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'''Main page:''' ''Series/BlackMirror''
'''Series one:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesOne''
'''Series two:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesTwo''
'''Series three:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesThree''
'''Series four:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesFour''
'''NOTE:''' Since some episodes contain spoilers beyond the trailers and intro, avoid opening folders unless you're happy to have things spoiled. '''''Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''''
A feature-length Christmas special; Brooker describes it as a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons "treehouse of horrors"]], the story consisting of three distinct but interlocking chapters. In a remote outpost in a snowy wilderness on Christmas Day, Joe Potter (Rafe Spall) and Matt Trent (Jon Hamm) sit down to a bare-basics Christmas lunch. The charismatic and relentlessly cheerful Matt is determined to get the reticent Joe to open up and talk to him, as they've barely spoken in the five years that they've been there.
From there, the story takes place in three parts as they share the tragic stories of their previous lives.
----
!!''White Christmas'' contains examples of the following:
* AdultFear: Being prevented from literally seeing or hearing from your wife and child, and then having it be legal binding. And when the chance finally arrives to see your child, [[spoiler:the discovery that it was never yours]].
** [[spoiler: A child all alone in a cottage with only her dead grandfather. And when she walks outside to get help in heavy snow, she freezes to death]].
* AdviceBackfire: Harry's advice for Jennifer to go through with her transition plans backfires terribly.
* AffablyEvil: Matt.
* TheAlcoholic: Joe. He gets absolutely slammed at the karaoke night to the point that Beth and her co-worker Tim have to drag him out of the bar to keep him from getting into a fight.
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Does Matt get beaten/stoned to death once the police release him?]]
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Cookie-Joe's ultimate fate. You could also argue this for Matt as well.]]
* AnthologyFilm: Uses the old horror movie format of three twisted tales connected by a frame story. In this case, the frame story has its own twist which builds on elements from each of the shorter tales.
* ArtificialHuman[=/=]BrainUploading[=/=]CloningBlues[=/=]SlaveRace: An example that encompasses a dizzying set of tropes all by itself, is the "cookie" device. The cookie is a perfect digital copy of a person's mind, and are "born" when [[NightmareFuel excised from what they know to be their own body]]. They are then kept in a small, egg-like device which is the central control for a smart home. They still need to adjust to the fact that they're not the original, nor do they have a body; in order to provide it with context, a cookie can be given a digital body in a digital room and an interface. While the potential applications of this technology are amazing, a cookie is used mostly to perform mundane functions of running a smart home for its real counterpart. They can be seen, heard, and spoken to with specialty hardware, but are otherwise kept isolated from their owner, and it appears that most the customers are oblivious to the true nature of the cookies other than that they record a person's preferences. While they are naturally resistant to the sudden shift into a life of menial slavery, the cookies can be broken into complete submission by modifying their time perception, effectively plunging them into solitary confinement for days to months at a time while only seconds pass in real time, with [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the trauma of isolation]] leaving them more pliable to suggestion. While Joe objects that this is slavery and torture towards an intelligent being, these are brushed aside by Matt, who considers them [[JustAMachine mere software]].
* AssholeVictim: In true ''Black Mirror'' fashion, this trope is deconstructed with [[spoiler:Matt and Joe]], both of whom did terrible things, but the sheer horror of what they'll ultimately go through really makes you wonder just ''how'' deserved those punishments they receive are, removing any sense of schadenfreude.
** There's a less ambiguous example in [[spoiler:Bethany. Her cheating on Joe with Tim, blocking Joe after getting drunk while pregnant with the child neither man knew about and keeping Joe estranged from the child he suspected was his but really wasn't left few mourning her death in a train crash.]]
* BeardOfSorrow: Joe is shown to be sporting one at the end.
* BingeMontage: Joe and Bethany are introduced in this fashion.
* BoxedCrook: [[spoiler:Matt is revealed to be one by the end]].
* BrokenBird: Jennifer. [[spoiler:She suffered from schizophrenia, and commits a murder-suicide with a suitor convinced that he is also tortured by 'the voices in the head']].
* CallBack: Dozens.
* CasanovaWannabe: Basically everyone in the pick up artist club that Harry was part of.
** Matt is the exception and leans more towards TheCasanova.
* TheCharmer: Matt.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The snow globe]] shows up as a nondescript prop in the beginning of the episode.
* ChocolateBaby: [[spoiler:When he finally gets to see her, Bethany's daughter's obvious East Asian features immediately reveal to Joe that he is not the father.]]
* ChristmasEpisode: Easily one of the creepiest examples of this trope in television.
* ContinuityPorn: There are lots of 'blink and you'll miss it' references to past episodes that confirm that yes, the whole series takes place in the same [[CrapsackWorld horrible reality]]:
** The usernames "Pie Ape"[[note]]a derogatory term from "15 Million Merits"[[/note]] and "I_AM_WALDO"[[note]]Obviously from "The Waldo Moment"[[/note]].
** Michael Callow ("The National Anthem"), Victoria Skillane ("Whitebear") and Liam Monroe ("The Waldo Moment") are mentioned in the UKN news ticklers. By the way, [[AlphabetNewsNetwork UKN]] is once again the go-to news channel in the ''Black Mirror'' universe.
** The [[spoiler:pregnancy test]] seems to be the same brand as the one in "Be Right Back"
** Clips from "Hot Shot" (the talent show from "15 Million Merits") and the late night show from "The Waldo Moment" can be seen as Joe flips through the channels during the latter half.
** Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", the same song Abi sings in "15 Million Merits."
** The Zed-Eye is somewhat similar to the Grain, the memory recording device in "The Entire History of You." The implant and extraction of the cookie is somewhat reminiscent of the Grain as well.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Harry has his drink poisoned by a suicidal woman he tried to seduce convinced they are kindred spirits and is forced into drinking more of it even as he protests that the 'voices' he was hearing were real. Worse, a pick-up artist group were watching his final moments literally through his eyes. Though Matt points out she likely believed it was a MercyKill]].
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Joe slowly plunges into one entirely thanks to Bethany. First, she tells him that she is pregnant and that she doesn't want to keep it, not giving him any reason in particular. Then, she abandons Joe, blocks him and keeps the baby. Joe starts following her to her father's cabin for years once she has the child. Bethany then dies in an accident, freeing Joe from the blockage to see "his daughter", only learning that the kid has obvious Asian features and therefore explaining why Bethany wanted an abortion (to hide evidence of an infidelity) and then blocked him seeing them. In anger, Joe strikes Bethany's dad and flees the cabin, leaving the old man and the kid to die.]]
* DestroyTheEvidence: Matt [[WithCatlikeTread clumsily]] attempts this after seeing [[spoiler:Harry killed in his dating advice/peeping tom service]] but his wife hears him and ends up leaving him. Makes you wonder how he couldn't come up with a better explanation for getting rid of his hard-drive.
* DoAndroidsDream: According to Matt, Joe is unusual in being unambiguous about the personhood of Cookies, and that torturing a cookie is the same as torturing a human being. [[spoiler: This "Joe" is a Cookie himself, though he doesn't know it.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The real Joe is still in prison and will likely be executed and Matt is blocked by humanity meaning that he won't be able to talk to anyone until the block is lifted which is unlikely to happen whereas Cookie!Joe is stuck screaming inside a cookie console for 1000 years of every minute that passes on Earth in real time while the song "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is looped on repeat. [[FridgeHorror It's left on overnight.]]]]
* DrosteImage: Used to good effect to illustrate [[spoiler:the [[SmallSecludedWorld hellish world]] that Cookie!Joe has been condemned to in the end]].
* EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler:The whole episode is an attempt by Matt to get Joe to open up and confess to the murder of his ex-girlfriend's father.]]
* EnhancedInterrogationTechniques: [[spoiler:The framing narrative of the episode is of Matt trying to weasel a confession out of a cookie of Joe]].
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he realizes he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
* ExpendableClone[=/=]WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The cookie is created by a copying the person's brainwaves and storing them in an egg-shaped device. As the cookie has the original's memories, a person can manually fast-forward its perception of time (leaving them alone in isolation) to force it into compliance. This is handy if [[spoiler:you want a digital operator of the house, or a confession from a murderer]]. Joe considers this to be highly unethical and the same as if you were torturing a human being.
* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: The Cookie of Joe. As vengeance for the real Joe's crimes, a police officer leaves the console on overnight and speeds up time on it so that Cookie!Joe will live 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world, with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' playing on an endless loop in the background and the frozen dead body of Bethany's daughter visible from the cottage window. The final shot of the program is of Cookie!Joe screaming.]]
** Cookies that are driven to complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Plenty:
** Joe has an [[spoiler: unblurred photo of Beth on his wall in the cabin, showing that at some point the block has been lifted.]]
** Joe immediately shuts off the radio as it's playing "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday".
** Matt mentions to Joe in the beginning of the episode that they haven't spoken much in five years.
** Jennifer tells Harry that she hates Christmas parties, save for the last one when she was on drugs, which she says she'll never take again, and shows more interest when Harry appears to be talking to himself. [[spoiler:Jennifer is in fact, an unmedicated schizophrenic who "forges" a suicide pact with Harry]].
** After Joe first notices the clock, [[spoiler: it's shown again a few seconds later and at least a couple of hours appear to have passed judging by the position of the hands. It's also the same clock as in Bethany's father's kitchen]].
** Joe observes to Bethany that Gita is "more into" Tim than he is into her. [[spoiler: Tim is having an affair with Bethany]].
** Arguably the whole subplot of Greta serves to introduce the concept of cookies [[spoiler: for the final twist.]]
** The idle chitchat between Matt and Joe foreshadow the ending of the episode, making it ideal for a rewatch for a different perspective of the framing story.
*** As Matt strikes up a conversation with Joe, he denies that [[spoiler:it is an interrogation]].
*** Matt offhandedly mentions to Joe that to get a cookie to comply, you have to speed up their relative time to break them just enough to get them to do anything. [[spoiler: The whole episode is this happening to Cookie!Joe]].
*** This adds a layer to another of Matt's offhand remark [[spoiler:expressing amazement that Cookie!Joe still resists opening up despite years of isolation]].
*** Likewise, Matt's fascination for Joe's empathy for cookies appears more significant after you learn that [[spoiler:this Joe [[DoAndroidsDream is just a cookie]].]]
*** Matt tells Joe that he isn't how Matt expected him to be. [[spoiler: Matt believes Joe to be a murderer and is attempting to get a confession.]]
* FramingDevice: A clever one where the stories told links back to the overall structure; but it is essentially two guys talking about the worst moments of their lives as they get drunk on a miserable Christmas day.
* GargleBlaster: On receiving his drink, Harry chokes slightly and asks "What the hell's in this?!" [[spoiler: But it's a subversion. It swiftly develops into an IncurableCoughOfDeath and BloodFromTheMouth]].
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: How Matt breaks Cookie!Greta into cooperation. Whenever she refuses, he speeds up time so that she spends days, weeks and months in total isolation while only seconds pass in real life.
** [[spoiler:Also, Matt's own IronicHell.]]
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Initially averted with Bethany as, when Joe discovers the positive pregnancy test, she explicitly states that she's not keeping it. [[spoiler: Then played straight - she leaves Joe and keeps the baby]].
** Then again, the fact that [[spoiler:she was having an affair in the first place]] kind of puts this example out of the scope of this trope.
* HearingVoices: [[spoiler:Jennifer, the introverted brunette, had schizophrenia. When she saw Harry talking to the people in his club via Z-Eye, she thought she had found a kindred spirit.]]
* HollywoodRestrainingOrder: Applied in future Britain as well via GPS technology. Joe says he could not get closer than 10 meters to his ex or he would be arrested.
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: This entire thing takes place on Christmas.
* HumanResources: A particularly twisted non-lethal version where a person's consciousness is cloned into a WetwareCPU known as a "cookie" and tortured into servitude. Makes some degree of sense - why go to the bother and expense of programming your own smart home when a clone of you already knows all of your preferences?
