San Junipero

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Episode of the Black Mirror series
title San Junipero
Original title San Junipero
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Production
company		 House of Tomorrow
length 61 minutes
classification Season 3, episode 4
11th episode in total ( list )
Initial release October 21, 2016 on Netflix

First publication in German		 October 21, 2016 on Netflix
Rod
Director Owen Harris
script Charlie Brooker
production Laurie Borg
music Clint Mansell
camera Gustav Danielsson
cut Nicolas Chaudeurge
occupation
synchronization

San Junipero is the fourth episode of the third season and thus the eleventh episode of the British science fiction television series Black Mirror . The episode is about two young, contradicting women named Kelly and Yorkie who meet in the coastal town of San Junipero in 1987 and start a relationship. As the episode progresses, it turns out that San Junipero is a simulation where the elderly live after their death and which they can visit for five hours a week before they die.

Due to the performance of the two leading actresses Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis as well as the positive tone and the twist in the plot, the episode was widely praised by critics, and the episode itself and its screenwriter Charlie Brooker won two Emmys .

action

In 1987 , Yorkie, an introverted young woman, enters a nightclub in the California city ​​of San Junipero. She is approached by the spirited Kelly, who really only wants to get rid of Wes, with whom she recently had a one-night stand and who she wants to see again. Kelly and Yorkie start talking and dancing together, but Yorkie feels increasingly uncomfortable and leaves the club. Kelly follows her and tries to seduce her, Yorkie refuses on the grounds that she is already engaged to a man named Greg. A week later, Yorkie goes back to the nightclub and meets Kelly in the bathroom . The two drive to Kelly's beach house and sleep together. Yorkie reveals she has slept with someone for the first time. Kelly tells her that she used to be married to a man.

The following week, Yorkie goes back to the club and looks for Kelly, but doesn't find her. She meets Wes, who advises her to go to another time. Yorkie then travels to 2002 and finds Kelly, who initially doesn't want to know anything about her. As Yorkie is about to leave, Kelly stops her. She is about to die and didn't want to develop any feelings for Yorkie because of that. The two have sex again, and Yorkie shares their true location with Kelly so they can meet in reality .

It turns out that San Junipero doesn't really exist, it is just a Simulated Reality . The deceased can live in the simulation after their death by “uploading” their consciousness to the cloud , older people have the opportunity to visit them for a few hours a week. Those affected take on their young form again. In the present, in the year 2040, the old and cancer-stricken Kelly visits the health center where Yorkie lies. She learns from nurse Greg that after her parents reacted very negatively to her coming out , Yorkie deliberately caused a car accident at the age of 21 and has been paraplegic ever since . Yorkie wants to apply for euthanasia so she can live in San Junipero forever. Since her family refuses to approve this, Yorkie considers marrying Greg so that he can enable her to euthanize as a husband. Kelly then visits San Junipero again and makes Yorkie a marriage proposal , which she accepts enthusiastically. By marrying, Kelly becomes Yorkie's guardian and authorizes her euthanasia.

When Kelly's next visit, the now dead Yorkie asks her to come to San Junipero as well. Kelly refuses, she does not believe in life after death , but she does not want to live in the simulation either, as neither her husband Richard, with whom she was married for 49 years, nor her daughter Alison, who died at 39, are there are located. It comes to an argument with Yorkie, during which she is slapped by Kelly . Furious, Kelly gets into her car and intentionally creates an accident, when Yorkie rushes over to her, Kelly disappears because her visiting hours are over.

After a while Kelly decides to live in San Junipero. In the real world, she dies on euthanasia and is buried next to her husband and daughter. In the simulation she is united with Yorkie, the two drive happily towards sunset.

In the credits you can see the server room of the company TCKR Systems , in which the minds of the residents of San Junipero are managed by robots .

production

Emergence

San Junipero was the first episode written for season three. Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror and screenwriter of the episode, wanted to change the tone of the series and write an episode that shows the positive aspects of modern technology, as until then practically all episodes of the series were extremely critical of technology. The first thing that should be done is a novel method that makes it possible to verify the existence of an afterlife. Brooker rejected this idea and was inspired by so-called nostalgia therapy, which helps older people suppress feelings such as loneliness or sadness. Brooker had considered playing an episode in the past several times, San Junipero eventually became that episode.

