Black Mirror S5 E3 - Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too
I consider the Black Mirror series in general to be the modern successor to The Twilight Zone. It succeeds at capturing the dark wonder and bizarre venture into the unknown that the legendary series is known for where all other attempts by would-be successors have failed. And I am a huge fan of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, so I set pretty lofty standards for an imitator series to meet before I start making comparisons. While it may have seemed like it was depicting near future science fiction at the time, The Twilight Zone dealt with many concepts that were so far ahead into the future that many of them still have yet to be realized. Black Mirror, however, cleverly portrays modern technological developments as they relate to our current societal politics in ways that are so unnervingly close to current events it's often terrifying. The only aspect of the series that puts me off is its over reliance on brain scanning technology to copy and digitize memories and personality that is so well beyond our current technology it borders on being indistinguishable from magic and thus can have the effect of undermining the impact that the concept the series' episode is exploring has on our present day situation.
The season 5 episode Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too is a bit hit and miss. It is ultimately enjoyable, even highly amusing at times. I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit and I loved it, but the satisfying humor also cheapens the seriousness of the concept being explored. While the series' characteristic dark tone is present, the upbeat juvenile humor detracts from it. Comedy is fine in dark subject matter, with dark comedy being the natural fit for a dark tone. But here the quirky humor and the dark theme of the episode don't play well together. In the end the episode goes off the rails and ends like your stock standard teen melodrama. While dark, most Black Mirror episodes end on a high note, with the protagonists vindicated and the villain suffering some manner of suitably karmic fate. But this one just seems like a sloppy rush job towards your standard up beat feels good not-another-teen-movie conclusion.
Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too follows two sisters, Rachel and Jack, both your standard depressed socially ostracized teens with self esteem issues. Jack is your quintessential goth and Rachel is your standard issue shy introvert. Ashley, played by Miley Cyrus, is pop star Ashley-O, stuck in the nightmare of popular stardom and an abusively controlling aunt who uses her as a disposable cash cow. Already the episode is making commentary on our modern day commercially manufactured celebrity and using one of our modern day commercially manufactured celebrities to do it. For her part, Miley is actually a really good actor. I think she missed her calling. Say what you want about her music, watching this episode made me want to see her in more movies.
But the episode falls far short of really giving the modern practice of milking celebrity cash cows the full grilling it deserves. Into the the mix is thrown Ashley Too, a little AI companion doll that resembles what would happen if Apple decided to sell their own take on the Furby concept. Ashley Too is a fully interactive intelligence set to mimic the "real" Ashey's behavior and mannerisms, and soon socially ostracized little Rachel is falling in love with her new friend and becoming increasingly at odds with her sister over it. Here we have all the makings of the typical "evil manipulative doll" story concept that Twilight Zone popularized way back when. And then it is suddenly and abruptly dropped.
Another concept the episode flirts with that is abruptly dropped is the dark twist on the classic "trading places" treatment. At first, it appears as though Ashley Too is grooming the impressionable Rachel to take Ashley-O's place as beleaguered pop star slave. Sadly, this concept never comes to pass, even though shades of it exist in the episode and even more overtly in the trailers and marketing. One has to wonder if perhaps this is where the writers intended to take it, but if it was decided to go another way so as to avoid mass market consumer product Miley Cyrus' image from being attached to anything too "dark." At least that episode of CSI had the balls to waste Justin Bieber in a shoot out.
By far the most enjoyable thing about the episode is the Ashley Too doll. No joke, I want one and I want it NOW. Looking at it I actually kept wondering how much of this thing is real and how much of it is CGI. It is a testament to the ingenuity of special effects when you can't tell the difference. Unfortunately, despite the episode's watered down attempts to throw shade on the rampant commercialization of products such as Ashley Too, it remains just that - yet another gimmicky technological novelty that despite its seemingly advanced nature ends up being nothing more than a cheap toy.
So the episode comes off feeling exactly like that which it appears to be taking a long hard critically deconstructive look at - a cynical cash grab utilizing cheap gimmicks and leeching off the popularity of a mass market personality to sell interest.