** Ambiguously, it doesn't appear that the public at large knows that [[PoweredByAForsakenChild cookies are conscious]], and not just a copy of their preferences attached to a program.
* {{Hypocrisy}}: Not in the series itself, but it's incredibly jarring to finish watching this episode, then have the Channel 4 announcer introduce a show called "Manhunt: Closing in on a British Paedophile" over the credits. Exactly the kind of programming ''Black Mirror'' warns about, most notably in "White Bear".
* IronicHell: [[spoiler:For both of its main characters]].
** Matt is [[spoiler:free to leave custody and awaiting a full pardon, but he legally still has to go onto "the registry", and put on a permanent block from everyone. While he's a charmer and a people person (if amoral), he still can't directly interact with anybody anymore, as they've been rendered as an unreadable grey silhouette with an incoherent voice. They perceive him as much the same, but as a red silhouette, rendering him an anonymous felon. It's implied he may be at least assaulted in his near future as well]].
** As for Joe, [[spoiler: Cookie!Joe has to spend upwards of one or two '''million years''' in that cabin, alone with himself, that song on infinite repeat, and the little girl's dead body outside]]. In related instance, [[spoiler: it's completely {{averted}} with real!Joe, who faces prosecution, and may be up for execution or a life behind bars]].
** [[spoiler:Cookie!Greta, who is essentially the same person who paid for the cookie's creation in the first place, is enslaved and forced to watch her real self living the lifestyle that she paid for.]]
* {{Irony}}
** Situational: [[spoiler: Bethany had an affair with Tim and was going to going to abort the ensuing pregnancy and stay with Joe. Joe accidentally discovers the positive pregnancy test and assumes the baby is his and insists Bethany keeps it. An argument ensues and Bethany leaves Joe and decides to have Tim's baby. Also an example of NiceJobBreakingItHero and FinaglesLaw]].
** Another, and more meta example, see the entry under {{Hypocrisy}}.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: A police officer offhandedly mentions that it took two days to try and get a confession out of [[spoiler:Joe for murdering Bethany's father]], and [[spoiler:Matt]] is able to do it in 70 minutes. Which is the amount of time passed of the episode.
-->'''[[spoiler:Matt]], at the 67-minute mark:''' It wasn't ''really'' 70 minutes.
* TheLostLenore: Joe never got over his ex.
* LovingAShadow: Joe, despite wanting to be a father, doesn't even know what his daughter looks like due to the block. And the years of hoping build up. [[spoiler: When his ex and the mother of his daughter dies, the block is lifted and he can her for the first time. When its clear [[ChocolateBaby that she's not his child]], his sanity slips, leading him to kill his ex's father.]]
* MarkOfShame: [[spoiler: The Home Office agree to release Matt as per their agreement, but he is placed on the Sex Offenders' Register. This means that he is blocked by everyone in the country, unable to see them, and visible to them as a red silhouette instead of a white one. People are seen reacting with predictable fear and disgust as he walks among them.]]
* MeaningfulReleaseDate: December 16 is the birthday of none other than Creator/PhilipKDick. This might be a coincidence, though.
* MundaneUtility: The cookies are exact copies of the entire being, actions, feelings and preferences of their human counterparts save the body; the implications and possibilities of this technology are astonishing, but in the episode they are shown to be used just as a fancy way to avoid programming your own preferences in your automated home. [[spoiler:And to get confessions out of suspected murderers.]]
* NestedStoryReveal: When Matt departs from the cabin.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Harry and Jennifer are discussing the lameness of the people around them and how she wants to leave them soon; [[spoiler:Harry thinks they are talking about her co-workers and her quitting her job while Jennifer is actually talking about the voices in her head and killing herself.]]
* OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby: Joe seems to be a believer in this, as he's aghast when Bethany gets drunk [[spoiler: after she finds out she's pregnant]].
* ThePeepingTom: Harry's group of dating experts are a whole club of these. By the sounds of it they take it in turns to go on dates with the end goal of getting to see some very personal porn.
* PerfectPoison: Averted; [[spoiler: see GargleBlaster above]].
* PleaBargain: [[spoiler:Matt helps the police in their investigations and is let off the hook, however he's still placed on the "list" and is blocked by everyone.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills
** An argument about Bethany's pregnancy was what drove Joe's story. If Bethany had just talked to Joe about the baby, [[spoiler:and admitted that it wasn't his, she and her family might not have ended up dead]].
*** [[spoiler:And if her father hadn't burned the letters that Joe sent her without letting her see them, there might have been a chance to explain and diffuse the situation as much as possible.]]
** Had Matt not tried to [[spoiler:sneak out of home to get rid of the evidence of a murder, at the very least provide a feasible excuse to do it in the midst of the night or even reported the murder as he should have, he wouldn't have been completely blacklisted from society and flagged as a sex offender.]]
* RedHerring: A close-up is done of Bethany's father holding a knife as he tells Joe to leave his house. The viewer is led to believe that [[spoiler:a fight occurs between him and Joe that leads to his death. Instead Joe, in a fit of rage, hits him on the head with a snow globe, which kills him]].
* RemovedFromThePicture: What blocking does. Not only in photographs but also in real life, where the blocked person looks like a grey featureless silhouette with garbled speech.
* ResidualSelfImage: "Cookie" copies don't appear to age, grow hair, get dirty or change their clothes.
* RuleOfScary:
** Even by dystopic standards, legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrific AndIMustScream.
** Leaving sex offenders to roam the world with no personal contact is very obviously a horrible idea that's virtually guaranteed to cause SanitySlippage or even death by lynching, and of course there's the logistical issues (how do you buy or rent a living space, get a job, or even buy basic necessities without talking to anyone), but the British government seems to think it's perfectly sensible and humane.
** Also, what's keeping the blocked sex offender from grabbing the nearest gray sillouete and bashing their head against the wall? The police essentially drops a grenade into a crowd in order to punish the grenade.
* ShoutOut: The first guess Joe makes as to what Matt's real job is? [[Series/MadMen Marketing director]].
** The distorted appearance of blocked individuals is reminiscent of a [[Film/AScannerDarkly scramble suit]].
* SmartHouse: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Managed by a digital copy of the home owner's consciousness]] to boot.
* TheSociopath: Matt is implied to be one. He's polite, suave, manipulative and very cheery. [[DissonantSerenity And even maintains the same disposition]] when he talks to Joe about an incident where an attempt to coach a man into seducing an attractive woman [[spoiler:goes horribly wrong, and ends up with two people dead]], and doesn't feel anything resembling guilt, but only regret that getting caught screwed up his own life. In contrast, Joe, [[spoiler:who killed an old man, and a child indirectly]], is torn up with guilt and won't talk to anyone, even Matt initially, for the equivalent of five years. The only time Matt appears to empathize with anyone is when Joe brings up not being able to see his own child.
* SoundtrackDissonance: "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" playing over the DownerEnding.
* StealthPun: Greta is used to ordering people around for her very specific tastes. [[spoiler:Now, thanks to the procedure that made a cookie of her, she can have them provided to her quite readily. She is literally her own slave]].
* SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler:Joe is revealed to be one]].
* TantrumThrowing: When Joe's girlfriend blocks him, in his rage he picks up a vase and tosses it on the wall across the room.
* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Cookie Joe's fate, or at least the first of them anyway, is to be thrown into one. He's left "on over Christmas", forced to listen to "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" on an infinite loop, experiencing 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world. Even if it's just for 24 hours, that's still ''1.4 million years'' watching the frozen corpse of a little girl through the window]].
* {{Unperson}}: In an extension of the Website/{{Facebook}} feature, the Block function on the Z-Eye turns the blocked person into a fuzzy white silhouette, with only muffled audio. [[spoiler: Registered sex offenders are automatically blocked by everyone, and their silhouettes appear as red.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Matt; the very first segment makes it clear he's not to be trusted when he tells Joe that he learnt of [[spoiler:his client's death]] in the news, when in reality he saw it happen on-screen with his own eyes. [[spoiler:In a much bigger narrative lie, he isn't actually Joe's coworker, but rather his interrogator]].
* ViewerFriendlyInterface: {{Lampshaded}} and {{justified}}. When [[spoiler:Greta's cookie]] asks which button to use to make toast, Matt explains "It doesn't matter. You already know you're making toast, the buttons are symbolic mostly anyway."
* VillainProtagonist: Most main characters qualify to some degree.
** Matt is, quite obviously, a deceitful, manipulative, cowardly and self-serving scumbag.
** Joe [[spoiler:killed his ex's father and indirectly caused the death of her daughter]].
** Greta isn't a villain, but her privilege and obliviousness [[spoiler:lead to cookie!Greta living a life of slavery]].
* WhiteVoidRoom: Greta's cookie is doomed to live in one.
* WithCatlikeTread: On his way out to DestroyTheEvidence Matt clumsily stumbles over toys on the ground which wakes up his wife.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Joe. After undergoing what amounts to a years-long mental breakdown over the [[UnPerson estrangement]] of Bethany and his daughter, he cracks completely and accidentally kills Bethany's father once he finds out it's not his daughter. Bethany's daughter dies frozen while trying to get some help for her grandpa, adding more salt to the wound]].
* YearInsideHourOutside: One of the things that can be done to the Cookies' virtual environment.
* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Bethany cheated on Joe with Tim, having his child. Instead of telling Joe the truth, she blocks him and lives a life far away from him]].
----
'''Series one:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesOne''
'''Series two:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesTwo''
'''Series three:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesThree''
'''Series four:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesFour''
'''NOTE:''' Since some episodes contain spoilers beyond the trailers and intro, avoid opening folders unless you're happy to have things spoiled. '''''Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''''
A feature-length Christmas special; Brooker describes it as a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons "treehouse of horrors"]], the story consisting of three distinct but interlocking chapters. In a remote outpost in a snowy wilderness on Christmas Day, Joe Potter (Rafe Spall) and Matt Trent (Jon Hamm) sit down to a bare-basics Christmas lunch. The charismatic and relentlessly cheerful Matt is determined to get the reticent Joe to open up and talk to him, as they've barely spoken in the five years that they've been there.
From there, the story takes place in three parts as they share the tragic stories of their previous lives.
----
!!''White Christmas'' contains examples of the following:
* AdultFear: Being prevented from literally seeing or hearing from your wife and child, and then having it be legal binding. And when the chance finally arrives to see your child, [[spoiler:the discovery that it was never yours]].
** [[spoiler: A child all alone in a cottage with only her dead grandfather. And when she walks outside to get help in heavy snow, she freezes to death]].
* AdviceBackfire: Harry's advice for Jennifer to go through with her transition plans backfires terribly.
* AffablyEvil: Matt.
* TheAlcoholic: Joe. He gets absolutely slammed at the karaoke night to the point that Beth and her co-worker Tim have to drag him out of the bar to keep him from getting into a fight.
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Does Matt get beaten/stoned to death once the police release him?]]
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Cookie-Joe's ultimate fate. You could also argue this for Matt as well.]]
* AnthologyFilm: Uses the old horror movie format of three twisted tales connected by a frame story. In this case, the frame story has its own twist which builds on elements from each of the shorter tales.