With San Junipero , Brooker wanted to make it clear that Black Mirror can also have positive episodes.

The first draft of the script focused on a heterosexual couple. Brooker changed this because same-sex marriage did not exist in 1987 and he wanted to give the episode a bigger meaning, as this change deepened the subtext on "second chances and the resurgence of one's own life". Brooker also opted for the United States and not the usual Great Britain as the location in order to turn the already existing understanding of Black Mirror viewers "on its head". Actually, like most of the episodes of the series, the episode should have a rather dreary ending and end with the scene described above in which the two main characters meet in the hospital. According to Brooker, he enjoyed writing the episode so much that he decided to write more scenes, including Kelly and Yorkie in different eras towards the end, but this was not implemented. In addition, Kelly was supposed to attend a kindergarten in a scene in San Junipero , this idea was deleted because, according to Brooker, a sequence in which deceased children appear was too "sad and moving" for the episode and therefore inappropriate. When asked by a Reddit user whether Kelly herself was just a simulation, Brooker replied that everything that seems to happen in San Junipero is actually happening, the two characters are together and have the happiest ending imaginable. In August 2017, Charlie Brooker announced in an interview that there would be no sequel to the series because he wanted to let Kelly and Yorkie "live happily on" in San Junipero. However, there could be a sequel in another form, for example as a graphic novel .

Cultural references and music

Brooker chose 1987 as the year of the story “by chance”, but paid attention to authenticity, for example a movie poster for the horror film The Lost Boys , which was made that same year, can be seen in one scene . In addition, several arcade games typical of the 1980s can be seen in the nightclub , including Bubble Bobble , as Brooker liked to play them in his youth and used to work as a video game journalist.

While jogging , Brooker first heard the song Heaven Is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle , which was released in 1987. Brooker believed it would fit in very well with the final scene, and admitted in an interview that he would have been "completely broken up" if the show's producers had not received the rights to the song. In addition to Heaven Is a Place on Earth , other songs from the same year can be heard, including Girlfriend in a Coma by The Smiths and C'est la Vie by Robbie Nevil . The latter was suggested by episode director Owen Harris as it is one of his favorite songs. Heaven Is a Place on Earth and Girlfriend in a Coma are also references to the turn of the episode, as San Junipero is like "heaven on earth", and one of the two main female characters is in a coma- like state. The rest of the music for the episode was composed by British film composer Clint Mansell .

Gugu Mbatha-Raw in 2013

Cast and locations

Owen Harris , the director of the episode, already directed the filming of another episode of the series entitled Be Right Back (German name revenant). The first episode of season two bears strong resemblances to San Junipero , according to Harris , as both episodes focus on relationships. British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw was hired for Kelly's part , and Canadian actress Mackenzie Davis took on the role of Yorkie.

According to Mbatha-Raw, the episode was shot on 14 days within a period of three weeks, mostly in the evening or at night. In addition, what is usually unusual in filming, there was hardly any time to practice and no reading samples . The beach scenes were shot in Cape Town , the rest in London . Owen Harris said that there are “very grand, beautiful” places in Cape Town that allowed him to create a “slightly elevated” version of California. Although there were difficulties during the shooting of a scene because the waves were very strong, the result was a “really nice texture”.

Allusions

Mackenzie Davis in 2015

In USS Callister , the first episode of the fourth season of Black Mirror , a small device can be seen that is used to log into the VR game Infinity . It is called TCKR , the development company of San Junipero, which suggests that both simulations are generated using the same software. Further references to San Junipero can be found in Black Museum , the final episode of the fourth season. The clothes of the two main characters are exhibited in said museum, as well as a hospital called Saint Juniper’s and again the TCKR company . Stefan Butler, the protagonist of the interactive film Bandersnatch , visits this clinic, and he also works for the game developer Tuckersoft , which also alludes to TCKR and thus San Junipero .

