Released in the series, Black Mirror, on December 29th 2017. The episode that I chose to watch was, “The U.S.S Callister”, directed by Toby Haynes. This series was ultimately a spin-off on the popular sci-fi show, Star Trek. From the revealing dresses on the women and the semi turtle necks on the men, we are set in the atmosphere of what seems to be a complete replica of the series. As the episode first starts off, we see the captain, Daly, commanding the fleet in excellent teamwork as they are traveling through the milky way. However, as the mission is complete we are then touched by reality when the game shuts off and we are transported to what is Daly’s normal every-day life.
What makes this story really engaging is the fact that we don’t know whether to hate captain Daly or ultimately feel bad for the man. Before we get to why we would declare him as the villain and someone that’s actions were justified, we need to learn why. Once we are shifted into the reality that is Daly not in his red and black outfit and commanding his crewmembers, we see that he’s just a worker at a company. Taking it to the next level, we learn that he is ultimately the mastermind behind the company because he basically owns it. What we see throughout the series is a shift between reality and the game cloud. The captain is ultimately seen as a pushover. As he goes into work every day, even though he owns it, he gets treated like utter garbage and doesn’t get any type of treatment that he rightfully deserves for basically being the reason they all have a job. On the other hand, in the game cloud, we see him as a leader and a commander that allows him to take control of his life. What we don’t expect is that the same crew members that are in his fleet are also the workers that treat him like garbage in reality.
This is where the story turns dark and really grasps the viewer’s attention. Built off of fear, the reason why we believe in the first few seconds of the film that the member’s of the crew all get along is simply due to the fact that Daly has them in great fear. Being the controller of the universe, Daly has the choice to do whatever he wants. So when his workers don’t make him a coffee as well during the day, he tortures them in the game cloud at night. Once the protagonist is added to the story, we see how Daly collects the data from her coffee data and inserts her into the game as well. From this point on, it’s the members of the U.S.S callister versus Daly.
My favorite aspects from this episode is how they stayed true to their star-trek themes all the while showing the journey of how Daly became power hungry once his game-life started to affect his real-life situations. When he would ask his co-workers to do something or make a coffee and they say no or question his judgement, he tilts his head in confusion because he’s not used to them saying no to him. It becomes harder to understand Daly’s perspective because although we know that the people in the game are “not real”, we relate to how they’re being treated. When we find out they have been tortured and can’t die, it becomes their own personal hell yet there is not really any consciousness towards the people in the callister. From start to end, the story is funny and chilling, but also nerve-wrecking and tense because you don’t know what Daly is capable of doing next or if the characters can find a way out of the ship. Overall, this became one of my favorite episodes of the series and definitely one that deserves all the accolades it has received. Sci-fi mixed with horror becomes a trend that needs to be indulged in way more, in my opinion.
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