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The seventh season ofBlack Mirroris slowly and steadily inching toward its conclusion. The first four episodes of the Netflix series showcased why technology can penetrate your world and destroy it. However, the fifth episode, “Eulogy,” is a bit different, and it uses technology as a foundation to display how memory, grief, and connection can transcend physical boundaries.
Season 7 of the Netflix series was quite subtle in its approach in the beginning. As the season progressed, it became more and more brutal. But the fifth episode is a reminder that technology can be used in a good way as well. Although people don’t need to have an immersive experience at a funeral, the technology featured in this episode gives a man a chance to get closure about something that changed his life forever. So, let’s take a look at how Episode 5 ofBlack Mirrorended.
What Is Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 5 “Eulogy” About?
Phillip (Paul Giamatti) is working in his garden when he gets a call about a woman named Carol Joyce. At first, he says he doesn’t know her, but he changes his story when the caller says her real name was Carol Hartman. She has passed away, and the caller, from a company called Eulogy, invited him to share a memory for her memorial. Since Phillip couldn’t travel to England, they sent him a memory kit by drone. He sticks the device to his face, and an AI voice guide helps him recall and upload memories of Carol for the family’s immersive tribute.
Initially, Phillip couldn’t remember her or talk about any special moments he had with her. Butthe AI voice guidetells him that things would be easy if he had any photographs of her or the special moments. He does have some of her photos, but in most of the photos, her face is not visible. However, through the image-walking system, Phillip can relive those moments and tell the Guide about what happened.
Moreover, he meets the human version of the guide while inside the picture. He tells the AI guide about the time he spent with Carol and how they became a couple. Everything seemed to be fine between them, but just like every relationship, they also hit a rough patch. Although Phillip came forward with just three pictures, the AI guide said that these pictures might not be suitable for the memorial. As a result, Phillip came out with a box of photos featuring him and Carol. However, Carol’s face in every photo has either been cut or covered with black marker because of their breakup.
But that doesn’t stop them from going inside the pictures. Carol loved playing cello, but when they formed a band, she played the keyboard. The AI guide asked why she played the keyboard when she loved playing cello. Phillip said that the cello didn’t go with the band’s tunes. But the band discontinued soon after. They also had a fight about Carol spending time with a man during the Halloween party, and one of their friends, Emma, was trying to be too close to Phillip.
How does Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 5 “Eulogy” end?
Although the band had broken up, Carol got an offer to play the cello in the UK for “Phantom of the Opera,” and she went for that. During that time, Carol and Phillip used to talk frequently. Carol used to send him postcards from the UK to remind him how much she missed him. However, on his birthday, Phillip had a one-night stand with Emma. Carol called Phillip to wish him a happy birthday, but things got worse when Emma picked up the call. The couple had a verbal fight over the call, and it felt like their relationship was going to end. However, it didn’t, andPhillip made a plan to visit the UKto meet her. Both of them were very excited about the meeting, especially Phillip, because he had booked a good hotel for the couple and was planning to propose to her over a dinner date.
The couple met for a dinner date, and as per Phillip, Carol looked a bit different because she had put on a little weight. However, it didn’t bother him because, to him, she was beautiful. Moreover, she said no to a drink as well. He finally got the courage to propose to her and ask her the question, but Carol had no reaction and kept looking at the floor before leaving the restaurant. Phillip got mad and drank the entire bottle before reaching the hotel room and saw that Carol had already left. He took his anger out on the room and dismantled everything. As the conversation moved ahead, the female AI guide revealed that Carol was pregnant at the time and that she was her child. Yes, the AI guide was made similar to the appearance of Carol’s child, Kelly Joyce. She makes it clear that Phillip is not her father and that a man named Brian was her father, but she doesn’t know where he is.
They made their way to the hotel room and found a letter that was addressed to Phillip. He was trying to pick the letter up, but Kelly told him that it was just an image; he couldn’t pick things from an image. They come back to reality, and Phillip tells her that when he returned to the hotel room, the maid had just piled everything up from the mess he had made. He takes a good look at the stuff and finds the same letter in one of the books. Eventually, he finds out that Carol was indeed pregnant and wrote in the letter that if he could still embrace her after knowing this, she would wait for him at a given place. But because Phillip never saw the letter, he didn’t go, and Carol believed that he never wanted to see her. The episode ends with Phillip traveling to the UK forCarol’s memorial and seeing Kellyplaying the cello in reality.
