Black Mirror: White Bear Review

White Bear is the second episode in series 2 of Black Mirror. This entry is crazy, brutal and very scary in my opinion. It is by far one of the most traumatising episodes in the entire show. Before I even explain the plot, I just want to stress how close this feels to watching a suspenseful horror movie. More so than "Hated In The Nation" which was movie length and had a somewhat B movie plot about killer bees, that felt more silly than scary. Unlike that episode, White Bear is a thrilling experience, one full of absolute terror. As the main protagonist, Victoria, is chased relentlessly across the British countryside by axe-wielding mad men! What at first seems to be a strange post apocalypse, has one of the most surprising plot twists I've ever seen, one that would make M. Night himself blush. But before I can go over what that mind bending twist is, allow me to summarise the plot first. Afterwards I will let you know exactly why I love this story so much.

Plot:

Victoria awakes one morning confused with amnesia, finding herself in an unfamiliar house. She's a bit frightened, searching around the home for clues to who she may be. Victoria sees a picture of a little girl, believing this to be her daughter. She then sees pixelated flashes of her. Upon the TV there is this strange white pixel art symbol against a black background. After finally leaving the house, she finds herself surrounded by random people filming her on their mobile phones, they do not respond to her when she shouts at them to stop filming, in fact some of them even laugh. Yet none of them ever speak. This eerie beginning lasts a while as Victoria navigates her new and unsettling environment, which is an abandoned, rundown housing estate straight out of a zombie movie. This is very reminiscent of Charlie Brooker's (the writer of Black Mirror) other dystopian TV series, that being DeadSet where the only survivors of a British zombie apocalypse are members of the Big Brother reality TV show. When Victoria is eventually chased by masked killers, she meets two other sane survivors who lead her into a nearby gas station. Here they hide and then run from the approaching killers, all the while the mute phone users keep filming them trying to escape. Unfortunately one of the survivors is left behind and is (to Victoria's knowledge) killed. After Victoria and the other survivor named Jem reach safety, Jem explains how society crumpled. She explains that the white pixel symbol Victoria saw on the TV, was what made everyone insane, beginning this strange apocalypse they find themselves in. Another survivor named Baxter picks them up in a van, Victoria is scared of him for some reason, believing she knows him from her past life, but without a clear memory of why she fears him. Her greatest anxiety is soon confirmed as Baxter betrays her and Jem, tying Victoria up in the middle of a forest, attempting to kill her in front of an audience of phone zombies filming the whole, would be execution. This is a truly terrifying scene, one where Victoria narrowly escapes death as Jem returns to rescue her. Together the two female survivors escape Baxter and the phone zombies, eventually reaching the "White Bear" TV broadcast station where the mass brainwashing can be switched off, potentially undoing the apocalypse. However when they finally get there, they are attacked by masked men. Victoria grabs a shotgun and fires it at her assailants, only confetti exits the gun instead of bullets. Suddenly, there is a loud cheer of applause as the TV studio walls fold away to reveal an audience of at least 40 people, sitting down watching Victoria, Jem and the masked killers on a live stage. Baxter then returns wearing a tuxedo, bowing to the audience in front of Victoria who is stunned and confused. It is revealed that she was never living in an apocalypse, this whole thing was essentially a cruel prank show. She is then tied down to a chair and shown the truth behind who she really is. That little girl Victoria thought was her daughter, was actually someone she and her boyfriend kidnapped and murdered. The pixel art symbol she saw on the TV was actually a tattoo he had on the back of his neck. There was also a "white bear" toy, that the parents had found at the scene of the girl's disappearance, which became a symbol of the whole news story. After this revelation, Victoria is jeered at and paraded through the giant TV set, where angry "fans" of this messed up prank show begin throwing tomatoes and slurs at her. It is like a scene straight out of a medieval execution, where crowds of people shout at the executed before he or she is eventually murdered by either hanging or beheading. This goes to show how deep down, we're all just as bad now as we were back then, when it comes to taunting our guilty. Of course Victoria has absolutely no memory of committing this heinous crime she's been convicted of, so she's basically a completely different and innocent person, being punished over and over again because it is later revealed that every night she has her memory erased and the whole cruel prank resets over and over again, until she eventually dies.

Review:

The entirety of White Bear is a terrifying experience, one of pure horror and tragedy. Like a much darker and cruel rendition of the Truman Show, making Victoria this confused, scared woman who gets terrorised everyday for a crime she can never remember. I must admit I found the apocalypse presented here to feel a little bit cheesy and forced at first, but it's only when the plot twist is revealed that it all adds up and makes sense. I honestly can't find anything else to criticise this episode for, the acting is very dramatic, Victoria is a character we feel utterly sorry for (despite her crime) because of her amnesia she is as innocent as a newborn kitten. It is the perfect satire that shows how people on social media, love to destroy and bully those they think "deserve it" solely for entertainment. I like how merciless Baxter is too, not once feeling sorry for Victoria as he tortures her everyday for the entertainment of his fans. Even Jem turns cruel after the plot twist is revealed. The eternal doom Victoria is left in is frightening, disturbing and most importantly, morbidly fascinating.

I rate this episode a 5 out of 5, another perfect example of a good Black Mirror story.