...Review: Black Mirror (White Bear)

TO WATCH: Black Mirror S2 E2 'White Bear'

WARNING SPOILERS 

Black Mirror: WHITE BEAR

This one is not for the faint-hearted. I warn you now, there is no comfort in this episode, no point at which you feel any glimmer of hope. It is pitch black, unrelenting, and absolute stark-staring genius. Possibly the bravest bit of television I have ever seen, the originally chilling premise performs an abrupt about-turn which is even more shocking; this is event television as we have never known it. 

Shocking and visceral in both execution and concept,  I think the most outstanding thing about this episode of Black Mirror is that it takes the series' uncomfortable atmosphere and pushes it up to 11. It is absolutely not afraid to take risks. Whereas all the other episodes give the audience a protagonist to root for (not a hero as such, but a specific target for empathy), White Bear takes a clear-cut scenario, with Victoria and the other 'hunted' being the obvious victims of the piece, and throws it on its head. Even when we learn the truth about her and her terrible crime, we still feel pity for the character, as well as horror; a testament both to the remarkable acting and direction, as well as the script. It gave you no one to root for; it pulled away the traditional narrative and left you confused and disoriented. We are as disgusted by 'justice' as we are by the crime. I kept expecting there to be a reveal that suggested that she was actually innocent and that this complex futuristic 'justice' system still made a victim of the innocent, but the fact that she WAS guilty made it all the more thought-provoking. Truly brave television.

'Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things' - The Bible (Romans 2:1)

The questions it made the audience ask were also much edgier than perhaps in the previous episode, closer in theme to the very first episode of the first series; it again put the viewers in the explicit position of voyeurs, making us question the fact that we are even watching. This episode felt very much like a continuation of the ideas explored in The National Anthem (the one with the pig and the PM), with the earlier episode being a tamer(!) exploration of the media pressure of the masses and the perverted double standards of the watcher, leading up to this. The very familiarity of people viewing the world through their smartphone cameras demonstrates how close this bleak perception of humanity could be to the truth.

 It is also a pertinent comment on the culture of accusation we live in today. Everyone is so quick to judge everyone else, and many seem to take a perverse thrill from going over the sordid details of other's wrongdoing; like the 'justice park', it shows how the media exposure to so many trials turns crime and punishment into a freak-show  with the public's minds becoming as fixated as the perpetrators, yet THEIR primal voyeurism is fed (and even encouraged) rather than condemned. 
So, is sick voyeurism ever justifiable, or just self perpetuating? Does a criminal deserve punishment; do unto others as would have done unto yourself? At what point do the judge and jury descend to the same level as the transgressor? Should mercy play a part in justice? The morality of the judge, as well as the judged, has been a subject of debate since the time of the Bible; Shakespeare explored it in his darkly ambiguous problem play Measure for Measure where the most outwardly moral and upstanding character is the most corrupt and perverted. White Bear reverses this, with Victoria appearing outwardly to the audience to be the vulnerable, innocent victim, yet is seen as the perverted criminal by the occupants of her world. 

O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant' - Measure for Measure (Act 2, Scene 2)

There is no comfortable resolution from either Shakespeare or Brooker; the wrong-doers are exposed and punished, but this doesn't necessarily bring us any joy or relief. Indeed, liberty plucks justice by the nose, and quite athwart goes all decorum when the public are let lose like children to carry out their primitive, mocking brand of justice. Black Mirror reflects a society that is sick at heart, and we must use White Bear to look at ourselves to ensure we won't become, or indeed aren't already, monsters.