History Recap / BlackMirrorFifteenMillionMerits

* AnAesop: Several.
** Our current state of affairs is soul-destroying -- of doing pointless work to buy pointless items and with the carrot of celebrity dangled as the only way out.
** People will subject themselves to ever-greater indignities to escape this prison, but in reality, they will find that their vision of success is just another prison.
** Real talent and real spirit is being filtered out in favour of homogenous slop, as helped along by the former.
** Creator/SimonCowell [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking is a prick.]]

* ScreensAreCameras: With a very similar technology to Microsoft's UsefulNotes/{{Kinect}} in use.

* DespairEventHorizon: While he's not loud about it, Bing ultimately crosses this after his speech. He comes to the realization that despite making a stand, yelling at the ''Hot Shot' judges, ''and'' impressing the crowd...he ultimately did nothing more to them than impress the crowd. It's at that moment that he realizes that nothing is really ever going to change, the system will not be broken by one person, and all he did, as far he can see, was put on a good show. So, after this, he surrenders and becomes part of the very entertainment he hates.

* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: In-Universe with Abi (and, presumably, the other girls in [=WraithBabes=]), who are recruited into porn after taking drugs that makes them sugestible.

* HopeShot: Just as it appears that the audience and Hot Shot judges are paying attention to and ruminating on Bing's speech about how bad their society is... Judge Hope and the audience applaud, revealing that they simply see it as another form of entertainment and not something they plan on taking seriously.

** During the scene where Bing tries to persuade Abi to audition for Hot Shot, Abi demonstrates that she is easily worn down if the person asking of her is persistent enough, foreshadowing her willingness to be goaded into becoming a Wraith Babes porn actress despite it being something she clearly didn't want to do.

* AdvertOverloadedFuture: Adverts aren't just omnipresent - viewers are ''forced'' to look at them, and fined for skipping them. Skipping more "important" ads, such as Wraith Babes, costs 10,000 merits.

* CrapsackWorldEscapistSanctuary: The people are kept distracted from the drudgery of their horrible lives by a [[BreadAndCircuses constant steam of reality TV, porn, and video games]], projected on every wall of their cells to give the illusion of reality; the only way they can express themselves is by buying accessories for their in-game avatars, as they aren't allowed physical possessions. The episode ends with Bing accidentally achieving stardom and being upgraded to a much bigger cell, with access to organic food and drink, huge digital "windows" to the outside world, and even physical possessions... but [[GildedCage it's still essentially a prison]], something that Bing is painfully aware of.

** Bing's new home might be more spacious and fancy, but it is still just a larger version of the plasma-screen cage he used to live in in. And as we leave him gazing upon the simulated forest we can see he'd rather be free to explore a real one.

** Bing snaps after Abi is pushed into becoming a Wraith Babes porn star, and decides to rebel against the system. However, like the Hot Shot judges, he hadn't really given her a choice either, because the reason she was put into that situation in the first place was because he wouldn't take "No" for an answer when trying to persuade her to audition, despite it clearly not being something she was comfortable with.

* JerkJock: Dustin liked ''Botherguts''... and when he's not busy laughing at fat people he can be found abusing the cleaners and leering at violent porn.

* OnlySaneMan: Bing is seemingly the only person to call the judges out on their system.

* StepfordSmiler: Judge Charity is hinted as being this. She looks visibly annoyed when Judge Wraith makes obnoxious sexual remarks at Abi, and also looks uncomfortable when Judge Hope assesses Abi's sexual value, but ends up playing along nonetheless.

* MeaningfulName: For the Hot Shot judges, at least in regard to Judge Hope and Judge Charity. Judge Hope gives people who audition hope because he is one of the only people who can help them get out of their predicament, whereas Judge Charity is the most charitable Judge on the panel and appears to be the least comfortable with how things are done on her show.

* StepfordSmiler: Judge Charity is hinted as being this. Despite playing along, some of her actions and expressions seem to indicate that she is physically uncomfortable with what happens on her show.