On May 18, 2017, Netflix posted a two-minute clip on YouTube . In it, Taystee ( Danielle Brooks ), a character from the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black ( OITNB ), meets Poussey ( Samira Wiley ), who died in the fourth season of OITNB , in a nightclub from San Junipero . When they meet, they wear the same clothes as Kelly and Yorkie, Taystee and Poussey have the same hairstyles as the two main characters in the episode, and Heaven Is a Place on Earth can be heard in the background while they dance.

On October 5 of the same year, another video appeared on the Netflix YouTube channel linking San Junipero with another series running on Netflix. This first shows a scene from the Friends episode Flirt-Verbot (original title The One Where Phoebe Runs ) of the sixth season. In this, the character Ross ( David Schwimmer ) explains to her friend Chandler ( Matthew Perry ) that in 2030 there will be computers that will function similarly to the human brain. That is why one can live on forever as a machine in the future, since all thoughts and memories can be uploaded to these computers. This is followed by a short excerpt from San Junipero , jokingly suggesting that Ross anticipated the technology depicted in the episode.

In an episode of the TV series Riverdale , the character Joaquin ( Rob Raco ) gets on a bus that goes to San Junipero.

reception

The majority of San Junipero received a positive response, with particular emphasis on the positive atmosphere in stark contrast to the previous episodes of the series. The Guardian's Rebecca Nicholson wrote that the episode made viewers believe in "the power of love that combats pain and loneliness." Esquire's Corey Atad and The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman claimed the episode would bring viewers to tears. Jacob Stolworthy, an editor of the Independent , found that San Junipero was the "most ambitious" episode of the entire series, because after the previous, very dark episode Shut Up and Dance (German title Mach, what we say ) the effectiveness of its happy ending was still will be reinforced. Although Stolworthy rated the episode positively overall, he described the third act as "overloaded" and said that instead of the last episode of the season Hated in the Nation (German title Von alle hated ) San Junipero should have been 90 minutes long.

Mbatha-Raw and Davis have received multiple praise for their emotional, compelling play and chemistry, including Pat Stacey on the Irish Independent and Matt Fowler on IGN . Although Robbie Collin criticized the dialogue in The Daily Telegraph , he praised the ending, which was made emotional by the lively and convincing play of Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Variety's Andrew Wallenstein commented negatively, claiming that the two leading actresses did not have the "emotional clout" needed to make the episode stand out.

The turn of the episode has been described as "engaging" by Louise Mellor, editor of Den of Geek , while the episode, according to Zack Handlen of The AV Club, manages to provide viewers with both new information and interest in the characters to protect. However, Robbie Collin complained again that the central conflict and thus the turn of the episode had already been dealt with several times in science fiction works.

The episode's soundtrack also met with critical acclaim. Alex Mullane of the Digital Spy website called Mansell's compositions "wonderfully tender".

The purple and pink colors seen on the bisexual flag are used in the episode to denote the main character Kelly's sexuality.

San Junipero has also been extremely well received by the LGBT community. San Junipero is the first episode of the series, in which a gay couple occurs, also the result bypasses widespread in the US pop culture trope . In many works in which one or more non-heterosexual characters appear, they often end up losing their lives or going through an unhappy breakup. San Junipero is therefore an exception: although Kelly and Yorkie die at the end of the episode, their ending is a happy ending as they live happily together. In addition, the colors neon and pink are the focus in several scenes , which can be understood as so-called bisexual lightning . This uses colors that appear in the bisexual flag (pink, purple and red) as scene lighting to identify bisexual characters.

In several lists, among others, GQ , Variety , Vox , Time , The Washington Post and The New York Times is San Junipero among the best television episodes of the year 2016th

On Rotten Tomatoes , the episode scored 91 percent based on 22 critical reviews, of which 20 were positive and two were negative. The average points awarded is 8.0 out of 10 points (as of March 23, 2019). Over 35,000 user reviews of the Internet Movie Database resulted in an average rating of 8.7 out of 10 points. The episode therefore has the highest rating within the third season (as of November 17, 2018).