* ArtificialHuman[=/=]BrainUploading[=/=]CloningBlues[=/=]SlaveRace: An example that encompasses a dizzying set of tropes all by itself, is the "cookie" device. The cookie is a perfect digital copy of a person's mind, and are "born" when [[NightmareFuel excised from what they know to be their own body]]. They are then kept in a small, egg-like device which is the central control for a smart home. They still need to adjust to the fact that they're not the original, nor do they have a body; in order to provide it with context, a cookie can be given a digital body in a digital room and an interface. While the potential applications of this technology are amazing, a cookie is used mostly to perform mundane functions of running a smart home for its real counterpart. They can be seen, heard, and spoken to with specialty hardware, but are otherwise kept isolated from their owner, and it appears that most the customers are oblivious to the true nature of the cookies other than that they record a person's preferences. While they are naturally resistant to the sudden shift into a life of menial slavery, the cookies can be broken into complete submission by modifying their time perception, effectively plunging them into solitary confinement for days to months at a time while only seconds pass in real time, with [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the trauma of isolation]] leaving them more pliable to suggestion. While Joe objects that this is slavery and torture towards an intelligent being, these are brushed aside by Matt, who considers them [[JustAMachine mere software]].
* AssholeVictim: In true ''Black Mirror'' fashion, this trope is deconstructed with [[spoiler:Matt and Joe]], both of whom did terrible things, but the sheer horror of what they'll ultimately go through really makes you wonder just ''how'' deserved those punishments they receive are, removing any sense of schadenfreude.
** There's a less ambiguous example in [[spoiler:Bethany. Her cheating on Joe with Tim, blocking Joe after getting drunk while pregnant with the child neither man knew about and keeping Joe estranged from the child he suspected was his but really wasn't left few mourning her death in a train crash.]]
* BeardOfSorrow: Joe is shown to be sporting one at the end.
* BingeMontage: Joe and Bethany are introduced in this fashion.
* BoxedCrook: [[spoiler:Matt is revealed to be one by the end]].
* BrokenBird: Jennifer. [[spoiler:She suffered from schizophrenia, and commits a murder-suicide with a suitor convinced that he is also tortured by 'the voices in the head']].
* CallBack: Dozens.
* CasanovaWannabe: Basically everyone in the pick up artist club that Harry was part of.
** Matt is the exception and leans more towards TheCasanova.
* TheCharmer: Matt.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The snow globe]] shows up as a nondescript prop in the beginning of the episode.
* ChocolateBaby: [[spoiler:When he finally gets to see her, Bethany's daughter's obvious East Asian features immediately reveal to Joe that he is not the father.]]
* ChristmasEpisode: Easily one of the creepiest examples of this trope in television.
* ContinuityPorn: There are lots of 'blink and you'll miss it' references to past episodes that confirm that yes, the whole series takes place in the same [[CrapsackWorld horrible reality]]:
** The usernames "Pie Ape"[[note]]a derogatory term from "15 Million Merits"[[/note]] and "I_AM_WALDO"[[note]]Obviously from "The Waldo Moment"[[/note]].
** Michael Callow ("The National Anthem"), Victoria Skillane ("Whitebear") and Liam Monroe ("The Waldo Moment") are mentioned in the UKN news ticklers. By the way, [[AlphabetNewsNetwork UKN]] is once again the go-to news channel in the ''Black Mirror'' universe.
** The [[spoiler:pregnancy test]] seems to be the same brand as the one in "Be Right Back"
** Clips from "Hot Shot" (the talent show from "15 Million Merits") and the late night show from "The Waldo Moment" can be seen as Joe flips through the channels during the latter half.
** Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", the same song Abi sings in "15 Million Merits."
** The Zed-Eye is somewhat similar to the Grain, the memory recording device in "The Entire History of You." The implant and extraction of the cookie is somewhat reminiscent of the Grain as well.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Harry has his drink poisoned by a suicidal woman he tried to seduce convinced they are kindred spirits and is forced into drinking more of it even as he protests that the 'voices' he was hearing were real. Worse, a pick-up artist group were watching his final moments literally through his eyes. Though Matt points out she likely believed it was a MercyKill]].
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Joe slowly plunges into one entirely thanks to Bethany. First, she tells him that she is pregnant and that she doesn't want to keep it, not giving him any reason in particular. Then, she abandons Joe, blocks him and keeps the baby. Joe starts following her to her father's cabin for years once she has the child. Bethany then dies in an accident, freeing Joe from the blockage to see "his daughter", only learning that the kid has obvious Asian features and therefore explaining why Bethany wanted an abortion (to hide evidence of an infidelity) and then blocked him seeing them. In anger, Joe strikes Bethany's dad and flees the cabin, leaving the old man and the kid to die.]]
* DestroyTheEvidence: Matt [[WithCatlikeTread clumsily]] attempts this after seeing [[spoiler:Harry killed in his dating advice/peeping tom service]] but his wife hears him and ends up leaving him. Makes you wonder how he couldn't come up with a better explanation for getting rid of his hard-drive.
* DoAndroidsDream: According to Matt, Joe is unusual in being unambiguous about the personhood of Cookies, and that torturing a cookie is the same as torturing a human being. [[spoiler: This "Joe" is a Cookie himself, though he doesn't know it.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The real Joe is still in prison and will likely be executed and Matt is blocked by humanity meaning that he won't be able to talk to anyone until the block is lifted which is unlikely to happen whereas Cookie!Joe is stuck screaming inside a cookie console for 1000 years of every minute that passes on Earth in real time while the song "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is looped on repeat. [[FridgeHorror It's left on overnight.]]]]
* DrosteImage: Used to good effect to illustrate [[spoiler:the [[SmallSecludedWorld hellish world]] that Cookie!Joe has been condemned to in the end]].
* EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler:The whole episode is an attempt by Matt to get Joe to open up and confess to the murder of his ex-girlfriend's father.]]
* EnhancedInterrogationTechniques: [[spoiler:The framing narrative of the episode is of Matt trying to weasel a confession out of a cookie of Joe]].
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he realizes he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
* ExpendableClone[=/=]WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The cookie is created by a copying the person's brainwaves and storing them in an egg-shaped device. As the cookie has the original's memories, a person can manually fast-forward its perception of time (leaving them alone in isolation) to force it into compliance. This is handy if [[spoiler:you want a digital operator of the house, or a confession from a murderer]]. Joe considers this to be highly unethical and the same as if you were torturing a human being.
* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: The Cookie of Joe. As vengeance for the real Joe's crimes, a police officer leaves the console on overnight and speeds up time on it so that Cookie!Joe will live 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world, with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' playing on an endless loop in the background and the frozen dead body of Bethany's daughter visible from the cottage window. The final shot of the program is of Cookie!Joe screaming.]]
** Cookies that are driven to complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Plenty:
** Joe has an [[spoiler: unblurred photo of Beth on his wall in the cabin, showing that at some point the block has been lifted.]]
** Joe immediately shuts off the radio as it's playing "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday".
** Matt mentions to Joe in the beginning of the episode that they haven't spoken much in five years.
** Jennifer tells Harry that she hates Christmas parties, save for the last one when she was on drugs, which she says she'll never take again, and shows more interest when Harry appears to be talking to himself. [[spoiler:Jennifer is in fact, an unmedicated schizophrenic who "forges" a suicide pact with Harry]].
** After Joe first notices the clock, [[spoiler: it's shown again a few seconds later and at least a couple of hours appear to have passed judging by the position of the hands. It's also the same clock as in Bethany's father's kitchen]].
** Joe observes to Bethany that Gita is "more into" Tim than he is into her. [[spoiler: Tim is having an affair with Bethany]].
** Arguably the whole subplot of Greta serves to introduce the concept of cookies [[spoiler: for the final twist.]]
** The idle chitchat between Matt and Joe foreshadow the ending of the episode, making it ideal for a rewatch for a different perspective of the framing story.
*** As Matt strikes up a conversation with Joe, he denies that [[spoiler:it is an interrogation]].
*** Matt offhandedly mentions to Joe that to get a cookie to comply, you have to speed up their relative time to break them just enough to get them to do anything. [[spoiler: The whole episode is this happening to Cookie!Joe]].
*** This adds a layer to another of Matt's offhand remark [[spoiler:expressing amazement that Cookie!Joe still resists opening up despite years of isolation]].
*** Likewise, Matt's fascination for Joe's empathy for cookies appears more significant after you learn that [[spoiler:this Joe [[DoAndroidsDream is just a cookie]].]]
*** Matt tells Joe that he isn't how Matt expected him to be. [[spoiler: Matt believes Joe to be a murderer and is attempting to get a confession.]]
* FramingDevice: A clever one where the stories told links back to the overall structure; but it is essentially two guys talking about the worst moments of their lives as they get drunk on a miserable Christmas day.
* GargleBlaster: On receiving his drink, Harry chokes slightly and asks "What the hell's in this?!" [[spoiler: But it's a subversion. It swiftly develops into an IncurableCoughOfDeath and BloodFromTheMouth]].
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: How Matt breaks Cookie!Greta into cooperation. Whenever she refuses, he speeds up time so that she spends days, weeks and months in total isolation while only seconds pass in real life.
** [[spoiler:Also, Matt's own IronicHell.]]
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Initially averted with Bethany as, when Joe discovers the positive pregnancy test, she explicitly states that she's not keeping it. [[spoiler: Then played straight - she leaves Joe and keeps the baby]].
** Then again, the fact that [[spoiler:she was having an affair in the first place]] kind of puts this example out of the scope of this trope.
* HearingVoices: [[spoiler:Jennifer, the introverted brunette, had schizophrenia. When she saw Harry talking to the people in his club via Z-Eye, she thought she had found a kindred spirit.]]
* HollywoodRestrainingOrder: Applied in future Britain as well via GPS technology. Joe says he could not get closer than 10 meters to his ex or he would be arrested.
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: This entire thing takes place on Christmas.
* HumanResources: A particularly twisted non-lethal version where a person's consciousness is cloned into a WetwareCPU known as a "cookie" and tortured into servitude. Makes some degree of sense - why go to the bother and expense of programming your own smart home when a clone of you already knows all of your preferences?
** Ambiguously, it doesn't appear that the public at large knows that [[PoweredByAForsakenChild cookies are conscious]], and not just a copy of their preferences attached to a program.
* {{Hypocrisy}}: Not in the series itself, but it's incredibly jarring to finish watching this episode, then have the Channel 4 announcer introduce a show called "Manhunt: Closing in on a British Paedophile" over the credits. Exactly the kind of programming ''Black Mirror'' warns about, most notably in "White Bear".
* IronicHell: [[spoiler:For both of its main characters]].
** Matt is [[spoiler:free to leave custody and awaiting a full pardon, but he legally still has to go onto "the registry", and put on a permanent block from everyone. While he's a charmer and a people person (if amoral), he still can't directly interact with anybody anymore, as they've been rendered as an unreadable grey silhouette with an incoherent voice. They perceive him as much the same, but as a red silhouette, rendering him an anonymous felon. It's implied he may be at least assaulted in his near future as well]].
** As for Joe, [[spoiler: Cookie!Joe has to spend upwards of one or two '''million years''' in that cabin, alone with himself, that song on infinite repeat, and the little girl's dead body outside]]. In related instance, [[spoiler: it's completely {{averted}} with real!Joe, who faces prosecution, and may be up for execution or a life behind bars]].
** [[spoiler:Cookie!Greta, who is essentially the same person who paid for the cookie's creation in the first place, is enslaved and forced to watch her real self living the lifestyle that she paid for.]]
* {{Irony}}
** Situational: [[spoiler: Bethany had an affair with Tim and was going to going to abort the ensuing pregnancy and stay with Joe. Joe accidentally discovers the positive pregnancy test and assumes the baby is his and insists Bethany keeps it. An argument ensues and Bethany leaves Joe and decides to have Tim's baby. Also an example of NiceJobBreakingItHero and FinaglesLaw]].
** Another, and more meta example, see the entry under {{Hypocrisy}}.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: A police officer offhandedly mentions that it took two days to try and get a confession out of [[spoiler:Joe for murdering Bethany's father]], and [[spoiler:Matt]] is able to do it in 70 minutes. Which is the amount of time passed of the episode.
-->'''[[spoiler:Matt]], at the 67-minute mark:''' It wasn't ''really'' 70 minutes.
* TheLostLenore: Joe never got over his ex.
