Black Museum (Black Mirror)
| "Black Museum" | |
|---|---|
| Black Mirror episode | |
Promotional poster
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| Episode no. |
Series 4 Episode 6 |
| Directed by | Colm McCarthy |
| Written by | Charlie Brooker |
| Original air date | 29 December 2017 |
| Running time | 69 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Black Museum" is the sixth episode of the fourth series of anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by Charlie Brooker with parts adapted from the short story Pain Addict written by Penn Jillette, and directed by Colm McCarthy. The episode first aired on Netflix, along with the rest of series four, on 29 December 2017.
The episode is presented as a series of three stories told by Rolo Haynes (Douglas Hodge), proprietor of the remote "Black Museum" to his solitary visitor Nish (Letitia Wright), all involving various exhibits related to cutting edge technological connections and transfers with the human brain that Rolo had developed in his career.
Whilst waiting for her car to charge, Nish (Letitia Wright) comes across the Black Museum, which houses "authentic criminological artefacts". She meets the proprietor, Rolo Haynes (Douglas Hodge), who gives her a tour where he recounts the stories of the artefacts he has collected, shown in flashback during the episode.
In his past, Haynes is a neurological research recruiter and persuades Dr. Peter Dawson (Daniel Lapaine) to take on a neurological implant that allows him to feel the physical sensations of others. Dawson uses this to feel the pain of his patients; over time, he is able to recognise a vast range of illnesses and provide very accurate diagnoses. Meanwhile, Dawson also uses the interface during sex with his girlfriend, increasing pleasure for both of them. A senator who has been poisoned is brought into the hospital one night and Dawson continues using the implant as the patient dies. After passing out, Dawson awakens with the side effect that he now experiences pain as pleasure. He begins to use his patients' suffering for personal sexual arousal. He is removed from the hospital and, addicted to pain, begins mutilating himself. Realising that he cannot inflict fear (and thus, further pleasure) on himself, Dawson tasers and kills a homeless man with a drill. He is arrested, but falls into a persistent vegetative state.
In the present, Nish offers Haynes water as the museum's air conditioning is broken, and Haynes tells another story about a stuffed monkey. Haynes convinced a man named Jack (Aldis Hodge) to transfer the consciousness of his comatose wife Carrie (Alexandra Roach) into his brain. Carrie initially enjoys sharing the sensations that Jack feels in the real world, particularly hugs with their son Parker. However, shared consciousness begins to take a toll on the couple, as Jack has no privacy and Carrie has no agency in the real world. Haynes allows Jack to control Carrie's thoughts by "pausing" her. Jack meets Emily (Yasha Jackson), and the two begin seeing each other. Emily pressures Jack to transfer the consciousness of Carrie into a stuffed monkey, which is given to Parker. The toy can only speak two phrases, "Monkey loves you" and "Monkey needs a hug". Carrie is furious, but Emily threatens her with deletion if she does not behave. Eventually, Parker grows sick of the toy and abandons it, though Carrie is still trapped inside. In the present, Haynes tells Nish that the transfer of Carrie was declared illegal and led to his firing. Haynes then reveals that Carrie is still inside the stuffed monkey in the exhibit, since it was also illegal to delete her.
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