Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits Review

This is by far my favourite episode! Only two episodes deep into the first season and already we're presented with one of the most fun, interesting and eerie interpretations of the future imaginable. Before I get into the plot of this episode, I just want to express how fascinated I was by this story and the world it created back in the day when it first released. Even back then, it perfectly satirised the obsession with video game avatars you could make and dress up at the time. Every gaming console had the option to make one of these 3D characters of yourself, that would show up online to other gamers. It was like a virtual fashion show, where everyone showed off their cool outfits and accessories, etc. Although this trend has gotten out of fashion a little bit, you can still find animated avatars of people on the likes of Facebook. Not only that, but it also predicted brain rot with people watching and laughing at some of the most abysmal forms of entertainment that is full of loud noises, vivid colours and utter stupidity. One of the characters is your stereotypical doom scroller, who just laughs mindlessly at the flashing images and videos on his screen. It also predicted the plague of unskippable ads everywhere, where you literally have to watch the screen (or a loud beeping and voice will demand you to "resume reviewing" if you dare to look away or cover your eyes) or you can pay money to avoid them entirely (luckily things haven't gotten that bad... Yet). For the most part, 15 Million merits is about the obsession with Talent shows like X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, which were the absolute rage at the time of the episode's release and how people are willing to do literally anything (no matter how degrading or dehumanising) to become rich and famous. Which is a concept that has evolved into social media nowadays, where people video themselves doing some of the most humiliating things, solely just to get viral.

Plot: this episode begins with the character of Bingham, he lives in a strange new futuristic world where everyone stays inside this giant prison-like compound. One thing you may not notice immediately, is that everyone here is a young adult between the ages of 18-30 you never see any children or anybody older than that (except for the judges on HotShot) this is something I've never really noticed until writing this review, but this place seems to only house people in their prime. The reasons behind why they are all staying here are never explained and I honestly love the ambiguity of that, it leads to so many theories which a lot of fans have discussed online. What do these young prisoners (presumably) do in this strange place? They peddle endlessly on exercise bikes that face individual television screens that each prisoner is assigned to, generating this world's version of money, that being Merits, on the screen; the users can watch a large number of different TV shows and play video games, all of which seem rather surface level and shallow. There aren't any profound movies to be found, or epic dramas to get invested in, no decent books, not even a story driven video game, it's all just colourful, dumb fluff. Bingham lives through this boring life of simple pleasures, going day to day cycling then having a lunch break with everyone before cycling yet again until the end of the day. Everyone seems to be anti-social too, living in their own worlds, when people do speak to each other, it's always awkward and feels forced. One day, Bingham meets a new girl at this compound named Abi, who he overhears singing in the unisex bathroom. He begins a relationship with her and convinces her to go on the hit reality TV show, HotShot, which is a talent show where regular people trapped within this strange prison have a shot at fame and fortune. That is if they can impress the judges of course. However, when Abi goes onto the show, she is given a drink that is literally called "Cuppliance", which makes her compliant to the judges suggestions after they find her singing decent enough to proceed further with. This is where the episode takes possibly the darkest turn in (my opinion) Black Mirror history; they want her to become a pornstar. Obviously she is disgusted by this idea and Bingham tries running out on stage to stop her from making possibly the worst mistake of her life. She clearly doesn't want to degrade herself like this, but the "Cuppliance" she drank ends with her accepting this disgusting offer. Now Bingham is devastated, the only woman he ever truly loved has become some drugged up prostitute that is advertised everywhere all over this prison, some of the most filthy characters in the episode are watching her commit these disgusting acts for their entertainment and when we see Abi on these television screens, she honestly looks like a drug addict with messy make up and starved features. It is honestly horrifying. Especially when Bingham has run out of merits to skip the long advert featuring her, and is essentially forced to watch the whole porno. When he looks away a loud beeping voice screams: "Resume viewing, resume viewing, resume viewing" over and over again as the bedroom he is trapped inside of won't even let him leave "until the advert is finished" he ends up smashing the screens that show him this personal horror to him, in a fit of absolute rage! We see him break mentally and my god, the acting is honestly heartbreaking. So he vows revenge, he saves up another 15 million merits (which he spent buying the ticket to Hotshot for Abi) all so he can go back out there on stage and give the judges a piece of his mind. He threatens to slit his own throat open on live TV in front of the judges (so the security guards don't throw him out) and screams at them; telling them how they took the only thing that was ever real in this horrifying prison, how they took his true love and turned her into something ugly and gross. It's the emotional climax of the whole episode and again, the acting is out of this world! (Something the later seasons lack). After all this (despite not drinking Cuppliance) the judges offer him a chance at stardom, to talk "real truths" in front of a camera on live stream for 30 minutes a day, or he can continue cycling forever and ever, staring at a screen. Then the whole audience (who aren't even real people, but computer generated 3D avatars of the other prisoners) begin chanting that he should accept the deal. Bingham still succumbs to peer pressure and accepts the judges deal. Then we see Abi yet again, she looks somehow even more strung out and drugged up then even before (it is tragic to see) so Bingham never managed to save her. Then to make matters worse, we see one of the live streams he does; Bingham's making shallow entertainment and selling fake accessories for the prisoners 3D avatars. He's become exactly what he hated. He didn't change anything, the dystopian world he fought so hard to change consumed him instead. As an audience member you feel betrayed by him and knowing that Abi continues to be used and exploited is honestly grim. This is by far one the darkest episodes of Black Mirror and I absolutely love it!

Review:

In my opinion, 15 Million Merits is the perfect episode of Black Mirror. It has drama, tragedy and an underdog story that still ends in a horrifying way, that still makes sense and is satisfyingly dark.

It is a 5 star episode.