History Recap / BlackMirrorUSSCallister

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance: The update wormhole was a "parsec" away, over three light-years, an absurd distance for a SternChase by a shuttle. The navigation screen showing a shortcut through an asteroid field is also badly scaled: asteroid fields are not multiple light-years across. Justified since this is a computer game.[[note]]Though at the very least, a parsec was referred to as a unit of distance, unlike how it was referred to in [[Film/ANewHope another sci-fi story.]][[/note]]

** Daly is basically a BadassNormal Anthony from Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E73ItsAGoodLife. They even bear a slight resemblance to each other.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To two ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episodes. The antagonist is a blonde RealityWarper with the mind of a child like in [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E73ItsAGoodLife "It's a Good Life"]]. Also, the main characters are sentient non-humans like in [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E79FiveCharactersInSearchOfAnExit "Five Characters in Search of an Exit"]].

** We also don't see Walton after the ship passes through the wormhole, which leaves his fate uncertain: did he survive along with the rest of the crew (and if so, is he still horribly burned?), or was he deleted?

* {{Blackmail}}:
** The digital copy of Nanette blackmails the real Nanette to go along with their plan for freeing them with some X-rated photos in her cloud account (since, as a digital copy, she knows the password).
** Daly forces Walton into submission by threatening to kills his son's digital copy over and over.

* TheCameo: Both Creator/KirstenDunst and Creator/AaronPaul appear as cameos in the episode, with Dunst being a FreezeFrameBonus and Paul voicing [=Gamer691=]. Dunst and Paul worked with Creator/JessePlemons in ''Series/{{Fargo}}'' and ''Series/BreakingBad'', respectively.

* EasterEgg: [[spoiler:The ultimate fate of survivors and their ship, the USS Callister, is being an easter egg inside the ''Infinity'' MMO game - an NPC ship named and modeled after an old, in-universe sci-fi TV series.]] Gamer691 probably didn't even realize that yet, adding to how out of depth he is.

** The face removal scene also channels a memorable moment from the original Star Trek episode ''Charlie X'', where villanous God-child Charlie Evans uses his powers to do something almost identical to one of the USS Enterprise crew.

* JerkassHasAPoint: The real Walton gets angry at Daly for not having the update ready in time, but Daly had promised to get it done. Also, Walton isn't super-angry, just firm about how they need to keep the customers happy. He's just doing his job, while Daly in this instance isn't.

* PowerFantasy: Daly's ''Space Fleet'' mod is his way of coping with the humiliation he experiences every day at the hands of his colleagues. If Daly had grown a backbone and stood up for himself at work (after all, he was the man responsible for the company's success), he probably wouldn't feel the need to clone his colleagues digitally order to torture them in his own virtual reality.

* DramaticSitDown: Digital Nanette needs to sit down when she learns about where she is and what Daly is doing. She refuses initially, and after the first few bombs are unloaded on her, but eventually has to be lifted onto one.

* EasterEgg: [[spoiler:The ultimate fate of survivors and their ship, the USS Callister, is being an easter egg inside the ''Infinity'' MMO game - an NPC ship named and modeled after an old, in-universe sci-fi TV series.]] Gamer 691 probably didn't even realized that yet, adding to how out of depth he is.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: After everything he did, Daly did not (yet) go to the levels of low of his prototype [[VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream AM]], considering sexual abuse and bloody torture of the crew something that has no place is his mod, and at least having the decency to ''kill'' Tommy after he's done, which is a luxury not allowed to adult victims. Not that it's of any consolation to them.

** Walton when Robert has Walton's son sucked into deep space through an airlock, with his body decompressing and freezing.
** The way Daly was able to break Walton was by murdering the copy of his child right in front of him. Sure, it's not his ''real'' son, but the fact that Tommy has all his memories and full consciousness makes it painfully real, as when he screams for his dad to help him.

** However, in the end, this is what comes to bite him in the arse: consumed by his god complex, he did not install anything to wake him up or at least call for help if the immersion goes wrong. Maybe he did not expect for his mod to be deleted by the server, yes, but what if anything as simple as power outage, a programming error or falling asleep made him trapped inside the simulation?

* BareYourMidriff: Both Shania and Nanette are dressed in [[TheSixties 1960s]] BridgeBunny outfits that show most of their midsections, but not their navels.

'''USS Callister''' | [[Recap/BlackMirrorArkangel [=ArkAngel=] ]] | [[Recap/BlackMirrorCrocodile Crocodile]] | [[Recap/BlackMirrorHangTheDJ Hang the DJ]] | [[Recap/BlackMirrorMetalhead Metalhead]] | [[Recap/BlackMirrorBlackMuseum Black Museum]]-]]]]]