History Recap / BlackMirrorBeyondTheSea

* TooDumbToLive: Cliff, who's just made a bitter enemy of the untrustworthy and unstable David, takes no precautions to protect his person in the dream machine and puts himself at David's mercy in ''the vacuum of space''. His faith is arguably justified, as one of their deaths would doom the other -- indeed, ''Cliff'' survives -- but his family pay for it.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: David starts out as a innocent figure who lost his family in a tragic massacre and grows into a more morally ambiguous but still sympathetic person as his feelings for Cliff's wife and life in general stem from the tragic loss of his own family's death. It explodes into [[FaceHeelTurn'''full blown psychopathy''']] as he kills everyone in Cliff's family after being refused a chance to see his wife one last time.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: David starts out as a innocent figure who lost his family in a tragic massacre and grows into a more morally ambiguous but still sympathetic person as his feelings for Cliff's wife and life in general stem from the tragic loss of his own family's death. It explodes into full blown psychopathy as he kills everyone in Cliff's family after being refused a chance to see his wife one last time.

* HopeSpot: Just as Lana appears to be reciprocating David's feelings, she tells him to back off and reminds him that she only loves her husband and is attracted to David because she sees her husband in him. Cliff eventually returns home after learning of David's attraction to Lana, and they have a confrontation that ends with the couple making amends with each other, suggesting that things will become better for them. The episode ends with David murdering Cliff's family after Cliff coldly reminds him that Lana is his and his alone.

* TooHappyToLive: David's affectionate and adoring wife and kids get the chop to start the episode's dramatic arc.

* AlternateTechline: Despite taking place in the late 60s and having some very advanced technology that doesn't exist even in the 2020s (like convincing androids or BrainUpload), the rest of the technology seen is pretty standard for the time, such as in the cinema seen when David and his family go to the movies or the printed newspapers.

* ActingForTwo: (Creator/AaronPaul) technically plays both Cliff and David (inhabiting Cliff’s body).

In 1969, two astronauts -- David (Creator/JoshHartnett) and Cliff (Creator/AaronPaul) -- on a years-long space mission can project their respective consciousnesses onto lifelike robotic replicas on Earth. To keep David from falling into despair after tragedy strikes his beloved family, Cliff and his lonely wife Lana (Creator/KateMara) agree to let David use Cliff's robotic body for an hour every week. This goes badly.

* EvilLuddite: The hippies who invade David's home, in special the ringleader, are all this - they see his robot body and the technology behind it as an anomaly and offense to the "natural order" and see on that enough reason to kill him. They go as far as murdering the rest of his family, [[WouldHurtAChild including his children]] in the process for trying to "pretend they're a normal family" and having a relationship with a "metal man".

* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Civilians interacting with the robotic replicas of Cliff and David comment on how lifelike the bodies are. They are obviously robotic beneath the skin.

->''"A man sleeps in the sky while his mechanical image walks the earth.[...] Defying nature must come at a cost or what will become of us all?"''
-->-- '''Kappa'''

In 1969, two astronauts -- David (Creator/JoshHartnett) and Cliff (Creator/AaronPaul) -- on a years-long space mission can project their respective consciousnesses onto lifelike robotic replicas on Earth. To keep David from falling into despair after tragedy strikes his beloved family, Cliff and his wife Lana (Creator/KateMara) agree to let David use Cliff's robotic body. This goes badly.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The way the hipsters expressed disgust towards David's wife having a relationship with a "metal man" and justifying their nurderers of her and his children for living "unnaturally" have some creepy pararels to real-life racial supremacists, specially white nationalists, who deem those in interracial relationships as "race traitors".
* DownerEnding: The episode ends with David in Cliff's replicant body killing Cliff's family. The two men end up in their normal bodies back up space loathing each other, but with no recourse in the vastness of space. The episode ends there, leaving it open to interpretation what they do next.

* IntimateArtistry: David befriends and becomes attracted to Cliff's wife Lana while in Cliff's body (it's complicated) until Cliff realizes that David is making art of Lana.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: David starts out as a innocent figure who lost his family in a tragic massacre and grows into a more morally ambiguous but still sympathetic person as his feelings for Cliff's wife and life in general steen from the tragic loss of his own family's death, but explodes into full blown psychopathy as he kills everyone in Cliff's family after being refused a chance to see his wife one last time.
* TitledAfterTheSong: "Beyond the Sea" takes its title from Music/BobbyDarin's "Beyond the Sea" -- the original French version, "La Mer", plays in the opening scene while David fingers his wife.

In 1969, two astronauts -- David (Creator/JoshHartnett) and Cliff (Creator/AaronPaul) -- on a years-long space mission can project their respective consciousnesses onto lifelike robotic replicas on Earth. To keep David from falling into despair after tragedy strikes his beloved family, Cliff starts letting his coworker use his robotic body, and the latter inevitably befriends Cliff's wife Lana (Creator/KateMara). This goes badly.

->''"A man sleeps in the sky while his mechanical image walks the earth. Defying nature must come at a cost or what will become of us all?"''

In 1969, two astronauts -- David (Creator/JoshHartnett) and Cliff (Creator/AaronPaul) -- on a years-long space mission can project their respective consciousnesses onto lifelike "telereplicas" on Earth. To keep David from falling into despair after tragedy strikes his beloved family, Cliff starts letting his coworker use his telereplica, and the latter inevitably befriends Cliff's wife Lana (Creator/KateMara). This goes badly.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: The deaths of David's happy Californian family to a bunch of hippie cultists is an obvious parallel to the Manson family murders. Creator/RoryCulkin plays the ringleader, an analog to Charles Manson.

In 1969, two astronauts -- David (Creator/JoshHartnett) and Cliff (Creator/AaronPaul) -- on a years-long space mission can project their respective consciousnesses onto lifelike "telereplicas" on Earth. To keep David from falling into despair after tragedy strikes his beloved family, Cliff starts letting his coworker use his telereplica, and the latter inevitably befriends Cliff's wife Lana (Creator/KateMara).

* AlphabetThemeNaming: The home invaders: Kappa, Sigma, Theta and Epsilon.