Awards

In 2017, San Junipero was recognized at the GLAAD Media Awards in the Outstanding Individual Episode category. The award goes to LGBT-relevant episodes of television series that usually do not feature regular LGBT characters. In addition, the episode won the Emmy Awards in the categories Outstanding Television Movie and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special (Best Script for a Limited Series, TV Movie, or Dramatic Special). San Junipero also received an IGN Award in the category Best TV Episode in 2018 as well as a nomination for a Hugo Award in the category Best Dramatic Presentation (short form) .

Web links

Itemized list

  1. ↑ Louisa Mellor: Black Mirror series 3 interview: Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones. In: Den of Geek. October 19, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Alex Watson: 'I was really worried about San Junipero' - Charlie Brooker on pushing the Black Mirror envelope. In: I. September 25, 2017, accessed on October 24, 2018 (English).
  3. ↑ a b Marlow Stern: Inside 'San Junipero': The Magical 'Black Mirror' Episode That Will Help Take Your Mind Off Trump. In: The Daily Beast . November 27, 2017, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  4. ↑ James Hibberd: Black Mirror: Showrunner explains season 3 endings. In: Entertainment Weekly . January 1, 2018, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Liz Shannon Miller: 'Black Mirror': How 'San Junipero,' Season 3's Sweet Love Story, Came to Be. In: IndieWire. October 24, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  6. ^ Adam Chitwood: 'Black Mirror' Season 3 Review: "San Junipero" and "Nosedive" Are a Sunny Start. In: Collider. September 15, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Patricia Garcia: Black Mirror Creator Charlie Brooker on What Really Happened at the End of “San Junipero”. In: Vogue . October 27, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Sam Moore: Charlie Brooker talks prospect of 'San Junipero' sequel episode on 'Black Mirror'. In: New Musical Express . September 3, 2017, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Kristy Puchko: BLACK MIRROR Creator Responds to SAN JUNIPERO Fan Theory. In: Nerdist. November 4, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  10. ^ Damian Jones: Charlie Brooker rules out direct sequel to 'San Junipero' but teases graphic novel about it instead. In: New Musical Express. December 8, 2017, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Jackie Strause: 'Black Mirror' Bosses on "San Junipero" Sequel and an Unpredictable Season 4. In: The Hollywood Reporter . September 3, 2017, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Joy Press: 'Black Mirror's' rare glimpse of technology as a means to joy earns an Emmy. In: Los Angeles Times . September 12, 2017, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  13. ↑ a b c Jackie Strause: 'Black Mirror' Director Shares His Take on "San Junipero's" Ending and Ideas for a Spinoff. In: The Hollywood Reporter. November 23, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Bethonie Butler: 'Black Mirror' usually shows the dark side of technology. One episode shows it can give us hope. In: The Washington Post . October 28, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Veronica Irwin: INTERVIEW: Clint Mansell On His Black Mirror Score. In: The Quietus. June 28, 2017, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Matt Grobar: 'Black Mirror' stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw & Mackenzie Davis On Immersive Sci-Fi Sets And Socially Important Storytelling. In: Deadline.com . August 24, 2017, accessed October 28, 2016 .
  17. ↑ Emma Dibdin: Black Mirror's Gugu Mbatha-Raw on the Heartbreaking and Hopeful "San Junipero". In: Cosmopolitan . June 28, 2017, accessed October 28, 2016 .
  18. ↑ Jackson McHenry: The Making of Black Mirror's Retro 'USS Callister' episode. In: Vulture . December 29, 2017, accessed April 9, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Danielle Turchiano: 'Black Mirror' Director on 'Black Museum': 'I Think There's Something Quite Spiritual About It'. In: Variety . January 11, 2018, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  20. Jump up ↑ Stephanie Dube Dwilson: Black Museum Easter Eggs: Photos of Every Black Mirror Episode Mentioned (SPOILERS). In: Heavy.com. December 29, 2017, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Ed Cumming: Black Mirror: Bandersnatch review - Charlie Brooker's postmodern adventure is intriguing but imperfect. In: The Independent . January 2, 2019, accessed March 23, 2019 .
