History Recap / BlackMirrorStrikingVipers

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* MonochromeCasting: Untypically for the series, this episode features an all-black cast.

* YourCheatingHeart: Danny and Karl have their virtual encounters while Danny is still married to Theo. They apparently don't consider it to be "really" cheating, but once it comes clear to Danny that it's taking a toll on his and Theo's marriage, he puts a stop to it. By the end of the episode, Theo is also having sex with other people, but it's a mutual agreement so he and Karl can have virtual sex on his birthday.

* {{Foreshadowing}}

* YourMindMakesItReal: The technology used in ''Striking Vipers'' allows players to feel everything in the world of the video game, from pain to pleasure. Danny is very confused the first time he tries it out, and it takes a while to get used to it.

* BestialityIsDepraved: The lowest depth to which Karl sinks after Danny calls off their affair is having virtual sex with Tundra, the polar bear JokeCharacter. Led to one of the most quoted {{Memetic Mutation}}s from Season 5 (or, indeed, all of Black Mirror).
* BittersweetEnding: A bit bleaker than usual but Danny opens up about his virtual reality fling with Karl and reaches a compromise with Theo in which, every year, on his birthday, Danny is free to have virtual reality sex with Karl-as-Roxette while Theo can sleep with a man at the bar. Theo agrees, but neither party seems particularly happy about this agreement and it's implied that their marriage is permanently fractured.

* ContrivedCoincidence: When Danny and Karl get into their scuffle in the parking lot in the dead of night, it takes about 15 seconds for a patrol car to arrive at the scene, which eventually results in Theo finding out about what really happened in ''Striking Vipers X''. In real life it'd be much more likely that the two of them had duked it out and got it over with without outside interference.
* CrazyCatLady: Played with. Karl getting a cat in the ending seems to be part of him letting himself go physically and socially and giving up on dating women in real life. May also be a nod to the possibility of him having a feminine side beyond his sexual proclivities in the game.
* DistantPrologue: The prologue, showing Danny, Karl, and Theo as roommates in their youth, is set eleven years before the main story picks up.

** A mother at Danny's birthday party bends down to speak to her kids, and Danny has to stop himself from staring--foreshadowing that he's not sexually satisfied.

* GrowingUpSucks: A variation, as here it's your thirties that suck compared to your twenties. Danny has settled down but is bored senseless by his familial and marital routine. Karl has stayed free and single, but that means he's facing an ever-harder job of competing with younger guys, and the single girls he hooks up with are now from a different generation that he has less and less in common with. Both of them are heavily implied to be pining for the passionate relationships and easy fun of their youth.

* RomanticRain: Played with. Karl and Danny meet in the rain and [[BattleInTheRain have an explosive fight]], then eventually kiss, though Danny claims he felt nothing.

* SeductionProofMarriage: Downplayed, but Theo turns down a guy who hit on her at the bar despite being interested because of her loyalty to Danny.

* VideoGamePerversityPotential: In-Universe. While ''Striking Vipers X'' is a fighting game, Karl and Danny make use of its characteristic of providing realistic physical sensations to have virtual sexcapades. Later on, it's revealed that other players also make similar use of it, as Karl mentions that he tried it with other people when Danny quit playing, also claiming that there are multi-player gangbangs and that he even "fucked Tundra, the [[BestialityIsDepraved polar bear character]]".

* WeddingRingRemoval: Near the end of the episode Theo removes her wedding ring due to the agreement that both she and Danny can cheat once a year.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Karl, Danny, and Theo were all close friends, especially Karl and Danny, once. Played with as, when they become closer in Theo's attempt to reignite their friendship, they become (emotional and technological) lovers.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Karl and Danny have a play fight and end up on top of each other whilst playing the game during the prologue, reflecting the later affair.

* GrowingUpSucks: A variation, as here it's your thirties that suck compared to your twenties. Danny has settled down, but is bored senseless by his familial and marital routine. Karl has stayed free and single, but that means he's facing an ever-harder job of competing with younger guys, and the single girls he hooks up with are now from a different generation that he has less and less in common with. Both of them are heavily implied to be pining for the passionate relationships and easy fun of their youth.

