Film Review: Black Mirror Series Two (Part 3/3)

This episode, The Waldo Moment, is really more about media than it is about tech. Still a fun ride, nonetheless.

The Premise

Waldo is an animated character, a blue bear, voiced and controlled by Jamie. Waldo is crude, rude and obnoxious - and he's a huge hit. Things escalate during the election where Waldo is deployed to harass a local politician for ratings. And later Jamie finds out, to his dismay, that the character of Waldo has grown beyond his ability to manage.

The Characters

Daniel Rigby plays James "Jamie" Salter as a scruffy alcoholic who believes in nothing, and Waldo is an extension of that nihilism. The character comes off as extremely bitter, and there's a nasty side to him we see later on.

Chloe Pirrie is Gwendolyne Harris, the fresh-faced politician. Comes across as a little unsure of herself, and a bit later on, incredibly stupid. I mean, if you're a politician, letting your guard down to a total stranger and spending the night banging him is dumb enough, but letting him know potentially career-ending secrets? Wow.

Tobias Menzies does a fantastic job as Liam Monroe. He's a stuffy and pompous politician, and very unlikeable. But seeing him constantly being Waldo's target is going to make you feel for him, after a while... especially since, in his private moments, it is revealed that he actually does believe in the causes he champions.

Michael Shaeffer as Gwen's Campaign Manager, Roy. Wears that perpetual frown like his life depended on it.

Christina Chong as Tamsin, who seems like a smart independent woman at first, but later acts like the typical yes-woman to Jack.

Jason Flemyng as Jack Napier, Jamie's Manager. He's pragmatic, amoral and gleefully opportunistic. Always looking out for that next hustle.

David Ajala is agent Jeff Carter who wants to make a deal with Jack and "Waldo". He appears only in one scene, but damn, does he steal it!

Pip Torrens as Philip Crane the pundit who interviews Waldo. I like the way he gets discomfited halfway through.

The Mood

It's the big-city vibes. Vibrant, noisy and colorful.

At the end, during the dystopian future depicted, things are a gloomy shade of blue and black.

What I liked

The white board showing the plans of the team elicited a snicker.

These mini-Waldos are pretty cute!

"Gwen and Bear It". Love the headline!

The names of the characters seem especially meaningful. "Jack Napier" itself strikes home because it is the name for The Joker's original name in Batman. And seconds earlier during a skit, "Batman" is name-dropped by Waldo. Coincidence? Maybe. But a neat one, if so. Especially when you consider how cynical and nihilistic Jack Napier is. Jamie "Salter" is meaningful too - the character is salty in language and demeanor. For Gwendolyne, what struck me was her last name, Harris. She gets pretty harried later on!

I really love the plot development later on when Jamie discovers that nobody in his audience actually cares about him as a person, and he's very much easily replaced. The lesson being that it's easy to be crude and obviously stand for nothing... but it's also nothing special. Any idiot could do it.

What I didn't

Jamie's motivation for ruining Gwendolyne's career just seemed a little too petty. I mean, a woman doesn't call you after a one-night stand because she's in the middle of an electoral campaign - an absolutely valid reason, by the way - and somehow that's justification for humiliating her on live TV?! Weird.

Also, I didn't get why Gwendolyne not actually intending to win the current campaign and just using it to raise her profile, was seen as so objectionable. After all, isn't seeing the big picture and taking the long view a perfectly sensible thing to do for anyone, much less someone running for public office? Like, realistically were they thinking that a relative unknown on the political scene would somehow win her maiden election?

The dystopian ending was a bit too far-fetched for believability. I mean, it was interesting and all, but the cognitive leap was just too much.

Conclusion

This episode was a study of the ugliness and stupidity of the human collective consciousness. Not much about tech, at all, but no less impressive in terms of execution.

My Rating

7.5 / 10

Final thoughts on Black Mirror Series Two

Series Two, for me, was a step down from Series One. Series One was consistently good throughout whereas Series Two hits the high notes with White Bear and kind of tamps it down with Be Right Back and The Waldo Moment. Doesn't stop this from being a fantastic concept, and definitely looking forward to Series Three!

Series Two was pretty... bearable!
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