* LovingAShadow: Joe, despite wanting to be a father, doesn't even know what his daughter looks like due to the block. And the years of hoping build up. [[spoiler: When his ex and the mother of his daughter dies, the block is lifted and he can her for the first time. When its clear [[ChocolateBaby that she's not his child]], his sanity slips, leading him to kill his ex's father.]]
* MarkOfShame: [[spoiler: The Home Office agree to release Matt as per their agreement, but he is placed on the Sex Offenders' Register. This means that he is blocked by everyone in the country, unable to see them, and visible to them as a red silhouette instead of a white one. People are seen reacting with predictable fear and disgust as he walks among them.]]
* MeaningfulReleaseDate: December 16 is the birthday of none other than Creator/PhilipKDick. This might be a coincidence, though.
* MundaneUtility: The cookies are exact copies of the entire being, actions, feelings and preferences of their human counterparts save the body; the implications and possibilities of this technology are astonishing, but in the episode they are shown to be used just as a fancy way to avoid programming your own preferences in your automated home. [[spoiler:And to get confessions out of suspected murderers.]]
* NestedStoryReveal: When Matt departs from the cabin.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Harry and Jennifer are discussing the lameness of the people around them and how she wants to leave them soon; [[spoiler:Harry thinks they are talking about her co-workers and her quitting her job while Jennifer is actually talking about the voices in her head and killing herself.]]
* OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby: Joe seems to be a believer in this, as he's aghast when Bethany gets drunk [[spoiler: after she finds out she's pregnant]].
* ThePeepingTom: Harry's group of dating experts are a whole club of these. By the sounds of it they take it in turns to go on dates with the end goal of getting to see some very personal porn.
* PerfectPoison: Averted; [[spoiler: see GargleBlaster above]].
* PleaBargain: [[spoiler:Matt helps the police in their investigations and is let off the hook, however he's still placed on the "list" and is blocked by everyone.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills
** An argument about Bethany's pregnancy was what drove Joe's story. If Bethany had just talked to Joe about the baby, [[spoiler:and admitted that it wasn't his, she and her family might not have ended up dead]].
*** [[spoiler:And if her father hadn't burned the letters that Joe sent her without letting her see them, there might have been a chance to explain and diffuse the situation as much as possible.]]
** Had Matt not tried to [[spoiler:sneak out of home to get rid of the evidence of a murder, at the very least provide a feasible excuse to do it in the midst of the night or even reported the murder as he should have, he wouldn't have been completely blacklisted from society and flagged as a sex offender.]]
* RedHerring: A close-up is done of Bethany's father holding a knife as he tells Joe to leave his house. The viewer is led to believe that [[spoiler:a fight occurs between him and Joe that leads to his death. Instead Joe, in a fit of rage, hits him on the head with a snow globe, which kills him]].
* RemovedFromThePicture: What blocking does. Not only in photographs but also in real life, where the blocked person looks like a grey featureless silhouette with garbled speech.
* ResidualSelfImage: "Cookie" copies don't appear to age, grow hair, get dirty or change their clothes.
* RuleOfScary:
** Even by dystopic standards, legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrific AndIMustScream.
** Leaving sex offenders to roam the world with no personal contact is very obviously a horrible idea that's virtually guaranteed to cause SanitySlippage or even death by lynching, and of course there's the logistical issues (how do you buy or rent a living space, get a job, or even buy basic necessities without talking to anyone), but the British government seems to think it's perfectly sensible and humane.
** Also, what's keeping the blocked sex offender from grabbing the nearest gray sillouete and bashing their head against the wall? The police essentially drops a grenade into a crowd in order to punish the grenade.
* ShoutOut: The first guess Joe makes as to what Matt's real job is? [[Series/MadMen Marketing director]].
** The distorted appearance of blocked individuals is reminiscent of a [[Film/AScannerDarkly scramble suit]].
* SmartHouse: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Managed by a digital copy of the home owner's consciousness]] to boot.
* TheSociopath: Matt is implied to be one. He's polite, suave, manipulative and very cheery. [[DissonantSerenity And even maintains the same disposition]] when he talks to Joe about an incident where an attempt to coach a man into seducing an attractive woman [[spoiler:goes horribly wrong, and ends up with two people dead]], and doesn't feel anything resembling guilt, but only regret that getting caught screwed up his own life. In contrast, Joe, [[spoiler:who killed an old man, and a child indirectly]], is torn up with guilt and won't talk to anyone, even Matt initially, for the equivalent of five years. The only time Matt appears to empathize with anyone is when Joe brings up not being able to see his own child.
* SoundtrackDissonance: "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" playing over the DownerEnding.
* StealthPun: Greta is used to ordering people around for her very specific tastes. [[spoiler:Now, thanks to the procedure that made a cookie of her, she can have them provided to her quite readily. She is literally her own slave]].
* SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler:Joe is revealed to be one]].
* TantrumThrowing: When Joe's girlfriend blocks him, in his rage he picks up a vase and tosses it on the wall across the room.
* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Cookie Joe's fate, or at least the first of them anyway, is to be thrown into one. He's left "on over Christmas", forced to listen to "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" on an infinite loop, experiencing 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world. Even if it's just for 24 hours, that's still ''1.4 million years'' watching the frozen corpse of a little girl through the window]].
* {{Unperson}}: In an extension of the Website/{{Facebook}} feature, the Block function on the Z-Eye turns the blocked person into a fuzzy white silhouette, with only muffled audio. [[spoiler: Registered sex offenders are automatically blocked by everyone, and their silhouettes appear as red.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Matt; the very first segment makes it clear he's not to be trusted when he tells Joe that he learnt of [[spoiler:his client's death]] in the news, when in reality he saw it happen on-screen with his own eyes. [[spoiler:In a much bigger narrative lie, he isn't actually Joe's coworker, but rather his interrogator]].
* ViewerFriendlyInterface: {{Lampshaded}} and {{justified}}. When [[spoiler:Greta's cookie]] asks which button to use to make toast, Matt explains "It doesn't matter. You already know you're making toast, the buttons are symbolic mostly anyway."
* VillainProtagonist: Most main characters qualify to some degree.
** Matt is, quite obviously, a deceitful, manipulative, cowardly and self-serving scumbag.
** Joe [[spoiler:killed his ex's father and indirectly caused the death of her daughter]].
** Greta isn't a villain, but her privilege and obliviousness [[spoiler:lead to cookie!Greta living a life of slavery]].
* WhiteVoidRoom: Greta's cookie is doomed to live in one.
* WithCatlikeTread: On his way out to DestroyTheEvidence Matt clumsily stumbles over toys on the ground which wakes up his wife.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Joe. After undergoing what amounts to a years-long mental breakdown over the [[UnPerson estrangement]] of Bethany and his daughter, he cracks completely and accidentally kills Bethany's father once he finds out it's not his daughter. Bethany's daughter dies frozen while trying to get some help for her grandpa, adding more salt to the wound]].
* YearInsideHourOutside: One of the things that can be done to the Cookies' virtual environment.
* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Bethany cheated on Joe with Tim, having his child. Instead of telling Joe the truth, she blocks him and lives a life far away from him]].
----
to:
'''Series one:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesOne''
'''Series two:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesTwo''
'''Series three:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesThree''
'''Series four:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesFour''
'''NOTE:''' Since some episodes contain spoilers beyond the trailers and intro, avoid opening folders unless you're happy to have things spoiled. '''''Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''''
A feature-length Christmas special; Brooker describes it as a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons "treehouse of horrors"]], the story consisting of three distinct but interlocking chapters. In a remote outpost in a snowy wilderness on Christmas Day, Joe Potter (Rafe Spall) and Matt Trent (Jon Hamm) sit down to a bare-basics Christmas lunch. The charismatic and relentlessly cheerful Matt is determined to get the reticent Joe to open up and talk to him, as they've barely spoken in the five years that they've been there.
From there, the story takes place in three parts as they share the tragic stories of their previous lives.
----
!!''White Christmas'' contains examples of the following:
* AdultFear: Being prevented from literally seeing or hearing from your wife and child, and then having it be legal binding. And when the chance finally arrives to see your child, [[spoiler:the discovery that it was never yours]].
** [[spoiler: A child all alone in a cottage with only her dead grandfather. And when she walks outside to get help in heavy snow, she freezes to death]].
* AdviceBackfire: Harry's advice for Jennifer to go through with her transition plans backfires terribly.
* AffablyEvil: Matt.
* TheAlcoholic: Joe. He gets absolutely slammed at the karaoke night to the point that Beth and her co-worker Tim have to drag him out of the bar to keep him from getting into a fight.
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Does Matt get beaten/stoned to death once the police release him?]]
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Cookie-Joe's ultimate fate. You could also argue this for Matt as well.]]
* AnthologyFilm: Uses the old horror movie format of three twisted tales connected by a frame story. In this case, the frame story has its own twist which builds on elements from each of the shorter tales.
* ArtificialHuman[=/=]BrainUploading[=/=]CloningBlues[=/=]SlaveRace: An example that encompasses a dizzying set of tropes all by itself, is the "cookie" device. The cookie is a perfect digital copy of a person's mind, and are "born" when [[NightmareFuel excised from what they know to be their own body]]. They are then kept in a small, egg-like device which is the central control for a smart home. They still need to adjust to the fact that they're not the original, nor do they have a body; in order to provide it with context, a cookie can be given a digital body in a digital room and an interface. While the potential applications of this technology are amazing, a cookie is used mostly to perform mundane functions of running a smart home for its real counterpart. They can be seen, heard, and spoken to with specialty hardware, but are otherwise kept isolated from their owner, and it appears that most the customers are oblivious to the true nature of the cookies other than that they record a person's preferences. While they are naturally resistant to the sudden shift into a life of menial slavery, the cookies can be broken into complete submission by modifying their time perception, effectively plunging them into solitary confinement for days to months at a time while only seconds pass in real time, with [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the trauma of isolation]] leaving them more pliable to suggestion. While Joe objects that this is slavery and torture towards an intelligent being, these are brushed aside by Matt, who considers them [[JustAMachine mere software]].
* AssholeVictim: In true ''Black Mirror'' fashion, this trope is deconstructed with [[spoiler:Matt and Joe]], both of whom did terrible things, but the sheer horror of what they'll ultimately go through really makes you wonder just ''how'' deserved those punishments they receive are, removing any sense of schadenfreude.
** There's a less ambiguous example in [[spoiler:Bethany. Her cheating on Joe with Tim, blocking Joe after getting drunk while pregnant with the child neither man knew about and keeping Joe estranged from the child he suspected was his but really wasn't left few mourning her death in a train crash.]]
* BeardOfSorrow: Joe is shown to be sporting one at the end.
* BingeMontage: Joe and Bethany are introduced in this fashion.
* BoxedCrook: [[spoiler:Matt is revealed to be one by the end]].
* BrokenBird: Jennifer. [[spoiler:She suffered from schizophrenia, and commits a murder-suicide with a suitor convinced that he is also tortured by 'the voices in the head']].
* CallBack: Dozens.
* CasanovaWannabe: Basically everyone in the pick up artist club that Harry was part of.
** Matt is the exception and leans more towards TheCasanova.
* TheCharmer: Matt.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The snow globe]] shows up as a nondescript prop in the beginning of the episode.
* ChocolateBaby: [[spoiler:When he finally gets to see her, Bethany's daughter's obvious East Asian features immediately reveal to Joe that he is not the father.]]
* ChristmasEpisode: Easily one of the creepiest examples of this trope in television.
* ContinuityPorn: There are lots of 'blink and you'll miss it' references to past episodes that confirm that yes, the whole series takes place in the same [[CrapsackWorld horrible reality]]:
** The usernames "Pie Ape"[[note]]a derogatory term from "15 Million Merits"[[/note]] and "I_AM_WALDO"[[note]]Obviously from "The Waldo Moment"[[/note]].