** The name is a parody of ''VideoGame/FightingVipers'', a 32 bit era 3D fighter.

* ThreesomeSubtext: There is some implication that Karl, Danny, and Theo were this at least once. During dinner Theo brings up an evening that the three of them spent doing molly, and that what happened was in the past.
* VideoGamePerversityPotential: In-Universe. While ''Striking Vipers X'' is a fighting game, Karl and Danny make use of its characteristic of providing realistic physical sensations to have virtual sexcapades. Later on, it's revealed that other players also make similar use of it, as Karl mentions that he tried it with other people when Danny quit playing, also claiming that there's multi-player gangbangs and that he even "fucked Tundra, the [[BestialityIsDepraved polar bear character]]".

* DeepImmersionGaming: The technology used in ''Striking Vipers'' allows players to feel everything in the world of the video game, from pain to pleasure. Danny is very confused the first time he tries it out, and it takes a while to get used to it.

* YourCheatingHeart: Danny and Karl have their virtual encounters while Danny is still married to Theo. They apparently don't consider it to be "really" cheating, but once it comes clear to Danny that it's taking a toll on his and Theo's marriage, he puts a stop to it. By the end of the episode, Theo is also having sex with other people, but it's a mutual agreement so he and Karl can have virtual sex on his birthday.

* CallBack:
** Before playing ''Striking Vipers X'' the first time, Karl is at an arcade machine in his apartment that looks right out of "[[Recap/BlackMirrorSanJunipero San Junipero]]", including pink/purple/blue neon color scheme.
** The chocolate Theo gives Danny for his 39th birthday is "[[Recap/BlackMirrorNosedive Lacie]]" brand.

* WeddingRingRemoval: Near the end of the episode Theo removes her wedding ring due to the agreement that both she and Danny can cheat once a year.

** Obviously Creator/BryceDallasHoward isn't actually in this episode, but a red-haired white woman can briefly be glimpsed from behind with her black boyfriend/husband at Danny's birthday barbecue. This plus the above reference has led many fans to speculate that this episode is showing us Lacie and her unnamed fellow prisoner got their happy ending after all.

* GenderBlenderName: Danny's wife is named Theo.

* RomanticRain: Played with. Karl and Danny meet in the rain and [[BattleInTheRain have an explosive fight]], and eventually kiss, although Danny claims he felt nothing.

* VideoGamePerversityPotential: In-Universe. While ''Striking Vipers X'' is a fighting game, Karl and Danny make use of its characteristic of providing realistic physical sensations to their virtual sexcapades. Later on, it's revealed that other players also make similar use of it, as Karl mentions that he tried it with other people when Danny quit playing, also claiming that there's multi-player gangbangs and that he even "fucked Tundra, the [[BestialityIsDepraved polar bear character]]".
* VoicesAreNotMental: Both Karl-as-Roxanne and Danny-as-Lance speak with faint foreign accents while inside the game (which, at least in Creator/PomKlementieff's case, reflects the actor's [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent real accent]]). Arguably conflicts with Karl claiming he dumped a Dutch guy playing Lance as his new hookup because he found the accent distracting, although we do briefly hear the players' real voices "merging" with the character voices as the game starts.

* YourCheatingHeart: Danny and Karl have their virtual encounters while Danny is still married to Theo. They apparently don't consider it to be "really" cheating, but once it comes clear to Danny that it's taking a toll on his and Theo's marriage, he puts a stop to it. By the end of the episode, Theo is also cheating on Danny, but it's a mutual agreement so he and Karl can have virtual sex on his birthday.

* BestialityIsDepraved: The lowest depth to which Karl sinks after Danny calls off their affair is having virtual sex with Tundra, the polar bear JokeCharacter. Led to one of the most quoted MemeticMutations from Season 5 (or, indeed, all of Black Mirror).