Black Mirror is a British television drama series currently hosted on Netflix in my region. The show explores future technology and its consequences. Most of the tech used in the show seems just over the horizon from our current vantage point, and is almost always based in current tech. What makes the show so interesting, and at the same time unnerving, is the believably of it all. There are a few episodes of the show that are centered around video games and today I'm going to take a look at "Playtest", which is the second episode of the third season.




In this episode, we follow Cooper, played by Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn). The episode opens with Cooper leaving his home seemingly without notice to travel the world. After a quick montage Cooper's travels, we settle with him in London, where he endeavors to have a casual sexual encounter with a stranger. The stranger whose bed he lands in is a journalist named Sonja, played by Hannah John-Kamen. Cooper discovers that Sonja is a fan of video games, but this doesn't play into the plot quite yet. A snafu with Cooper's bank account leaves him stranded, so he contacts Sonja for a place to stay and begins looking for a job to pay his way back home. He spots an ad for a company called SaitoGemu, and Sonja encourages him to take it because they are known for being on the cutting edge and she thinks she may be able to get a scoop from Cooper being there.

When Cooper arrives at SaitoGemu he is set up with an augmented reality implant and headset, but not before secretly snapping a picture of the rig for Sonya, something he was expressly instructed not to do. It is at this point in the episode where the creators' imaginations ran wild with the concept of augmented reality and virtual reality. I won't go any further into the episode itself because I don't want to spoil in any further, but as is a common theme in Black Mirror, subjective conscious reality plays a big part in the episode.


I appreciated the way video games were portrayed in this story, even if the way they were used lead to horrifying consequences for the main character. The prospect of augmented reality body modifications, whether they be implants or contact lenses is as exciting as it is scary. Sure Pokemon Go is a lot of fun, but you have to look at a phone or tablet a few feet away from your face to play it. What if the Pokemon appeared before you in space as if they were really there? Surely that would make the game more robust and immersive, but at what cost? Imagine now there is a glitch with your Pokemon Go contact lenses. You left them in too long. You see Pokemon when you are driving, trying to sleep, or working. It is easy to extrapolate the dangers of this new tech if you draw it out just a little bit. I think the creators of Black Mirror know we are on the fringes of many steps into a future from which we cannot return, and that's why I enjoyed it so much.

If you have never seen Black Mirror, I recommend it if you have even a passing interest in future tech. Each episode is its own self contained story, so there is no reason to watch them in order. Go check out "Playtest" and if you enjoy it, you can explore further episodes. If you have seen the show, which episode is your favorite?

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