The new season ofBlack Mirrorcertainly starts off with a bang.
Quite a few of them, actually.
“Striking Vipers” is not the show’s first video game-centric episode.
Credit: Pedro Saad/Netflix
And like Jesse Plemons in “U.S.S.
First though, the episode opens in the past.
But then, something unexpected happens.
Netflix
After a tussle, Lance ends up on the ground with Roxette kneeling on top of him.
As Karl explained beforehand, the VR version ofStriking Vipersallows players to feel every physical sensation their avatars experience.
So Danny felt every single punch Lance took from Roxette, and also apparently felt their passionate kiss.
But was he really making out with Karl, or just a female cartoon?
Either way, it’s not a one-time thing.
These sessions become regular, and soon move beyond kissing.
You’re not the only one, kid!
The central conceit of this episode seems like a riff on two basic ideas about video gaming.
Does that change you as a person in some way.
The answer for Karl is “not really,” but it does open him up to new experiences.
The other central idea here is that we have fighting games, so why not sex games?
Violence and sex are, after all, the two primal ways of resolving conflict between humans.
As you might expect, Karl and Danny start getting bored with their real lives.
Danny doesn’t tell her the truth, but he does realize that things have to change.
He tells Karl their VR trysts have to stop.
Karl tries to negotiate for a once-a-month thing, but Danny wants a clean break.
We pick up seven months later, when Theo is clearly pregnant again.
When she leaves the dining room to get dessert, Danny confronts Karl: What are you doing here?
Karl begs to do it one more time, and Danny eventually agrees.
The sex is hot, so Danny decides they need to patch up the underlying tension.
He tells Karl to meet him at an old hang-out spot, and then demands they kiss.
In fact, they soon come to blows, and get picked up by police.
Instead, we see the compromise.
Nobody ends up trapped in the game like “U.S.S.
The relatively happy ending is an interesting break fromBlack Mirror’s typical template.
If we work at it, maybe we can learn to live with technology!
