Black Mirror Season 3, Episode 4: "San Junipero" and A Different Side of Black Mirror

Black Mirror (2011-)Season 3, Episode 4: "San Junipero"Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mackenzie Davis, Denise BurseCreated By: Charlie BookerNetwork: NetflixRating: A+
Summary: In a seaside town named San Junipero, two young women strike up a relationship that requires that them jump through the hoops of time and space in order to maintain it. My Thoughts: San Junipero" is an episode that seemingly suggests that Black Mirror may be taking a brighter, more optimistic route. However, If you're merely looking at the San Junipero's upbeat, technicolor, exterior then you haven't fully understood what the episode was trying to say. Black Mirror has had a constant M.O throughout the course of its last two seasons and it is that technology and humanity do not mix well. Typically in each episode, we learn more and more about the world around us from these surprisingly bleak, fictional situations, but this time things seem to be different, even if not by much. What's different is that this episode feels real. This episode gives you a clear view into what it looks like to be in love in today's times, even though it's set in many different time periods, because love is universal. It's the same regardless of where you're from, who you are and what you do.  Unlike any of the other episodes of the season, this episode is more about real life than the technology. The technological aspect is omnipresent, which is what you'd expect from an episode of Black Mirror, but it is not what drives a majority of the story like a many of the other episodes. This episode is more of a portrait of real life than the other episodes and it's built off of some basic existential questions we've probably asked ourselves once or twice. They're questions like:  What happens after we die? Is there a heaven? Is there a God? Is there chance for me to live for eternity or will I be swallowed by an abyss upon death? These questions are terrifying to most and are quite mind-shattering at best, but every time we hear about someone dying or go to a funeral, these are the kinds of things running through our brains until we can find something else to think about, but as for our two leads, it is all they can they think about.This episode follows the story of two young women, Yorkie and Kelly, (Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who fall in love one night at a bar in a city called San Junipero. Over the course of their relationship, they do things a normal couple would do like fight, only to make up until they eventually fight again. But things never seem to get stale, especially after we find out that San Junipero doesn't actually exist. San Junipero is actually a virtual reality experience that offers people the ability to live after they've passed away. Both Kelly and Yorkie are simply testing the system out before it's their time to pass over, though Kelly still has her doubts about the system even though it's almost her time to go. Yorkie, on the the other hand, is ready to stay in San Junipero for the rest of her life and wishes Kelly would come with her, but, again, Kelly still has her doubts about choosing to stay in this world while her late husband and daughter are possibly floatingaround in some dark abyss, as they both didn't get the opportunity to live in San Junipero. So Kelly's dilemma is this: should she die and stay in San Junipero with the woman she loves or does she die and wait for what happens next, even though it could possibly end up being nothing? Black Mirror constantly stresses the idea that technology can and is able to affect our own humanity to the point of no return, but here, it does the opposite. It points out that technology can be used to bond people together, as San Junipero acts as a paradise where different people come from across the world to live our the rest of eternity. It's not supposed to be about bringing people together, but technology has a way of building connections without ever meaning to. However, it's only a matter of time before our humanity begins to affect the relationships we've built. At the beginning of the episode, it's 1987 when Kelly and Yorkie meet and the setting, the cinematography, the music and costuming are all perfectly set to emulate that time period. During their first talk, it's suggested that something happens at midnight and once midnight comes around the screen goes black and a title card informs us that a week has gone by. Clues like this remind us that we aren't dealing with a simple love story even before Yorkie begins hopping through time to find Kelly after they sleep together. But even so, the story still doesn't focus on the time-hopping or the any other futuristic elements. It focuses on two lovers and the eventual existential crisis that not only they will have to face, but we as well. While the episode does dig deep into those existential themes, it digs deeper  into what it really means to be in love.