** Michael Callow ("The National Anthem"), Victoria Skillane ("Whitebear") and Liam Monroe ("The Waldo Moment") are mentioned in the UKN news ticklers. By the way, [[AlphabetNewsNetwork UKN]] is once again the go-to news channel in the ''Black Mirror'' universe.
** The [[spoiler:pregnancy test]] seems to be the same brand as the one in "Be Right Back"
** Clips from "Hot Shot" (the talent show from "15 Million Merits") and the late night show from "The Waldo Moment" can be seen as Joe flips through the channels during the latter half.
** Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", the same song Abi sings in "15 Million Merits."
** The Zed-Eye is somewhat similar to the Grain, the memory recording device in "The Entire History of You." The implant and extraction of the cookie is somewhat reminiscent of the Grain as well.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Harry has his drink poisoned by a suicidal woman he tried to seduce convinced they are kindred spirits and is forced into drinking more of it even as he protests that the 'voices' he was hearing were real. Worse, a pick-up artist group were watching his final moments literally through his eyes. Though Matt points out she likely believed it was a MercyKill]].
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Joe slowly plunges into one entirely thanks to Bethany. First, she tells him that she is pregnant and that she doesn't want to keep it, not giving him any reason in particular. Then, she abandons Joe, blocks him and keeps the baby. Joe starts following her to her father's cabin for years once she has the child. Bethany then dies in an accident, freeing Joe from the blockage to see "his daughter", only learning that the kid has obvious Asian features and therefore explaining why Bethany wanted an abortion (to hide evidence of an infidelity) and then blocked him seeing them. In anger, Joe strikes Bethany's dad and flees the cabin, leaving the old man and the kid to die.]]
* DestroyTheEvidence: Matt [[WithCatlikeTread clumsily]] attempts this after seeing [[spoiler:Harry killed in his dating advice/peeping tom service]] but his wife hears him and ends up leaving him. Makes you wonder how he couldn't come up with a better explanation for getting rid of his hard-drive.
* DoAndroidsDream: According to Matt, Joe is unusual in being unambiguous about the personhood of Cookies, and that torturing a cookie is the same as torturing a human being. [[spoiler: This "Joe" is a Cookie himself, though he doesn't know it.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The real Joe is still in prison and will likely be executed and Matt is blocked by humanity meaning that he won't be able to talk to anyone until the block is lifted which is unlikely to happen whereas Cookie!Joe is stuck screaming inside a cookie console for 1000 years of every minute that passes on Earth in real time while the song "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is looped on repeat. [[FridgeHorror It's left on overnight.]]]]
* DrosteImage: Used to good effect to illustrate [[spoiler:the [[SmallSecludedWorld hellish world]] that Cookie!Joe has been condemned to in the end]].
* EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler:The whole episode is an attempt by Matt to get Joe to open up and confess to the murder of his ex-girlfriend's father.]]
* EnhancedInterrogationTechniques: [[spoiler:The framing narrative of the episode is of Matt trying to weasel a confession out of a cookie of Joe]].
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he realizes he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
* ExpendableClone[=/=]WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The cookie is created by a copying the person's brainwaves and storing them in an egg-shaped device. As the cookie has the original's memories, a person can manually fast-forward its perception of time (leaving them alone in isolation) to force it into compliance. This is handy if [[spoiler:you want a digital operator of the house, or a confession from a murderer]]. Joe considers this to be highly unethical and the same as if you were torturing a human being.
* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: The Cookie of Joe. As vengeance for the real Joe's crimes, a police officer leaves the console on overnight and speeds up time on it so that Cookie!Joe will live 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world, with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' playing on an endless loop in the background and the frozen dead body of Bethany's daughter visible from the cottage window. The final shot of the program is of Cookie!Joe screaming.]]
** Cookies that are driven to complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Plenty:
** Joe has an [[spoiler: unblurred photo of Beth on his wall in the cabin, showing that at some point the block has been lifted.]]
** Joe immediately shuts off the radio as it's playing "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday".
** Matt mentions to Joe in the beginning of the episode that they haven't spoken much in five years.
** Jennifer tells Harry that she hates Christmas parties, save for the last one when she was on drugs, which she says she'll never take again, and shows more interest when Harry appears to be talking to himself. [[spoiler:Jennifer is in fact, an unmedicated schizophrenic who "forges" a suicide pact with Harry]].
** After Joe first notices the clock, [[spoiler: it's shown again a few seconds later and at least a couple of hours appear to have passed judging by the position of the hands. It's also the same clock as in Bethany's father's kitchen]].
** Joe observes to Bethany that Gita is "more into" Tim than he is into her. [[spoiler: Tim is having an affair with Bethany]].
** Arguably the whole subplot of Greta serves to introduce the concept of cookies [[spoiler: for the final twist.]]
** The idle chitchat between Matt and Joe foreshadow the ending of the episode, making it ideal for a rewatch for a different perspective of the framing story.
*** As Matt strikes up a conversation with Joe, he denies that [[spoiler:it is an interrogation]].
*** Matt offhandedly mentions to Joe that to get a cookie to comply, you have to speed up their relative time to break them just enough to get them to do anything. [[spoiler: The whole episode is this happening to Cookie!Joe]].
*** This adds a layer to another of Matt's offhand remark [[spoiler:expressing amazement that Cookie!Joe still resists opening up despite years of isolation]].
*** Likewise, Matt's fascination for Joe's empathy for cookies appears more significant after you learn that [[spoiler:this Joe [[DoAndroidsDream is just a cookie]].]]
*** Matt tells Joe that he isn't how Matt expected him to be. [[spoiler: Matt believes Joe to be a murderer and is attempting to get a confession.]]
* FramingDevice: A clever one where the stories told links back to the overall structure; but it is essentially two guys talking about the worst moments of their lives as they get drunk on a miserable Christmas day.
* GargleBlaster: On receiving his drink, Harry chokes slightly and asks "What the hell's in this?!" [[spoiler: But it's a subversion. It swiftly develops into an IncurableCoughOfDeath and BloodFromTheMouth]].
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: How Matt breaks Cookie!Greta into cooperation. Whenever she refuses, he speeds up time so that she spends days, weeks and months in total isolation while only seconds pass in real life.
** [[spoiler:Also, Matt's own IronicHell.]]
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Initially averted with Bethany as, when Joe discovers the positive pregnancy test, she explicitly states that she's not keeping it. [[spoiler: Then played straight - she leaves Joe and keeps the baby]].
** Then again, the fact that [[spoiler:she was having an affair in the first place]] kind of puts this example out of the scope of this trope.
* HearingVoices: [[spoiler:Jennifer, the introverted brunette, had schizophrenia. When she saw Harry talking to the people in his club via Z-Eye, she thought she had found a kindred spirit.]]
* HollywoodRestrainingOrder: Applied in future Britain as well via GPS technology. Joe says he could not get closer than 10 meters to his ex or he would be arrested.
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: This entire thing takes place on Christmas.
* HumanResources: A particularly twisted non-lethal version where a person's consciousness is cloned into a WetwareCPU known as a "cookie" and tortured into servitude. Makes some degree of sense - why go to the bother and expense of programming your own smart home when a clone of you already knows all of your preferences?
** Ambiguously, it doesn't appear that the public at large knows that [[PoweredByAForsakenChild cookies are conscious]], and not just a copy of their preferences attached to a program.
* {{Hypocrisy}}: Not in the series itself, but it's incredibly jarring to finish watching this episode, then have the Channel 4 announcer introduce a show called "Manhunt: Closing in on a British Paedophile" over the credits. Exactly the kind of programming ''Black Mirror'' warns about, most notably in "White Bear".
* IronicHell: [[spoiler:For both of its main characters]].
** Matt is [[spoiler:free to leave custody and awaiting a full pardon, but he legally still has to go onto "the registry", and put on a permanent block from everyone. While he's a charmer and a people person (if amoral), he still can't directly interact with anybody anymore, as they've been rendered as an unreadable grey silhouette with an incoherent voice. They perceive him as much the same, but as a red silhouette, rendering him an anonymous felon. It's implied he may be at least assaulted in his near future as well]].
** As for Joe, [[spoiler: Cookie!Joe has to spend upwards of one or two '''million years''' in that cabin, alone with himself, that song on infinite repeat, and the little girl's dead body outside]]. In related instance, [[spoiler: it's completely {{averted}} with real!Joe, who faces prosecution, and may be up for execution or a life behind bars]].
** [[spoiler:Cookie!Greta, who is essentially the same person who paid for the cookie's creation in the first place, is enslaved and forced to watch her real self living the lifestyle that she paid for.]]
* {{Irony}}
** Situational: [[spoiler: Bethany had an affair with Tim and was going to going to abort the ensuing pregnancy and stay with Joe. Joe accidentally discovers the positive pregnancy test and assumes the baby is his and insists Bethany keeps it. An argument ensues and Bethany leaves Joe and decides to have Tim's baby. Also an example of NiceJobBreakingItHero and FinaglesLaw]].
** Another, and more meta example, see the entry under {{Hypocrisy}}.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: A police officer offhandedly mentions that it took two days to try and get a confession out of [[spoiler:Joe for murdering Bethany's father]], and [[spoiler:Matt]] is able to do it in 70 minutes. Which is the amount of time passed of the episode.
-->'''[[spoiler:Matt]], at the 67-minute mark:''' It wasn't ''really'' 70 minutes.
* TheLostLenore: Joe never got over his ex.
* LovingAShadow: Joe, despite wanting to be a father, doesn't even know what his daughter looks like due to the block. And the years of hoping build up. [[spoiler: When his ex and the mother of his daughter dies, the block is lifted and he can her for the first time. When its clear [[ChocolateBaby that she's not his child]], his sanity slips, leading him to kill his ex's father.]]
* MarkOfShame: [[spoiler: The Home Office agree to release Matt as per their agreement, but he is placed on the Sex Offenders' Register. This means that he is blocked by everyone in the country, unable to see them, and visible to them as a red silhouette instead of a white one. People are seen reacting with predictable fear and disgust as he walks among them.]]
* MeaningfulReleaseDate: December 16 is the birthday of none other than Creator/PhilipKDick. This might be a coincidence, though.
* MundaneUtility: The cookies are exact copies of the entire being, actions, feelings and preferences of their human counterparts save the body; the implications and possibilities of this technology are astonishing, but in the episode they are shown to be used just as a fancy way to avoid programming your own preferences in your automated home. [[spoiler:And to get confessions out of suspected murderers.]]
* NestedStoryReveal: When Matt departs from the cabin.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Harry and Jennifer are discussing the lameness of the people around them and how she wants to leave them soon; [[spoiler:Harry thinks they are talking about her co-workers and her quitting her job while Jennifer is actually talking about the voices in her head and killing herself.]]
* OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby: Joe seems to be a believer in this, as he's aghast when Bethany gets drunk [[spoiler: after she finds out she's pregnant]].
* ThePeepingTom: Harry's group of dating experts are a whole club of these. By the sounds of it they take it in turns to go on dates with the end goal of getting to see some very personal porn.
* PerfectPoison: Averted; [[spoiler: see GargleBlaster above]].
* PleaBargain: [[spoiler:Matt helps the police in their investigations and is let off the hook, however he's still placed on the "list" and is blocked by everyone.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills
** An argument about Bethany's pregnancy was what drove Joe's story. If Bethany had just talked to Joe about the baby, [[spoiler:and admitted that it wasn't his, she and her family might not have ended up dead]].
*** [[spoiler:And if her father hadn't burned the letters that Joe sent her without letting her see them, there might have been a chance to explain and diffuse the situation as much as possible.]]
** Had Matt not tried to [[spoiler:sneak out of home to get rid of the evidence of a murder, at the very least provide a feasible excuse to do it in the midst of the night or even reported the murder as he should have, he wouldn't have been completely blacklisted from society and flagged as a sex offender.]]