* {{Hypocrite}}: By the end, Bing has become a part of the system he rails against.

* AmbiguousSituation: The outside world is unseen, leaving it ambiguous where everyone is, whether it be in space, underground, or in an arcology of some sort. It's also unclear why people need to be used to cycle up power, when it's demonstrated that they have access to enough power and facilities necessary to keep a society running[[note]]People have access to food, which means they have access to either farms or some other food making facilities. Using people to power food production, which in turn "powers" the people is hugely inefficient and would collapse on itself quickly. And that's before factoring the power necessary for basic infrastructure (e.g. keeping the lights on). It's possible people are just "augmenting" power generation.[[/note]]. It's entirely possible that people are just given jobs to keep them or their fellow citizens occupied or used to maintain the giant machine their society has become, or that their society is just coasting on momentum.

* AdvertOverloadedFuture: Adverts aren't just omnipresent - viewers are ''forced'' to look at them, and fined for skipping them.

* GildedCage: Bing's new home might be more spacious and fancy, but it is still just a larger version of the plasma-screen cage he used to live in in. And as we leave him gazing upon the simulated forest we can see he'd rather be free to explore a real one.

* AmbiguousSituation: The outside world is unseen, leaving it ambiguous where everyone is, whether it be in space, underground, or in an arcology of some sort. It's also unclear why people need to be used to cycle up power, when it's demonstrated that they have access to enough power and facilities necessary to keep a society running[[note]]People have access to food, which means they have access to either farms or some other food making facilities. Using people to power food production, which in turn "powers" the people is hugely inefficient and would collapse on itself quickly. And that's before factoring the power necessary for basic infrastructure (e.g. keeping the lights on). It's possible people are just "augmenting" power generation.[[/note]]. It's entirely possible that people are just given jobs to keep them or their fellow citizens occupied or used to maintain the giant machine their society has become. It's entirely possible their society is just coasting on momentum.

The only distraction in a {{Dystopian}} life of endless physical toil is a series of tedious games and TV talent shows on every screen, which people can enter at the cost of work tokens, the so-called "merits". This is not really of much concern to the citizen, Bing Madsen, however. Bing has inherited a lot of merits from his deceased brother, which he mostly uses to pay the fines for skipping the mandatory adverts he and the other citizens are frequently bombarded with. That is until he overhears Abi, a fellow worker, singing to herself in the employee bathrooms. Finding her voice absolutely beautiful, Bing thinks she might have what it takes to have a chance in the talent show ''Hot Shots''...

* AnAesop: Several. Chiefly that our current state of affairs is soul-destroying -- of doing pointless work to buy pointless items and with the carrot of celebrity dangled as the only way out. That people will subject themselves to ever greater indignities to escape this prison, but that in reality find that it's just another prison. That real talent and real spirit is being filtered out in favour of homogenous slop, as helped along by the former. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And that Simon Cowell is a prick.]]

** The show is a satire of ''Series/TheXFactor''... and it's co-written by Konnie Huq, former presenter of "The Xtra Factor" spinoff show (she's also Charlie Brooker's wife).
** Produced by a subsidiary of Endemol, the producers of ''Series/BigBrother''.

* BreadAndCircuses: Food provided, at a price. Shelter given, but with a catch. Entertainment and hope supplied, to keep you content. Seeing as we never see who is in charge though, we're not really sure what is really going on.

* BreatherEpisode: It's downplayed, but the first three-quarters of the episode are ''significantly lighter'' than standard Black Mirror procedure.
* CapitalismIsBad: This future Britain is a vacuous dystopia where people do pointless work to buy pointless things and the only thing stopping everyone from going mad is the carrot of celebrity status. People degrade themselves to try and get famous but they find they just replaced one prison for another, incrementally better once they succeed.
* CausticCritic: Hope plays into the nasty Simon Cowell-y archetype more than the others.
* ChekhovsGun: The empty Cuppliance carton which Bing hangs onto after Abi's audition, as well as a shard of the screen he breaks while desperately trying to tune out Abi's porn video.

