White Christmas 

Three interconnected tales of technology run amok during the Christmas season are told by two men at a remote outpost in a frozen wilderness.

Director:

Carl Tibbetts

Writer:

Charlie Brooker

Stars:

Jon Hamm, Rafe Spall, Oona Chaplin

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Hamm	...	Matt
Rafe Spall	...	Potter
Oona Chaplin	...	Greta
Natalia Tena	...	Jennifer
Janet Montgomery	...	Beth
Rasmus Hardiker	...	Harry
Dan Li	...	Tim
Ken Drury	...	Gordon
Zahra Ahmadi	...	Gita
Verity Marshall	...	Amy
Ian Attard	...	Dawson (as Ian Keir Attard)
Grainne Keenan	...	Claire (as Gráinne Keenan)
Robin Weaver	...	Holder
Simon Nock	...	Fenn
Diveen Henry	...	Fola

Storyline

Joe Potter wakes up on the Christmas Day and finds his talkative co-worker Matt Trent preparing the Christmas dinner. They have been working together for five years in a remote outpost in the middle of nowhere in the snow. Joe does not like to talk, but Matt decides to tell his story. Matt was helping the shy Harry to seduce the beautiful Jennifer in a party using the "Z-Eye" implanted in his eyes in an illegal procedure. Harry succeeds and they go to Jennifer's apartment but things go awry and they die. Matt delete the evidences of his participation but his wife blocks him and they become invisible and inaudible to each other. Then Matt explains that he really worked with a chip called Cookie, capable to make a digital copy of the user. Then he forced the copy to serve the real user through torture manipulating time to break any resistance from the copy. Joe decides to tell why he came to the outpost and he explains that he lived with Beth. One night, they have dinner with their ...

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Plot Keywords:

potato | dating coach | drinking poison | blocking | toaster | 

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 December 2014 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the date watcher's usernames is PIE APE. This was an insult for the yellow suits from Season 1, Episode 2, Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits (2011).

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Goofs

When setting up the 'cookie', the bite out of the toast disappears and reappears.

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Quotes

Harry: Ultimately the only thing you're worried about is the transition from one state to another, and that can't hurt you because it's it's just a state change.

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Connections

References Black Mirror: The Waldo Moment (2013)

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Soundtracks

O Come, All Ye Faithful
Traditional

User Reviews

A review of Season 2 of "Black Mirror" (2013)

"Black Mirror" seems to me to be  the best science fiction show on television; I'd rate Season 2 (2013) a 9 out of 10.  (I'm never quite certain whether to group British shows by "season" or by "series," as they do.  I'm also a little uncertain why the fourth and final episode here, "White Christmas," is included in Season 2, as it aired nearly two years later as a 2014 holiday special.)

I commented to a friend of mine after seeing "White Christmas" the other night that the show was "brave" -- it just isn't afraid to alienate mainstream audiences by being too dark.  Not all of "Black Mirror's"  episodes have "twists," but they typically have an unexpected plot development, and their outcomes and implications are arguably depressing.

It's just such a damned good show, though, in terms of its writing and acting.  My friend told me she wasn't aware of anyone who had seen it and disliked it. 

"White Christmas," for example, was one of the best hours of science fiction television I've ever seen.  It consists of three blackly tragic vignettes seamlessly woven withing a wraparound story, and it employs a sci-fi plot device that is mind-bending and brutal.  I believe this is the first time I've seen its lead actor, Jon Hamm, and I was extremely impressed with his performance.

My only quibbles with the program are extremely minor.  As with the first season, I think that not every episode truly requires a 44- minute running length.  I thought two episodes  ("Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment") seemed like they could have been tightened up into one, maybe with tighter writing allowing for shorter segments. 

I've noticed another minor relative weakness with "Black Mirror" in general as well -- the show does not always present the viewer with likable protagonists.  Occasionally, the various characters we're asked to identify with are either slightly off-putting or even annoying.  Again, "Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment" spring to mind.  This wasn't enough to greatly affect my enjoyment of the episodes, though.

What an incredible show.