  22. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.youtube.com
  23. ↑ Netflix: Black Mirror & Friends | The One Where Ross Invents San Junipero | Netflix. In: YouTube . October 5, 2017, accessed March 23, 2019 .
  24. ^ Riley Silverman: Chosen One of the Day: This bus heading to San Junipero from Riverdale. In: Syfy . January 9, 2018, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Luke Holland, Rebecca Nicholson, Lanre Bakare, Paul MacInnes, Gwilym Mumford: Battle of the Bastards to San Junipero: what was the best TV episode of 2016? In: The Guardian . December 21, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Corey Atad: Every Episode of Black Mirror, Ranked. In: Esquire . December 29, 2017, accessed October 28, 2016 .
  27. ↑ Tim Goodman: Netflix brings back one of television's best series in the chillingly creative 'Black Mirror,' which finds creator Charlie Brooker as prophetically spot-on as usual. In: The Hollywood Reporter. October 21, 2016, accessed October 28, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Jacob Stolworthy: Black Mirror review: The season 3 episodes ranked. In: The Independent. October 21, 2016, accessed October 28, 2016 .
  29. ↑ Pat Stacey: Black Mirror is back and it's as disturbing as ever ... with a few minor cracks. In: Irish Independent . October 24, 2016, accessed October 28, 2016 .
  30. ↑ Matt Fowler: Black Mirror: Season 3 Review. In: IGN . October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2018 (American English).
  31. ↑ a b Robbie Collin: Black Mirror, season 3, San Junipero, review: 'Charlie Brooker's dark sci-fi has never felt bigger'. In: The Daily Telegraph . October 21, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Andrew Wallenstein: 'Black Mirror' Episodes Ranked: Spoiler-Free Guide to Seasons 1-3. In: Variety. October 21, 2016, accessed October 29, 2018 .
  33. ^ Louise Mellor: Den Of Geek's top 15 TV episodes of 2016. In: Den Of Geek. December 22, 2016, accessed October 29, 2018 .
  34. ↑ Zack Handlen: Black Mirror finds love (and a great episode) in a hopeful place. In: The AV Club. October 24, 2016, accessed October 29, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Alex Mullane: Black Mirror season 3 'San Junipero' review: beautiful rather than biting. In: Digital Spy . October 23, 2016, accessed October 29, 2018 .
  36. ↑ Adam David: How to watch all 'Black Mirror' episodes, from worst to best. In: CNN Philippines . October 24, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  37. ↑ Helen O'Hara: The story of San Junipero: why Charlie Brooker's Emmy-winning vision of Heaven will live forever. In: The Telegraph. September 18, 2017, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  38. ↑ George Pierpoint: Is 'bisexual lighting' a new cinematic phenomenon? In: BBC . April 22, 2018, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  39. ↑ Scott Meslow: The Best TV Episodes of 2016. In: GQ . December 15, 2016, accessed October 30, 2018 .
  40. ↑ Sonia Saraiya: The 20 Best TV Episodes of 2016. In: Variety. December 6, 2017, accessed October 30, 2018 .
  41. ↑ Caroline Framke, Emily Todd VanDerWerff: The 33 best TV episodes of 2016. In: Vox Media . December 6, 2017, accessed October 30, 2018 .
  42. ^ Daniel D'Addario: The Top 10 TV Episodes of 2016. In: Time . November 27, 2017, accessed October 30, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Bethonie Butler: The 10 best TV episodes of 2016, from 'Black Mirror' to SNL. In: The Washington Post. December 21, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  44. ↑ James Poniewozik, Mike Hale, Neil Genzlinger, Margaret Lyons: The Memorable TV Episodes of 2016. In: The New York Times . December 28, 2016, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  45. ↑ Black Mirror - Season 3, Episode 4 - Rotten Tomatoes. In: Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  46. ↑ GLAAD Media Awards: Winners List. In: The Hollywood Reporter. April 1, 2017, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  47. ↑ 69th Emmy Award Winners. In: emmys.com. September 17, 2017, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  48. ↑ Best of 2016 Awards Wiki Guide. In: IGN. December 12, 2016, accessed April 9, 2019 .
  49. ↑ 2017 Hugo Awards. In: The Hugo Awards.com. August 11, 2017, accessed April 9, 2019 .
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 19, 2018 .
Black Mirror Episodes


season 3

San Junipero  (2016)

Season 4

USS Callister  (2017)

Interactive film

Bandersnatch (2018)