* DespairEventHorizon: While he's not loud about it; Bing ultimately crosses this after his awesome speech. He comes to the realization that despite making a stand and yelling at the Hot Shot judges AND impressing the crowd...he ultimately did nothing more to them than impress the crowd. It's at that pivotal scene while they applaud that he realizes that nothing is really ever going to change. The system will not be broken by one person, and all he did, as far he can see...was put on a good show. So, after this, he surrenders and becomes part of the very entertainment he hates.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Oh Bing, you should have just let Abi stay on her bicycle.

* DramaQueen: The unnamed Scottish woman who Bing meets while he's waiting to audition. She goes absolutely ''ballistic'' after being rejected from the show. Later in the end, when she does finally enter the show, she sings very badly and off-key to "I Have a Dream" and the judges reject her, making her angry.

* {{Hypocrite}}:
** By the end, Bing has become a part of the system he rails against.
** Dustin's cruel jokes at the expense of the Lemons. They're not ''that'' much more overweight than him.

* ShowWithinAShow: ''Hot Shot'', among others.

** Bing is trying to talk with Abi but is interrupted a couple of times by the ads for the porn program "Wraith Babes". It seems a funny RunningGag at the beginning, but it's '''really not'''.

* SignatureSong: Irma Thomas' "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)". It's sung by Abi in this episode, and then is later featured in "White Christmas", "Nosedive", "Men Against Fire", and "Crocodile".

* EverythingIsBetterWithPenguins: Abi makes origami penguins out of food wrappers, which serve as a HopeSpot through the episode. See AnimalMotif above.

** Bing simplys replies that "[he's] an entertainer" when asked what he is on ''Hot Shots'', and that he wants to give a "sort of performance" when what he actually plans to do is verbally rip apart the system that took away the one person he fell in love with, and exploited her. He later continues his critiques of that system...for entertainment - whatever truth there is to his rants is undercut by him basically engaging in a performance as parrt of a weekly program.

* TheMeanBrit: While ''all'' the judges on ''Hot Shots'' are British, seeing as, well, it's set in Britain, Hope plays into the nasty Simon Cowell-y archetype more than the others.

* UpToEleven: ''Series/TheXFactor'' parody takes the judges' nasty comments in this direction:
-->'''Judge Hope:''' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech That was achingly terrible. You don't just sing badly, you molest the music in a manner I find personally offensive. You have the magnetism of a towel and an inherent allergy to anything approaching even basic talent. Awful. I don't even want to look at you.]]\\
'''Judge Charity:''' [[NoSympathy Have to agree: sorry, love, but you came across as fundamentally unlikeable and quite worthless really.]]\\
'''Judge Wraith:''' [[KickTheDog Does nothing for me. Fill that pussy with honey and I still wouldn't fuck it.]]

** Bing simplys replies that "[he's] an entertainer" when asked what he is on ''Hot Shots'', and that he wants to give a "sort of performance" when what he actually plans to do is verbally rip apart the system that took away the on person he fell in love with, and exploited her. He later continues his critiques of that system...for entertainment - whatever truth there is to his rants is undercut by him basically engaging in a performance as parrt of a weekly program.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Dustin's giggles as he plays the crude, overtly-fatphobic game ''Botherguts''. Averted whenhe's shown to actively support the sexual exploitation of Abi, on live television nonetheless.

* DramaQueen: The unnamed Scottish woman who Bing meets while he's waiting to audition. She goes absolutely ''ballistic'' after being rejected from the show.

The only distraction in a {{Dystopian}} life of endless physical toil is a series of tedious games and TV talent shows on every screen, which people can enter at the cost of work tokens. To add some TakeThat juice to the proceedings, this episode's premiere screening was [[MeaningfulReleaseDate deliberately scheduled]] to begin on Creator/Channel4 immediately after the 2011 final of ''Series/TheXFactor'' had ended over on [[Creator/{{ITV}} ITV1]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqTyZoupc1w Trailer here.]]