* RedHerring: A close-up is done of Bethany's father holding a knife as he tells Joe to leave his house. The viewer is led to believe that [[spoiler:a fight occurs between him and Joe that leads to his death. Instead Joe, in a fit of rage, hits him on the head with a snow globe, which kills him]].
* RemovedFromThePicture: What blocking does. Not only in photographs but also in real life, where the blocked person looks like a grey featureless silhouette with garbled speech.
* ResidualSelfImage: "Cookie" copies don't appear to age, grow hair, get dirty or change their clothes.
* RuleOfScary:
** Even by dystopic standards, legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrific AndIMustScream.
** Leaving sex offenders to roam the world with no personal contact is very obviously a horrible idea that's virtually guaranteed to cause SanitySlippage or even death by lynching, and of course there's the logistical issues (how do you buy or rent a living space, get a job, or even buy basic necessities without talking to anyone), but the British government seems to think it's perfectly sensible and humane.
** Also, what's keeping the blocked sex offender from grabbing the nearest gray sillouete and bashing their head against the wall? The police essentially drops a grenade into a crowd in order to punish the grenade.
* ShoutOut: The first guess Joe makes as to what Matt's real job is? [[Series/MadMen Marketing director]].
** The distorted appearance of blocked individuals is reminiscent of a [[Film/AScannerDarkly scramble suit]].
* SmartHouse: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Managed by a digital copy of the home owner's consciousness]] to boot.
* TheSociopath: Matt is implied to be one. He's polite, suave, manipulative and very cheery. [[DissonantSerenity And even maintains the same disposition]] when he talks to Joe about an incident where an attempt to coach a man into seducing an attractive woman [[spoiler:goes horribly wrong, and ends up with two people dead]], and doesn't feel anything resembling guilt, but only regret that getting caught screwed up his own life. In contrast, Joe, [[spoiler:who killed an old man, and a child indirectly]], is torn up with guilt and won't talk to anyone, even Matt initially, for the equivalent of five years. The only time Matt appears to empathize with anyone is when Joe brings up not being able to see his own child.
* SoundtrackDissonance: "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" playing over the DownerEnding.
* StealthPun: Greta is used to ordering people around for her very specific tastes. [[spoiler:Now, thanks to the procedure that made a cookie of her, she can have them provided to her quite readily. She is literally her own slave]].
* SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler:Joe is revealed to be one]].
* TantrumThrowing: When Joe's girlfriend blocks him, in his rage he picks up a vase and tosses it on the wall across the room.
* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Cookie Joe's fate, or at least the first of them anyway, is to be thrown into one. He's left "on over Christmas", forced to listen to "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" on an infinite loop, experiencing 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world. Even if it's just for 24 hours, that's still ''1.4 million years'' watching the frozen corpse of a little girl through the window]].
* {{Unperson}}: In an extension of the Website/{{Facebook}} feature, the Block function on the Z-Eye turns the blocked person into a fuzzy white silhouette, with only muffled audio. [[spoiler: Registered sex offenders are automatically blocked by everyone, and their silhouettes appear as red.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Matt; the very first segment makes it clear he's not to be trusted when he tells Joe that he learnt of [[spoiler:his client's death]] in the news, when in reality he saw it happen on-screen with his own eyes. [[spoiler:In a much bigger narrative lie, he isn't actually Joe's coworker, but rather his interrogator]].
* ViewerFriendlyInterface: {{Lampshaded}} and {{justified}}. When [[spoiler:Greta's cookie]] asks which button to use to make toast, Matt explains "It doesn't matter. You already know you're making toast, the buttons are symbolic mostly anyway."
* VillainProtagonist: Most main characters qualify to some degree.
** Matt is, quite obviously, a deceitful, manipulative, cowardly and self-serving scumbag.
** Joe [[spoiler:killed his ex's father and indirectly caused the death of her daughter]].
** Greta isn't a villain, but her privilege and obliviousness [[spoiler:lead to cookie!Greta living a life of slavery]].
* WhiteVoidRoom: Greta's cookie is doomed to live in one.
* WithCatlikeTread: On his way out to DestroyTheEvidence Matt clumsily stumbles over toys on the ground which wakes up his wife.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Joe. After undergoing what amounts to a years-long mental breakdown over the [[UnPerson estrangement]] of Bethany and his daughter, he cracks completely and accidentally kills Bethany's father once he finds out it's not his daughter. Bethany's daughter dies frozen while trying to get some help for her grandpa, adding more salt to the wound]].
* YearInsideHourOutside: One of the things that can be done to the Cookies' virtual environment.
* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Bethany cheated on Joe with Tim, having his child. Instead of telling Joe the truth, she blocks him and lives a life far away from him]].
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* DestroyTheEvidence: Matt clumsily attempts this after seeing [[spoiler:Harry killed in his dating advice/peeping tom service]] but his wife hears him and ends up leaving him. Makes you wonder how he couldn't come up with a better explanation for getting rid of his hard-drive.
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* DestroyTheEvidence: Matt clumsily [[WithCatlikeTread clumsily]] attempts this after seeing [[spoiler:Harry killed in his dating advice/peeping tom service]] but his wife hears him and ends up leaving him. Makes you wonder how he couldn't come up with a better explanation for getting rid of his hard-drive.
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** Ambiguously, it doesn't appear that the public at large knows that cookies are conscious, and not just a copy of their preferences attached to a program.
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** Ambiguously, it doesn't appear that the public at large knows that [[PoweredByAForsakenChild cookies are conscious, conscious]], and not just a copy of their preferences attached to a program.
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* SmartHouse: Managed by a digital copy of the home owner's consciousness to boot.
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* SmartHouse: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Managed by a digital copy of the home owner's consciousness consciousness]] to boot.
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* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: The Cookie of Joe. As vengeance for the real Joe's crimes, a police officer leaves the console on overnight and speeds up time on it so that Cookie!Joe will live 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world, with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' playing on an endless loop in the background and the frozen dead body of Bethany's daughter visible from the cottage window. The final shot of the program is of Cookie!Joe screaming.]]
** Cookies that are driven to complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
** Cookies that are driven to complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
* AdviceBackfire: Harry's advice for Jennifer to go through with her transition plans backfires terribly.
* TheAlcoholic: Joe. He gets absolutely slammed at the karaoke night to the point that Beth and her co-worker Tim have to drag him out of the bar to keep him from getting into a fight.
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
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* TheAlcoholic: Joe. He gets absolutely slammed at the karaoke night to the point that Beth and her co-worker Tim have to drag him out of the bar to keep him from getting into a fight.
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The snow globe]] shows up as a nondescript prop in the beginning of the episode.
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* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The snow globe]] shows up as a nondescript prop in the beginning of the episode.
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he realizes he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
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* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he realizes he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
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* EurekaMoment: Near AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: The Cookie of Joe. As vengeance for the end, real Joe's crimes, a police officer leaves the console on overnight and speeds up time on it so that Cookie!Joe will live 1000 years for Joe when he realizes he can't remember how he came to be every minute that passes in the cabin, nor exactly what job he real world, with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' playing on an endless loop in the background and Matt the frozen dead body of Bethany's daughter visible from the cottage window. The final shot of the program is of Cookie!Joe screaming.]]
** Cookies that aremeant driven to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
** Cookies that are
* HollywoodRestrainingOrder: Applied in future Britain as well via GPS technology. Joe says he could not get closer than 10 meters to his ex or he would be arrested.
* TheLostLenore: Joe never got over his ex.
* NestedStoryReveal: When Matt departs from the cabin.
* SoundtrackDissonance: "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" playing over the DownerEnding.
* TantrumThrowing: When Joe's girlfriend blocks him, in his rage he picks up a vase and tosses it on the wall across the room.
* WhiteVoidRoom: Greta's cookie is doomed to live in one.
* WithCatlikeTread: On his way out to DestroyTheEvidence Matt clumsily stumbles over toys on the ground which wakes up his wife.
* WithCatlikeTread: On his way out to DestroyTheEvidence Matt clumsily stumbles over toys on the ground which wakes up his wife.
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* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Bethany cheated on Joe with Tim, having his child. Instead of telling Joe the truth, she blocks him and lives a life far away from him]].
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* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Bethany cheated on Joe with Tim, having his child. Instead of telling Joe the truth, she blocks him and lives a life far away from him]].him]].
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* ArtificialHuman[=/=]BrainUploading[=/=]CloningBlues[=/=]SlaveRace: An example that encompasses a dizzying set of tropes all by itself, is the "cookie". The cookie is a perfect copy of a person's conscious, and are "born" when [[NightmareFuel excised from what they know to be their own body]]. They are then kept in a small, egg-like device which is the central control for a smart home. They still need to adjust to the fact that they're not the original, nor do they have a body; in order to provide it with context, a cookie can be given a digital body in a digital room and an interface. While the potential applications of this technology are amazing, a cookie is used mostly to perform mundane functions of running a smart home for its real counterpart. They can be seen, heard, and spoken to with specialty hardware, but are otherwise kept isolated from their owner, and it appears that most people are oblivious to the nature of the cookies other than that they record a person's preferences. While they are naturally resistant to the sudden shift into a life of menial slavery, the cookies can be broken into complete submission by modifying their time perception, effectively plunging them into solitary confinement for days to months at a time while only seconds pass in real time, with [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the trauma of isolation]] leaves them more pliable to suggestion. Though Joe's objections that this is slavery and torture towards an intelligent being, these are brushed aside by Matt, who considers them mere software.
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* ArtificialHuman[=/=]BrainUploading[=/=]CloningBlues[=/=]SlaveRace: An example that encompasses a dizzying set of tropes all by itself, is the "cookie". "cookie" device. The cookie is a perfect digital copy of a person's conscious, mind, and are "born" when [[NightmareFuel excised from what they know to be their own body]]. They are then kept in a small, egg-like device which is the central control for a smart home. They still need to adjust to the fact that they're not the original, nor do they have a body; in order to provide it with context, a cookie can be given a digital body in a digital room and an interface. While the potential applications of this technology are amazing, a cookie is used mostly to perform mundane functions of running a smart home for its real counterpart. They can be seen, heard, and spoken to with specialty hardware, but are otherwise kept isolated from their owner, and it appears that most people the customers are oblivious to the true nature of the cookies other than that they record a person's preferences. While they are naturally resistant to the sudden shift into a life of menial slavery, the cookies can be broken into complete submission by modifying their time perception, effectively plunging them into solitary confinement for days to months at a time while only seconds pass in real time, with [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the trauma of isolation]] leaves leaving them more pliable to suggestion. Though Joe's objections While Joe objects that this is slavery and torture towards an intelligent being, these are brushed aside by Matt, who considers them [[JustAMachine mere software.software]].
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* [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession: The whole episode is an attempt by Matt to get Joe to open up and confess to the murder of his ex-girlfriend's father.]]
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* [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession: The EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler:The whole episode is an attempt by Matt to get Joe to open up and confess to the murder of his ex-girlfriend's father.]]
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* ExpendableClone[=/=]WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The person cookie is created by a copying the person's brainwaves and storing them in an egg-shaped device. As the cookie has the original's memories, a person can manually fast-forward its perception of time (leaving them alone in isolation) to force it into compliance. This is handy if [[spoiler:you want a digital operator of the house, or a confession from a murderer]]. Joe considers this to be highly unethical and the same as if you were torturing a human being.
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he realises he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he realises he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
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* ExpendableClone[=/=]WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The person cookie is created by a copying the person's brainwaves and storing them in an egg-shaped device. As the cookie has the original's memories, a person can manually fast-forward its perception of time (leaving them alone in isolation) to force it into compliance. This is handy if [[spoiler:you want a digital operator of the house, or a confession from a murderer]]. Joe considers this to be highly unethical and the same as if you were torturing a human being.
