Picture: Netflix
Black Mirror season 7 is right up there with one of the show’s very best seasons. From a quintessential instalment like Common People, to the show’s first ever sequel USS Callister: Into Infinity — it has a bit of everything. In this post, we’ll cover the plot of the feature-length episode Hotel Reverie!
While Black Mirror may well be amazing, it’s often complex enough to confuse fans with its mind-bending and ethereal plots. And Hotel Reverie is no different. In the episode, Hollywood A-list actor Brandy Friday (Issa Rae) is thrown into an ultra-immersive high-tech remake of a vintage romantic movie, produced by tech company ReDream. Surrounded by artificially intelligent beings, including the film’s original lead, 1940s movie star Dorothy Chambers (Emma Corrin) as Clara, it’s not your normal acting gig. And what’s more, her job is to ardently stick to the script, for if it doesn’t end up saying the movie’s final line — “I’ll be yours forevermore” — she may never make it home. But when the gig becomes way too immersive to the point of romance, leaving is not an easy option.
Mostly taking place in an artificially generated retro film set, the instalment is gorgeously shot in an authentic black-and-white style. At its core, Hotel Reverie is a love story between actress Brandy Friday and Clara. Unlike the majority of Black Mirror episodes, it favours sentimentality and emotionally-driven beats. The moment Brandy enters the game, she tries (hilariously badly) to stick to the plot of the original movie. However, after going off-script up so much to the point of the plot being all but ruined, Kimmy and the backend ReDream team attempt to start over. In doing this, they unwittingly cause the virtual universe to freeze, and Brandy is cut off from the outside world.
Moreover, with Brandy and Clara stuck in the frozen world together, we learn that time passes much faster in their world than on the outside. By the time Kimmy and the team re-engage contact with her, Brandy has stuck up a close bond with Clara, making ending the production a much harder, and naturally emotional process. This is amplified further when the backend team reverts to an older save of the movie, essentially erasing all of the memories Clara made.
Emma Corrin in Hotel Reverie – Picture: Nick Wall/Netflix
Ultimately, the episode’s endgame sees Brandy confront Clara’s husband, Claude, who’s been trying to murder her from the outset. Clara shoots and kills Claude, completely rewriting the movie’s original ending. Even so, it still allows for Brandy to say the final line, “I’ll be yours forevermore” with Clara in her arms, allowing her to return to real-world consciousness.
As always, the ending, while somewhat definitive, left fans with a few burning questions. Here’s an overview:
- What’s the gift that Brandy receives at the end? After the production has been completed, Brandy receives a gift from ReDream in the form of a telephone and a drive allowing her to watch Dorothy’s old screen test, which means she can communicate with her directly. It’s unclear whether this gift was simply as a ‘thank you’, or something a little more subtle. It ends the episode on a thought-provoking note.
- Could the version of Clara that Brandy fell in love with still exist? It’s entirely possible that a backup of the first version of Clara could still exist in the servers at ReDream. I mean, the team managed to revert to a previous save after the virtual set froze. Who’s to say the first version of Clara cannot be recovered!
- Why did Brandy call Clara “Dorothy” during the scene? The scene where Brandy chases after Clara and calls her Dorothy, is an accidental slip of the tongue. Dorothy was the name of the actress from the movie and not the character. Clara appears to, albeit very faintly, recognise the name, suggesting that some of Dorothy’s real-life consciousness may have made its way into the character.
- Was the film successful? Despite going way off-script in every way imaginable, it turns out that the remake ended up being a huge success. The episode features a fictional article from The Hollywood Reporter, confirming Hotel Reverie’s re-imagining was worth the intense production.
Picture: Nick Wall/Netflix
Does the episode have any easter eggs?
Unlike USS Callister: Into Infinity, which relishes in cameos and easter eggs, Hotel Reverie isn’t that sort of thing. That said, besides the witty shoutouts to the two famous Hollywood Ryans (Gosling and Reynolds), there is another mention of Black Mirror’s very own streaming service, StreamBerry.
Director: Haolu Wang
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Issa Rae (Brandy), Emma Corrin (Dorothy), Awkwafina (Kimmy), Harriet Walter (Judith Keyworth)
Black Mirror season 7 is now streaming on Netflix. You can check out our full review of the new season here.
Rating: TV-MA
