Summary
Netflix seriesBlack Mirroris back with its seventh season, and this time, the stories are more personal than ever. The first episode saw how one person can go to extreme lengths to save his or her loved one. Technology can help bring your loved one back to normalcy, but what happens when it starts to affect your life adversely? These are some of the important questions that were asked during the premiere episode. However, Episode 2 is different and touches a feeling that is mainly felt by young adults.
The second episode ofBlack MirrorSeason 7, “Bete Noire,” primarily focuses on the two young women, Maria and Verity. They have a history together as they used to study in the same high school. But their lives were different. Maria was a very popular girl, while Verity was more studious and was always bullied. Plus, someone spread a rumor about her and one of the teachers having an affair. For several years, they never saw each other, but destiny has made sure their paths would cross again—this time, with tension, doubt, and unfinished history hanging in the air. What felt like an innocent reunion would soon turn out to be devastating for Maria. Let’s take a look at howBete Noireended.
What is Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 2 ‘Bete Noire’ about?
The episode follows Maria (Siena Kelly), who works at a sweet-making company called Ditta. She meets a girl named Verity Greene (Rosy McEwen) who went to the same high school as Maria. Soon, Verity starts working at the same company and things go downhill for Maria.
The first instance, when Maria feels that something is wrong, happens when Verity and one of their office colleagues are talking about some food joints, and the office colleague says that he loves fast-food chicken from Bernie’s. While overhearing their discussion, Maria says that the joint’s name was Barnie’s, not Bernie’s. Verity jumps in and thinks it was Bernie’s and not Barnie’s. Maria is pretty confident that it was Barnie’s because her partner used to work there before it went defunct. Moreover, he used to wear a baseball cap with Barnie’s logo on it. However, the conversation continues, and they end the conversation by googling the name of the joint.
To Maria’s shock,when she searched Barnie’s Chicken on Google, it showed results for Bernie’s Chicken, with the same logo Maria was talking about. However, things go from bad to worse when she reaches her apartment, sees her boyfriend’s cap, and it is written Bernie’s on it. While checking out some old photos from her time at high school, she stumbled upon a group picture that had her and her friends, including Natalie Caine. She texts Natalie and waits for her reply. However, even after reading the text, she doesn’t reply.
The CEO of Ditta visits the office to try new products. He enjoys the Hucklebuck and loves the Doubloon. Maria tells him the Doubloon uses seaweed-based gelatin, but after he leaves, the head chef reveals it actually contains beef gelatin. The office head gets upset because Ditta is Hindu. Maria insists she said “carrageenan,” but the chef says Verity’s email didn’t mention that. Verity confirms Maria only wrote “non-pork gelatin.” Though Maria stays calm, she’s told not to raise her voice. When they checked the email, Maria was wrong.
At home, Natalie finally receives a text from Natalie, but it contained something that she didn’t want to hear. It turns out that Natalie killed herself, and it was her husband who replied to the text. Shockingly, she calls the number and asks several questions, including if he knew anything about a girl named Verity. She asked him questions like a maniac and prompted Natalie’s husband to cut the call.
How Does Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 2 End?
The next day, in the office, Maria sees that no one has arrived yet, so she decides to have a cup of coffee from the office’s coffee machine. A few minutes later, Verity arrives in the office and tells her about the team meeting. Maria didn’t know about the meeting and told Verity she didn’t get the email.Verity finally asked her if she had problems with her, and also opened up about the bullying that took place at high school. Verity told her about the rumor that started in high school and how it destroyed her.
The conversation ends with Verity taking out a carton of Almond milk from the fridge, which belonged to another colleague who is a fanatic about her almond milk, drank it, and threw the carton on the floor. Everyone arrives in the office, and when that colleague sees that milk carton on the floor, she creates a scene. Maria stated that Verity drank the milk, to which Verity got really upset and said that it was Maria who drank it. As a result, they checked the CCTV footage and, shockingly, it showed Maria taking the carton from Verity’s hands and drinking it.
After the office, she follows Verity to her home and finds out that she is living in a mansion. She breaks in and looks at the big server cabinets in one of the rooms. She gets inside her bedroom and finally gets her hand on the pendant. However, Verity gets to know about her presence and calls her out. Then, Verity finally tells Maria that she has made this technology where she can do whatever she wants with a small remote, and when Maria says that she has her remote,Verity says that it doesn’t bother her because she has a dozen more.
During the conversation, it is revealed that it was Maria who spread the rumor about Verity and her teacher, and it was Natalie who told Verity. Verity says that it took her five weeks to break Natalie, but it just took her five days to break Maria. In the end, Verity changes the situation by calling the police and giving a kitchen knife to Maria’s hand to make it look like Maria was there to kill her. In the end, Maria took the guns from one of the police officers and killed Verity. Finally, she took the help of the remote and told the police officers that they worked for her now.
The ending visuals show her as a queen, and everyone else is hailing her, giving viewers the idea that, after Verity, it was Maria who was going to take advantage of that technology.