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when herealises realizes he can't remember how he came to be in the cabin, nor exactly what job he and Matt are meant to be doing there, gradually turning into an OhCrap moment.
* EurekaMoment: Near the end, for Joe when he
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* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Cookie Joe's fate, or at least the first of them anyway, is to be thrown into one. He's left "on over Christmas" listening to ''[[EarWorm I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day]]'' experiencing 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world. Even if it's just for 24 hours that's still ''1.4 million years'' watching the frozen corpse of a little girl through the window]].
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* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Cookie Joe's fate, or at least the first of them anyway, is to be thrown into one. He's left "on over Christmas" listening Christmas", forced to ''[[EarWorm I listen to "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day]]'' Day" on an infinite loop, experiencing 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world. Even if it's just for 24 hours hours, that's still ''1.4 million years'' watching the frozen corpse of a little girl through the window]].
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* TheAlcoholic: Joe. He gets absolutely slammed at the karaoke night to the point that Beth and her co-worker Tim have to drag him out of the bar to keep him from getting into a fight.
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
** There's a bit of FridgeBrilliance in this. Joe only starts talking about himself when he starts drinking. This also may justify Beth [[spoiler:keeping the fact the baby wasn't his from him. Him exploding at her when she said she wasn't going to keep it on top of his alcohol induced belligerence suggests that he wasn't going to take the news of the affair well.]]
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*** [[spoiler:And if her father hadn't burned the letters that Joe sent her without letting her see them, there might have been a chance to explain and diffuse the situation as much as possible.]]
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** [[spoiler:Cookie!Greta, who is essentially the same person who paid for the cookie's creation in the first place, is enslaved and forced to watch her real self living the lifestyle that she paid for.]]
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* MeaningfulReleaseDate: December 16 is the birthday of none other than Creator/PhilipKDick. This might be a coincidence, though.
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** There's a less ambiguous example in [[spoiler:Bethany. Her cheating on Joe with Tim, blocking Joe after getting drunk while pregnant with the child neither man knew about and keeping Joe estranged from the child he suspected was his but really wasn't left few mourning her death in a train crash.]]
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continuity references
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* ContinuityPorn: There are lots of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_%28Black_Mirror%29#Continuity 'blink and you'll miss it']] references to past episodes that confirm that yes, the whole series takes place in the same [[CrapsackWorld horrible reality.]]
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* ContinuityPorn: There are lots of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_%28Black_Mirror%29#Continuity 'blink and you'll miss it']] it' references to past episodes that confirm that yes, the whole series takes place in the same [[CrapsackWorld horrible reality.]]reality]]:
**The usernames "Pie Ape"[[note]]a derogatory term from "15 Million Merits"[[/note]] and "I_AM_WALDO"[[note]]Obviously from "The Waldo Moment"[[/note]].
**Michael Callow ("The National Anthem"), Victoria Skillane ("Whitebear") and Liam Monroe ("The Waldo Moment") are mentioned in the UKN news ticklers. By the way, [[AlphabetNewsNetwork UKN]] is once again the go-to news channel in the ''Black Mirror'' universe.
**The [[spoiler:pregnancy test]] seems to be the same brand as the one in "Be Right Back"
**Clips from "Hot Shot" (the talent show from "15 Million Merits") and the late night show from "The Waldo Moment" can be seen as Joe flips through the channels during the latter half.
**Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", the same song Abi sings in "15 Million Merits."
**The Zed-Eye is somewhat similar to the Grain, the memory recording device in "The Entire History of You." The implant and extraction of the cookie is somewhat reminiscent of the Grain as well.
**The usernames "Pie Ape"[[note]]a derogatory term from "15 Million Merits"[[/note]] and "I_AM_WALDO"[[note]]Obviously from "The Waldo Moment"[[/note]].
**Michael Callow ("The National Anthem"), Victoria Skillane ("Whitebear") and Liam Monroe ("The Waldo Moment") are mentioned in the UKN news ticklers. By the way, [[AlphabetNewsNetwork UKN]] is once again the go-to news channel in the ''Black Mirror'' universe.
**The [[spoiler:pregnancy test]] seems to be the same brand as the one in "Be Right Back"
**Clips from "Hot Shot" (the talent show from "15 Million Merits") and the late night show from "The Waldo Moment" can be seen as Joe flips through the channels during the latter half.
**Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", the same song Abi sings in "15 Million Merits."
**The Zed-Eye is somewhat similar to the Grain, the memory recording device in "The Entire History of You." The implant and extraction of the cookie is somewhat reminiscent of the Grain as well.
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* DownerEnding: Not that you were expecting anything else from ''Black Mirror'' but this one might be the most depressing ending yet!
** The real Joe is still in prison and will likely be executed and Matt is blocked by humanity meaning that he won't be able to talk to anyone until the block is lifted which is unlikely to happen whereas Cookie!Joe is stuck screaming inside a cookie console for 1000 years of every minute that passes on Earth in real time while the song "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is looped on repeat.
** The real Joe is still in prison and will likely be executed and Matt is blocked by humanity meaning that he won't be able to talk to anyone until the block is lifted which is unlikely to happen whereas Cookie!Joe is stuck screaming inside a cookie console for 1000 years of every minute that passes on Earth in real time while the song "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is looped on repeat.
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* DownerEnding: Not that you were expecting anything else from ''Black Mirror'' but this one might be the most depressing ending yet!
** The[[spoiler:The real Joe is still in prison and will likely be executed and Matt is blocked by humanity meaning that he won't be able to talk to anyone until the block is lifted which is unlikely to happen whereas Cookie!Joe is stuck screaming inside a cookie console for 1000 years of every minute that passes on Earth in real time while the song "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is looped on repeat. [[FridgeHorror It's left on overnight.]]]]
** The
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* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The snow globe]] shows up a nondescript prop the beginning of the episode.
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* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The snow globe]] shows up as a nondescript prop in the beginning of the episode.
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'''Series four:''' ''Series/BlackMirrorSeriesFour''
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**The distorted appearance of blocked individuals is reminiscent of a [[Film/AScannerDarkly scramble suit]].
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* ContinuityPorn: There are lots of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_%28Black_Mirror%29#Continuity 'blink and you'll miss it']] references to past episodes that confirm that yes, the whole series takes place in the same [[CrapsackWorld horrible reality.]]
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** The real Joe is still in prison and will likely be executed and Matt is blocked by humanity meaning that he won't be able to talk to anyone until the block is lifted which is unlikely to happen whereas Cookie!Joe is stuck screaming inside a cookie console for 1000 years of every minute that passes on Earth in real time while the song "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is looped on repeat.
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** Also, what's keeping the blocked sex offender from grabbing the nearest gray sillouete and bashing their head against the wall? The police essentially drops a grenade into a crowd in order to punish the grenade.
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* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: The Cookie of Joe. As vengeance for the real Joe's crimes, a police officer leaves the console on overnight and speeds up time on the console so that Cookie!Joe will live 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world, with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' playing on endless loop in the background and the frozen dead body of Bethany's daughter visible from the cottage window. The final shot of the programme is of Cookie!Joe screaming.]]
** Cookies that are driven to insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
** Cookies that are driven to insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
to:
* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: The Cookie of Joe. As vengeance for the real Joe's crimes, a police officer leaves the console on overnight and speeds up time on the console it so that Cookie!Joe will live 1000 years for every minute that passes in the real world, with Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday' playing on an endless loop in the background and the frozen dead body of Bethany's daughter visible from the cottage window. The final shot of the programme program is of Cookie!Joe screaming.]]
** Cookies that are driven to complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
** Cookies that are driven to complete insanity are just sold to video game companies as cannon fodder AI. Cheaper than programming a new one from scratch.
* RemovedFromThePicture: What blocking does. Not only in photographs but also in real life, where the blocked person looks like a grey featureless silhouette with garbled speech.
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** Even by dystopic standards legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrific AndIMustScream.
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** Even by dystopic standards standards, legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrific AndIMustScream.
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* StealthPun: Greta is used to ordering people around for her very specific tastes. [[spoiler:Now thanks to the procedure that made a cookie of her, she can have them provided to her quite readily. She is literally her own slave]].
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* StealthPun: Greta is used to ordering people around for her very specific tastes. [[spoiler:Now [[spoiler:Now, thanks to the procedure that made a cookie of her, she can have them provided to her quite readily. She is literally her own slave]].
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* RuleOfScary: Even by dystopic standards legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrific AndIMustScream.
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* RuleOfScary: RuleOfScary:
** Even by dystopic standards legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrificAndIMustScream.AndIMustScream.
** Leaving sex offenders to roam the world with no personal contact is very obviously a horrible idea that's virtually guaranteed to cause SanitySlippage or even death by lynching, and of course there's the logistical issues (how do you buy or rent a living space, get a job, or even buy basic necessities without talking to anyone), but the British government seems to think it's perfectly sensible and humane.
** Even by dystopic standards legalizing what amounts to parental child abduction of the worst possible kind makes no goddamn sense, but then we wouldn't have the horrific
** Leaving sex offenders to roam the world with no personal contact is very obviously a horrible idea that's virtually guaranteed to cause SanitySlippage or even death by lynching, and of course there's the logistical issues (how do you buy or rent a living space, get a job, or even buy basic necessities without talking to anyone), but the British government seems to think it's perfectly sensible and humane.
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** Even better, considering that [[ActorAllusion Matt]] is played by Creator/JonHamm.
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* CallBack: Dozens.
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* ShoutOut: Quite a few to other Black Mirror episodes.
** The brain device that allows for the copying of the cookies is similar to the video devices in ''The Entire History Of You''. Much like those, it is connected to the eyes, though the device in this episode covers more ground than just visual memory, as an entire personality homunculus can be duplicated by the way of the cookie. [[spoiler:Joe's plot is also very similar to the plot of that episode, though in ''History'', Liam is less murderous (though not for lack of trying).]]
** The idea of the cookie is not dissimilar to the technology from ''Be Right Back'', albeit on a more sophisticated level.
** Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is" in a karaoke scene, the same song that Abi sang in ''15 Million Merits''.
** A [[FreezeFrameBonus Blink And You'll Miss It]] clip of "Hot Shots" from ''15 Million Merits'' can be seen just before Joe discovers the news story about Bethany.
*** Another one is the tattoo of Skillane's fiance (''White Bear'') [[spoiler:on the small window in Joe's cell.]]
** When Joe discovers [[spoiler:That Bethany is pregnant, the baby symbol on the pregnancy test is the same one from ''Be Right Back''.]]
** One of the pick-up artists watching Harry has the username I_AM_WALDO, alluding to ''The Waldo Moment''.
*** Another's is "Pie Ape" (''15 Million Merits'').
** The news report of [[spoiler: the train crash]] is on UKN (''The National Anthem''). The ticker also contains the headlines "MP Liam Monroe claims Twitter account hacked" (''The Waldo Moment'') and "Victoria Skillane appeal bid rejected" (''White Bear''). ''Hot Shot'' from (from ''Fifteen Million Merits'') and ''Tonight for One Week Only'' (from 'The Waldo Moment'') are also seen on channels Joe flicks past before he lands on the news report.
** The first guess Joe makes as to what Matt's real job is? [[Series/MadMen Marketing director]].
** The brain device that allows for the copying of the cookies is similar to the video devices in ''The Entire History Of You''. Much like those, it is connected to the eyes, though the device in this episode covers more ground than just visual memory, as an entire personality homunculus can be duplicated by the way of the cookie. [[spoiler:Joe's plot is also very similar to the plot of that episode, though in ''History'', Liam is less murderous (though not for lack of trying).]]
** The idea of the cookie is not dissimilar to the technology from ''Be Right Back'', albeit on a more sophisticated level.
** Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is" in a karaoke scene, the same song that Abi sang in ''15 Million Merits''.
