The human memory is a
fragile thing. Whenever we remember something, we are completely
rebuilding that memory from scratch and, because this isn't exactly a
perfect process, that memory also gets changed ever so slightly each
time we reconstruct it. And, further more, psychological studies have
proven that simply by asking leading questions it is possible to
recall things that never actually happened, so not only are our
memories slightly altered simply by remembering them, but any
information we learn after an event may also corrupt that memory...
Anyway, now that you're
questioning whether you really had porridge for breakfast last
Tuesday, on with the review! The third and final instalment of Black
Mirror, The Entire
History of You, is set in the
not too distant future where everyone has access to memory implants
that record everything they see, hear and do. Essentially Sky Plus
for the brain. Written by Jesse Armstrong (also known for writing
Peep Show, The
Thick of It, and Four
Lions to name a few), The
Entire History of You explores
the implications of such a technology in a very personal human
drama...
The
story pivots around Liam (Toby Kebbell), an out of work lawyer with a
wife and kid, and his growing obsession over the interactions of his
wife, Ffion (Jodie Whittaker), and one of her former friends, Jonas
(Tom Cullen), at a dinner party. Having witnessed a couple of subtle
nuances in conversation between them, Liam begins to suspect that
something is afoot. While most of us would dwell on this,
second-guessing whether what we saw was true or not, and ultimately
end up in an ill-advised argument for making paranoid accusations,
Liam is able to replay the events exactly as they happened so he can
confirm what he saw, and also present evidence to support his
accusations when that inevitable argument arises. However, Liam goes
on to spend the rest of the night wallowing in his obsession with the
recording of the evening, driving himself beyond the realms of
rationality...
It's
an incredibly powerful piece of personal human drama, focussing
purely on the dynamic of the three central characters, their strained
relationships, and the memory implant at the core of the issue. Once
again, the series produced another triumph of narrative,
characterisation and all-round performance as it delved into Liam's
tortured psyche, replaying and re-analysing events, only serving to
fuel his paranoia further. As with the other episodes of Black
Mirror, The Entire
History of You holds up a
hyperbolic mirror to modern society and gives it a cautionary nod, as
if to say “mind how you go.” Could
we really be trusted not to drive ourselves mad if we had access to
this kind of technology?
Compared
to it's predecessors, though, The
Entire History of You felt
much more domestic. The
National Anthem showed
us the power of social media in the modern world and how quickly news
can spread through such a medium. 15
Million Merits
then went on to paint the picture of a world ruled by pointless apps
and talent shows, an exaggerated parody of our modern obsession with
the menial distractions these things provide us with today. The
Entire History of You tells
the tale of human strife, amplified by the ability to torture oneself
with technology that perfectly recalls every moment of your life, but
felt like a story that could have been told with or without the
technology at it's core – nonetheless, the application of the
memory implant was certainly an intriguing premise.
Whilst
The Entire History of You's
conclusion didn't
quite provide the same sense of closure as the previous two episodes
of Black Mirror had,
it still came to a sensational (if literally painful) finale, marking
the jarring end of the premier series of Black Mirror.
I sincerely hope we see more fantastic programming like this in the
future!
If
you missed The Entire History of You,
it's available on 4OD here.
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