History Recap / BlackMirrorSanJunipero

** The {{Hugo|Award}}-nominated episode plays with the BuryYourGays trope like a cat with yarn, with this likely being one of the [[BreatherEpisode episode]]'s [[{{Anvilicious}} social commentaries]] given that it's LighterAndSofter than the rest of the series. It takes the dream beach from ''Film/TheZeroTheorem'', and allows people to infinitely upload their minds there during death, letting wives Kelly and Yorkie have the life together after passing that they can't whilst alive.

** Several songs used in the soundtrack -- notably "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle, "Fake" by Alexander O'Neal, "Living in a Box" by Living in a Box and "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths -- hint at the nature of San Junipero before it's revealed. Brooker went on record saying that the latter song by the Smiths cost an exorbitent amount of money, but was a crucial addition to the soundtrack.

* ArtificialAfterlife: What San Junipero truly is. Living people who are facing terminal illness or upcoming death, such as Kelly and Yorkie, can have access to it for limited periods of time, (hence why they're called "tourists" in the slang of the community) and then make an informed decision about whether they will opt for BrainUploading in their wills, or to simply pass on naturally. The concept is explored in depth: a virtual afterlife can offer reprieve to somebody who believes in TheNothingAfterDeath (Kelly) and it can give someone who is quadriplegic or comatose for most of their life a "second chance" to live out their youths and have a good time (Yorkie).

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: The right way to say Junipero can vary throughout California and Spanish speaking countries. The way it's pronounced in the episode is not any kind of correct though. The alternate pronunciation meant that when the episode name was part of a starter question on ''Series/UniversityChallenge'', the host Jeremy Paxman, who hadn't seen the episode, pronounced "Junipero" correctly instead of the way the episode does, confusing a contestant.

-->'''Kelly''': Let's just call it dying.

* CessationOfExistence: Kelly believes this happens when you die. That's why she was reluctant to upload her mind at first, since she'd never see her husband and daughter again (also why he didn't want to upload). However, eventually she chooses to anyway since she's found new love.

** Near the beginning, Yorkie gets visibly uncomfortable when she sees a car crash in a video game (because she got in a car accident before entering an Junipero). In the end, she is seen driving a sports car, happily and confidently.

** After Kelly has had enough of Wes's advances, she encourages him to go after one of the locals. He says no, saying "they're like corpses". Turns out he was being semi-literal, as the "locals" are people who died and decided to stay in San Junipero.

* RingAroundTheCloseUp: A variation happens when Yorkie stands still while Kelly and the other Quagmire residents dance.

!!Tropes related to ''San Junipero''

* FakingAnotherPersonsIllness: Kelly tries to lose Wes, who is stalking her, by telling him that Yorkie is terminally ill. Later, it turns out that it's in virtual reality and Yorkie is in fact the avatar for a comatose old lady.

** The club where Kelly and Yorkie meet is called "Tucker's". At the end we see a facility named TCKR Systems, where the data comprising the minds of all the people who decided to "pass over" are stored.

* {{Gayngst}}: There's hints of it with Yorkie's backstory and her continued insecurity with her sexuality in San Junipero, but ultimately the episode ends as a completely triumphant [[AvertedTrope aversion]] of this trope. Kelly and Yorkie end up together, happily married, in San Junipero quite literally forever.

* InUniverseSoundtrack: The episode features a soundtrack of 80's music (and some 90's and 00's) played at the nightclub in which most of the episode is set.

* OneHeadTaller At 5'10", Yorkie is a full six inches (or half of a foot!) taller than Kelly (who stands at a mere 5'4").

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Craig, the nurse, said that Yorkie was quadriplegic. But, with quadriplegia, she probably would still be able to talk and move her head. Yorkie's condition looks more like locked-in syndrome. Whilst she may be quadriplegic ''as well'', you think he'd name what makes her truly unresponsive.

** Likewise Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" over the end credits; San Junipero is designed to be exactly this.

''[[DoubleMeaning We'll make heaven a place on Earth."]]''

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: The right way to say Junipero can vary throughout California and Spanish speaking countries. The way it's pronounced in the episode is not any kind of correct though.

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: The right way to say Junipero can vary throughout California and Spanish speaking countries. The way it's pronounced in the episode is not any kind of correct though. The alternate pronunciation meant that when the episode name was part of a starter question on ''Series/UniversityChallenge'', the host Jeremy Paxman, who hadn't seen the episode, pronounced "Junipero" correctly instead of the way the episode does, confusing a contestant.

* ArtificialAfterlife: What San Junipero truly is. Living people who are facing terminal illness or upcoming death, such as Kelly and Yorkie, can have access to it for limited periods of time, (hence why they're called "tourists" in the slang of the community) and then make an informed decision about whether they will opt for BrainUploading in their wills, or to simply pass on naturally.

** Several songs used in the soundtrack -- notably "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle, "Fake" by Alexander O'Neal and "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths -- hint at the nature of San Junipero before it's revealed. Brooker went on record saying that the latter song by the Smiths cost an exorbitent amount of money, but was a crucial addition to the soundtrack.

** Yorkie's second Saturday starts to the sound of ''Girlfriend in a Coma'' by Music/TheSmiths.
** Likewise Belinda Carlisle's ''Heaven Is a Place on Earth'' over the end credits; San Junipero is designed to be exactly this.

** One of the people Kelly talks to at Tucker's is fit young man in his early 20's talking about his arthritis and knee replacement.

* BuryYourDisabled: Despite all the ways in which the BuryYourGays trope gets messed around with (see below), Type 4 of this trope gets absolutely played straight. [[https://kaylarosenzines.com/2016/12/06/black-mirrors-san-junipero-is-an-ableist-dystopia-in-disguise/ We're meant to see our characters dying as an unambiguously good and happy thing, because being together and in San Junipero is presented as being infinitely better than them living their real lives.]] The UnfortunateImplication of this trope seemed to get lost on some fans however, who boast about how "unambiguously happy" the ending is.

* FakingANotherPersonsIllness: Kelly tries to lose Wes, who is stalking her, by telling him that Yorkie is terminally ill. Later, it turns out that it's in virtual reality and Yorkie is in fact the avatar for a comatose old lady.

** Likewise, there are subtle hints throughout the first half that this isn't actually taking place in TheEighties. The most blatant example is probably when Kelly assures Yorkie that society has progressed enough that homophobia isn't really an issue anymore, something that was definitely ''not'' the case in Reagan-era America.

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: The right way to say Junipero can vary throughout California and Spanish speaking countries. The way it's pronounced in the episode is not any kind of correct though.