** A [[FreezeFrameBonus Blink And You'll Miss It]] clip of "Hot Shots" from ''15 Million Merits'' can be seen just before Joe discovers the news story about Bethany.
*** Another one is the tattoo of Skillane's fiance (''White Bear'') [[spoiler:on the small window in Joe's cell.]]
** When Joe discovers [[spoiler:That Bethany is pregnant, the baby symbol on the pregnancy test is the same one from ''Be Right Back''.]]
** One of the pick-up artists watching Harry has the username I_AM_WALDO, alluding to ''The Waldo Moment''.
*** Another's is "Pie Ape" (''15 Million Merits'').
** The news report of [[spoiler: the train crash]] is on UKN (''The National Anthem''). The ticker also contains the headlines "MP Liam Monroe claims Twitter account hacked" (''The Waldo Moment'') and "Victoria Skillane appeal bid rejected" (''White Bear''). ''Hot Shot'' from (from ''Fifteen Million Merits'') and ''Tonight for One Week Only'' (from 'The Waldo Moment'') are also seen on channels Joe flicks past before he lands on the news report.
** The first guess Joe makes as to what Matt's real job is? [[Series/MadMen Marketing director]].
to:
* ShoutOut: Quite a few to other Black Mirror episodes.
** The brain device that allows for the copying of the cookies is similar to the video devices in ''The Entire History Of You''. Much like those, it is connected to the eyes, though the device in this episode covers more ground than just visual memory, as an entire personality homunculus can be duplicated by the way of the cookie. [[spoiler:Joe's plot is also very similar to the plot of that episode, though in ''History'', Liam is less murderous (though not for lack of trying).]]
** The idea of the cookie is not dissimilar to the technology from ''Be Right Back'', albeit on a more sophisticated level.
** Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is" in a karaoke scene, the same song that Abi sang in ''15 Million Merits''.
** A [[FreezeFrameBonus Blink And You'll Miss It]] clip of "Hot Shots" from ''15 Million Merits'' can be seen just before Joe discovers the news story about Bethany.
*** Another one is the tattoo of Skillane's fiance (''White Bear'') [[spoiler:on the small window in Joe's cell.]]
** When Joe discovers [[spoiler:That Bethany is pregnant, the baby symbol on the pregnancy test is the same one from ''Be Right Back''.]]
** One of the pick-up artists watching Harry has the username I_AM_WALDO, alluding to ''The Waldo Moment''.
*** Another's is "Pie Ape" (''15 Million Merits'').
** The news report of [[spoiler: the train crash]] is on UKN (''The National Anthem''). The ticker also contains the headlines "MP Liam Monroe claims Twitter account hacked" (''The Waldo Moment'') and "Victoria Skillane appeal bid rejected" (''White Bear''). ''Hot Shot'' from (from ''Fifteen Million Merits'') and ''Tonight for One Week Only'' (from 'The Waldo Moment'') are also seen on channels Joe flicks past before he lands on the news report.
**The first guess Joe makes as to what Matt's real job is? [[Series/MadMen Marketing director]].director]].
** Even better, considering that [[ActorAllusion Matt]] is played by Creator/JonHamm.
** The brain device that allows for the copying of the cookies is similar to the video devices in ''The Entire History Of You''. Much like those, it is connected to the eyes, though the device in this episode covers more ground than just visual memory, as an entire personality homunculus can be duplicated by the way of the cookie. [[spoiler:Joe's plot is also very similar to the plot of that episode, though in ''History'', Liam is less murderous (though not for lack of trying).]]
** The idea of the cookie is not dissimilar to the technology from ''Be Right Back'', albeit on a more sophisticated level.
** Bethany sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is" in a karaoke scene, the same song that Abi sang in ''15 Million Merits''.
** A [[FreezeFrameBonus Blink And You'll Miss It]] clip of "Hot Shots" from ''15 Million Merits'' can be seen just before Joe discovers the news story about Bethany.
*** Another one is the tattoo of Skillane's fiance (''White Bear'') [[spoiler:on the small window in Joe's cell.]]
** When Joe discovers [[spoiler:That Bethany is pregnant, the baby symbol on the pregnancy test is the same one from ''Be Right Back''.]]
** One of the pick-up artists watching Harry has the username I_AM_WALDO, alluding to ''The Waldo Moment''.
*** Another's is "Pie Ape" (''15 Million Merits'').
** The news report of [[spoiler: the train crash]] is on UKN (''The National Anthem''). The ticker also contains the headlines "MP Liam Monroe claims Twitter account hacked" (''The Waldo Moment'') and "Victoria Skillane appeal bid rejected" (''White Bear''). ''Hot Shot'' from (from ''Fifteen Million Merits'') and ''Tonight for One Week Only'' (from 'The Waldo Moment'') are also seen on channels Joe flicks past before he lands on the news report.
**
** Even better, considering that [[ActorAllusion Matt]] is played by Creator/JonHamm.
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added an entry in shout-out
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** The idea of the cookie is not dissimimar to the technology from ''Be Right Back'', albeit on a more sophisticated level.
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** The idea of the cookie is not dissimimar dissimilar to the technology from ''Be Right Back'', albeit on a more sophisticated level.
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*** Another one is the tattoo of Skillane's fiance (''White Bear'') [[spoiler:on the small window in Joe's cell.]]
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* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Does Matt get beaten / stoned to death once the police release him?]]
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* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Does Matt get beaten / stoned beaten/stoned to death once the police release him?]]
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* ArtificialHuman / BrainUploading / CloningBlues / SlaveRace: An example that encompasses a dizzying set of tropes all by itself, is the "cookie". The cookie is a perfect copy of a person's conscious, and are "born" when [[NightmareFuel excised from what they know to be their own body]]. They are then kept in a small, egg-like device which is the central control for a smart home. They still need to adjust to the fact that they're not the original, nor do they have a body; in order to provide it with context, a cookie can be given a digital body in a digital room and an interface. While the potential applications of this technology are amazing, a cookie is used mostly to perform mundane functions of running a smart home for its real counterpart. They can be seen, heard, and spoken to with specialty hardware, but are otherwise kept isolated from their owner, and it appears that most people are oblivious to the nature of the cookies other than that they record a person's preferences. While they are naturally resistant to the sudden shift into a life of menial slavery, the cookies can be broken into complete submission by modifying their time perception, effectively plunging them into solitary confinement for days to months at a time while only seconds pass in real time, with [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the trauma of isolation]] leaves them more pliable to suggestion. Though Joe's objections that this is slavery and torture towards an intelligent being, these are brushed aside by Matt, who considers them mere software.
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* ArtificialHuman / BrainUploading / CloningBlues / SlaveRace: ArtificialHuman[=/=]BrainUploading[=/=]CloningBlues[=/=]SlaveRace: An example that encompasses a dizzying set of tropes all by itself, is the "cookie". The cookie is a perfect copy of a person's conscious, and are "born" when [[NightmareFuel excised from what they know to be their own body]]. They are then kept in a small, egg-like device which is the central control for a smart home. They still need to adjust to the fact that they're not the original, nor do they have a body; in order to provide it with context, a cookie can be given a digital body in a digital room and an interface. While the potential applications of this technology are amazing, a cookie is used mostly to perform mundane functions of running a smart home for its real counterpart. They can be seen, heard, and spoken to with specialty hardware, but are otherwise kept isolated from their owner, and it appears that most people are oblivious to the nature of the cookies other than that they record a person's preferences. While they are naturally resistant to the sudden shift into a life of menial slavery, the cookies can be broken into complete submission by modifying their time perception, effectively plunging them into solitary confinement for days to months at a time while only seconds pass in real time, with [[GoMadFromTheIsolation the trauma of isolation]] leaves them more pliable to suggestion. Though Joe's objections that this is slavery and torture towards an intelligent being, these are brushed aside by Matt, who considers them mere software.software.
* AssholeVictim: In true ''Black Mirror'' fashion, this trope is deconstructed with [[spoiler:Matt and Joe]], both of whom did terrible things, but the sheer horror of what they'll ultimately go through really makes you wonder just ''how'' deserved those punishments they receive are, removing any sense of schadenfreude.
* AssholeVictim: In true ''Black Mirror'' fashion, this trope is deconstructed with [[spoiler:Matt and Joe]], both of whom did terrible things, but the sheer horror of what they'll ultimately go through really makes you wonder just ''how'' deserved those punishments they receive are, removing any sense of schadenfreude.
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* [[spoiler: ChocolateBaby: When he finally gets to see her, Bethany's daughter's obvious East Asian features immediately reveal to Joe that he is not the father.]]
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* [[spoiler: ChocolateBaby: When [[spoiler:When he finally gets to see her, Bethany's daughter's obvious East Asian features immediately reveal to Joe that he is not the father.]]
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* [[spoiler: HearingVoices: Jennifer, the introverted brunette, had unmedicated schizophrenia. When she saw Harry talking to the people in his club via Z-Eye, she thought she had found a kindred spirit.]]
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* [[spoiler: HearingVoices: Jennifer, [[spoiler:Jennifer, the introverted brunette, had unmedicated schizophrenia. When she saw Harry talking to the people in his club via Z-Eye, she thought she had found a kindred spirit.]]
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* {{Hypocrisy}}: Not in the series itself, but it's incredibly jarring to finish watching this episode, then have the Channel 4 announcer introduce a show called "Manhunt: Closing in on a British Paedophile" over the credits. Exactly the kind of programming Black Mirror warns about, most notably in White Bear.
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* {{Hypocrisy}}: Not in the series itself, but it's incredibly jarring to finish watching this episode, then have the Channel 4 announcer introduce a show called "Manhunt: Closing in on a British Paedophile" over the credits. Exactly the kind of programming Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' warns about, most notably in White Bear."White Bear".
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* [[spoiler:SympatheticMurderer]]: [[spoiler:Joe is revealed to be one]].
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* [[spoiler:SympatheticMurderer]]: SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler:Joe is revealed to be one]].
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* [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession:]] [[spoiler:The whole episode is an attempt by Matt to get Joe to open up and confess to the murder of his ex-girlfriend's father.]]
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* [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession:]] [[spoiler:The [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession: The whole episode is an attempt by Matt to get Joe to open up and confess to the murder of his ex-girlfriend's father.]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
!!White Christmas
!!White Christmas
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!!White Christmas
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[[folder:Tropes related to ''White Christmas'']]
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!!''White Christmas'' contains examples of the following:
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* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Bethany cheated on Joe with Tim, having his child. Instead of telling Joe the truth, she blocks him and lives a life far away from him]].
[[/folder]]
[[/folder]]
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* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Bethany cheated on Joe with Tim, having his child. Instead of telling Joe the truth, she blocks him and lives a life far away from him]].
[[/folder]]him]].
[[/folder]]
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* ChristmasEpisode: Easily one of the creepiest examples of this trope in British television.
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* ChristmasEpisode: Easily one of the creepiest examples of this trope in British television.
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* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: This entire thing takes place on Christmas.
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A feature-length Christmas special; Brooker describes it as a [[Series/TheSimpsons "treehouse of horrors"]], the story consisting of three distinct but interlocking chapters. In a remote outpost in a snowy wilderness on Christmas Day, Joe Potter (Rafe Spall) and Matt Trent (Jon Hamm) sit down to a bare-basics Christmas lunch. The charismatic and relentlessly cheerful Matt is determined to get the reticent Joe to open up and talk to him, as they've barely spoken in the five years that they've been there.
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A feature-length Christmas special; Brooker describes it as a [[Series/TheSimpsons [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons "treehouse of horrors"]], the story consisting of three distinct but interlocking chapters. In a remote outpost in a snowy wilderness on Christmas Day, Joe Potter (Rafe Spall) and Matt Trent (Jon Hamm) sit down to a bare-basics Christmas lunch. The charismatic and relentlessly cheerful Matt is determined to get the reticent Joe to open up and talk to him, as they've barely spoken in the five years that they've been there.
