize the multi-layered nuances of human existence.

This mild, extra emotional facet to Black Mirror has beforehand emerged in a number of fan-favourite episodes, corresponding to San Junipero, launched in 2016: a love story between two younger ladies set within the 80s, that’s later revealed to be a simulated actuality the place the lifeless and the nonetheless residing can co-exist collectively on-line. Be Proper Again (2013) was prescient in its explorations of AI, and the way the expertise of grief may lead somebody to create a computer-generated model of their liked one. And themes of infidelity and sexual obsession seen by an embedded reminiscence “grain” had been explored with devastating leads to 2011’s The Whole Historical past of You, written by Succession’s Jesse Armstrong.

And whereas there’s at all times a spot for barely foolish, catastrophising predictions of the endgame of computer systems and the web (Plaything and Widespread Folks in season seven are first rate new examples of this), Black Mirror excels when the know-how is only one a part of the story, not the purpose of the story. The latest collection seems to recognise this, and is probably essentially the most heartfelt and emotional of the whole catalogue. With three of the seven episodes centred round a love story, nonetheless, it is episode 5, Eulogy, which has been the standout, quietly devastating viewers on the day of its launch. 

“Eulogy broke me in a really explicit method I wasn’t anticipating,” one viewer wrote on X, whereas one other mentioned it was “an completely heartbreaking but incredible piece of tv… simply superbly painful”. One other person added: “Actually unimaginable from each commonplace attainable. I have been crying for the final 5 minutes… Heartbreak cannot even scrape the floor of what this has made me really feel.” One other was nonetheless in restoration from the viewing: “It ha[d] me sobbing. And I imply heavy, fats tears.”  

The critics agree. Stylist’s Kayleigh Dray mentioned, “Eulogy shattered me, and I can not cease serious about it,” whereas Ben Rosenstock from Vulture added that it was the “most heartbreaking episode of the season”. GameRant‘s Aayush Sharma known as it “one of the best episode of Black Mirror Season 7… Paul Giamatti is EXCEPTIONAL”, and Jake Kleinman from Huffington Publish mentioned: “It would even be one of the best Black Mirror episode in years.”

Eulogy – co-written by Brooker and Ella Street – certainly encompasses a fascinating efficiency from Giamatti as Phillip, an older man who’s requested if he’ll use a digital chip to entry his reminiscences to create a eulogy for the funeral of Carol Royce, a girlfriend who broke his coronary heart in his 20s.

The know-how set-up is only one spectacular strand of this episode because the particular results featured enable Phillip to “soar” into previous photographs, exploring the recreated scene round him. Nevertheless it’s the world-building outdoors of those merged live-action and CGI scenes that’s actually affecting. Piece by piece, the story of Phillip and Carol’s relationship and break-up is revealed by his previous pictures and mementos – the way it was fractured by him having an affair; the next dramatic proposal he orchestrates in London; and his humiliation when she walks out on him, by no means to be heard from once more. 

His ensuing emotional turmoil is palpable, particularly in Giamatti’s highly effective monologues. However with the assistance of an avatar “information” (performed by Patsy Ferran) within the Eulogy digital chip, Phillip discovers info that provides him a model new perspective that would have modified the course of his and Carol’s lives – however which, tragically, has come too late.

Brooker advised Vulture that Eulogy is supposed to be a companion piece to Be Proper Again and The Whole Historical past of You, and examines the blinding, subjective nature of hindsight: “We had been speaking about reminiscence and pictures, and the way a person’s tackle reminiscence may deceive them by way of who they really feel is the villain of their life.” He added to Rolling Stone: “It is any person utilizing know-how to revisit the previous and are available out with a barely completely different perspective and put some ghosts to relaxation.” 

Brooker additionally revealed that the lack of his personal father – and having to learn the eulogy at his funeral – had made the topic much more poignant for him. Eulogy, like a lot of the anthology, performs with the concept of nostalgia. For Phillip, nonetheless, this nostalgia has curdled; any good reminiscences he may need had of Carol have been mentally and bodily destroyed by him, leaving him quietly seething with remorse and bitterness for nearly 30 years.

As is sort of customary for Black Mirror characters – and in life itself, maybe – there isn’t any neat, completely happy ending in Eulogy, however Phillip is given a bittersweet second of cathartic acceptance, which is what is absolutely resonating with viewers. As Giamatti advised Rolling Stone on studying the script for Eulogy: “I used to be actually moved by it on the finish, which does not at all times occur to me.” Even essentially the most cynical of Black Mirror followers must agree that this could be essentially the most heartfelt episode but.  

Black Mirror season seven is on the market on Netflix.