BLACK MIRROR, 7.4 – ‘Plaything’
In a near-future London, an eccentric murder suspect is linked to an unusual video game from the 1990s... populated by cute, evolving artificial lifeforms.
It’s been interesting watching Black Mirror continue to push its boundaries since migrating from Channel 4 to Netflix. The 2018 interactive special “Bandersnatch” redefined television by uniquely upending narrative linearity and presenting viewers with a series of choices to dictate a narrative. It was a unique foray into interactive storytelling and an interesting commentary on choice and control that concluded with a variety of endings. Season 6’s finale continued to redefine the series’ parameters and made a conscious effort to expand beyond the show’s zeitgeist definition. Differentiating itself as a ‘Red Mirror’ production, “Demon 79” jettisoned the formulaic technophobic cautionary tales set in a dystopian future for supernatural horror set in the analogue past.
Similarly, Season 7 takes an interesting pivot roughly mid-point through and displays a more deliberate effort to weave connective tissues through the anthology series. Recurring motifs, such as the Streamberry streaming platform and the reintroduction of specific technologies, have always served as winking nods to Black Mirror enthusiasts. However, Season 7 continues to test the elasticity of the show’s format by including direct sequels to some of the most popular entries…
“Plaything” is the first story to re-engage with Black Mirror’s past and continues to expand the show’s interconnected universe. Functioning as a spiritual sequel to “Bandersnatch”, this fourth episode deepens the series’ exploration of simulated realities to examine artificial life and mankind’s relation to it.
Nested within a dystopian crime procedural, “Plaything” unfolds over two time periods. In 1994, the cryptically brilliant game developer Colin Pitman (Will Poulter) has returned to Tuckersoft Game Studio following his decade-long absence. And he’s emerged with the most ambitious project he’s ever created: Thronglets. A deceptively innocent pet simulation that allows players the oddly satisfying experience of caring for adorable digital creatures who multiply as they’re nurtured.
Upon being summoned to Colin’s office by Mohan (Asim Chaudhry), Cameron Walker (Lewis Gribben) is enlisted to preview the software for the magazine PC Zone. The socially maladroit journalist immediately becomes obsessed with the game (which you can play for yourself on Netflix here), taking the software home and treating the Thronglets as his virtual friends. However, when Cameron’s acquaintance Lump (Josh Finan) discovers the creatures, he begins to mindlessly destroy their digital utopia. As the Thronglets witness Cameron hysterically bludgeoning his friend, the conscious algorithms decide that human nature must be recalibrated if symbiosis with humanity is to be viable.
Four decades later, after a much older Cameron (Peter Capaldi) is caught for a petty shoplifting offence, he’s unexpectedly arrested for an unresolved murder. Upon arrival at the police station, he’s soon interrogated by Detective Chief Inspector Kano (James Nelson-Joyce) and police psychologist Jen Minter (Michelle Austin) about the discovery of an unidentified corpse sealed inside a suitcase. While unravelling a tapestry of events that led him to this moment, Cameron offers an ambiguous confession explaining what happened. Unbeknownst to the authorities, he orchestrated his own capture to gain access to the Central State Computer housed within the police headquarters…
While many became enamoured with Peter Capaldi’s acerbic charisma during his tenure as the Time Lord on the BBC’s Doctor Who, his sharp tongue and piercing delivery is perfectly suited to bring creator Charlie Brooker’s dialogue to life. His unhinged performance unravels in the most subliminally magnetic way, constantly keeping the audience guessing as he oscillates between a dangerously unstable sociopath and an enlightened mystic who holds the key to saving the human race from its worst instincts.
However, it’s Lewis Gribben (T2 Trainspotting) who provides the episode’s emotional anchor as the younger Cameron. The actor effortlessly imbues his character with emotional vulnerability while conveying the moral complexities faced by his character. His unassuming demeanour suggests an isolated man with an unsettling bond with a video game, but beneath his awkward exterior is a traumatised human desperate for connection, regardless of whether it comes through human contact or digital illusion. Their dual performances bring out the best in “Plaything” and allow the audience to see how a person of hope and optimism could devolve into something far more sinister.
The episode’s overt connection to “Bandersnatch” is a brief appearance by Will Poulter (Death of a Unicorn), reprising his role as Colin Ritman. The prodigious game creator became an unexpected cult figure following his kaleidoscopic appearances in the interactive experiment “Bandersnatch”. His previous outing allowed viewers the illusion of choice as they guided the character through a series of grim fates, including jumping to his death, a psychological breakdown, or being fatally bludgeoned with an award statue. However, “Plaything” offers a glimpse of Colin in the 1990s, where he introduces his latest video game creation to Cameron. Poulter resurrects the character with the same intoxicating blend of delusional grandeur and dystopian insight that originally endeared him to viewers. His nasally musings regarding the world’s awfulness and humanity’s innate brutality retain their absurdist charm but are underpinned by a bleak sense of nihilism.
There’s an intriguing premise at the centre of “Plaything” built around transhumanist ideas, underscored by Brooker’s idiosyncratic mordant scepticism regarding humanity’s pursuit of convenience through technology. The Thronglets are capable of reaching almost inconceivable levels of intelligence, and Ritman outright proclaims, “its software that elevates us, improves us as human beings”. Cameron shares that sentiment and spends the ensuing years nurturing the Tamagotchi-like creatures while requiring hallucinogenics to comprehend the complexity of their thoughts. Once the burgeoning civilisation shows signs of surpassing humans in communication, he installs a neurological interface so he can merge with their advanced collective intelligence.
The episode asks viewers to consider whether we should trust the seemingly benign artificial lifeforms to make improvements for human beings or should artificial life be considered little more than an advanced computer program. Black Mirror‘s historically excelled when exploring the implications of combining technologies with consciousness, but for all the grandeur of its ideas, “Plaything” ultimately feels underbaked and unimaginative. It gestures towards profundity but retreats when the stakes become truly provocative. Unfortunately, the thematic resonance buried beneath the surface exploring the perils of isolated minds achieving digital messianism or the ethics of merging with the unknown remain relegated to subtextual footnotes.
Despite its intriguing ideas, “Plaything” is a polarising entry in this latest run of Black Mirror stories. Over its 45-minutes, it unravels a tapestry of ethical quandaries surrounding A.I. and the erosion of personal autonomy but struggles to give those themes the depth they deserve. The result is an episode brimming with potential that feels underdeveloped. Nevertheless, it remains grounded by striking dual performances, and Brooker managed to create a protagonist who’s simultaneously pitiable and tragic.
UK | 2025 | 45 MINUTES | 1.90:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH
Cast & Crew
writer: Charlie Brooker.
director: David Slade.
starring: Peter Capaldi, Lewis Gribben, James Nelson-Joyce, Will Poulter, Michele Austin & Asim Chaudhry.
