Season 3:
Episode 2 "Playtest"
Cooper is an adventurous man who loves to travel the world and see new places; yet, the one place he can't bear to visit is his home. In London, he meets a beautiful girl name Sonja with whom he spends the night with, and she tells him that he must call his mother. Despite the fact that his mother continues to call him, Cooper rejects her call and when he finally decides to return home, he realizes that his credit card had been stolen and he has no funds to return home. He finally decides that the only way he can return home is to make money fast, and through an app called Oddjobs, he finds a listing for a video game company called Saito Gemu. Cooper can't believe that he is getting paid to play a new video game, but he soon learns that there are some things in life that are not worth playing with.
Cooper has always been close to his father and he even said that his father was his "best friend" and they had so many memories together, memories that were stolen because of his Alzheimer. He said that there were times where his father looked at him like he didn't know who he was, and the look of pain from his face shows just how hurt and traumatize he feels on the inside despite his cheerful and joking demeanor on the outside. Cooper admits that he needed to travel so he can make memories, while he can.
Here's the key phrase: while he can. The episode doesn't give any information away on whether or not the disease runs in the family, but whether it is or isn't, what matters is how Cooper feels about the situation. He either 1. believes he is going to meet the same end as his father so he wants to go out and do what he can while he is able or 2. he knows that the disease will run in the family, and he knows that his time will come. Either way, he's running away as far as he can but his mother's constant phone calls brings him back to reality: he has to face reality eventually.
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Now the whole point of Cooper going to Saito Gemu, is for him to test out their new game. Katie introduces Cooper to Shou Saito, the owner of the company, and it is here that we realize that this isn't the first time he had heard of Shou. In Sonja's apartment, she talks about how big his company is and even shows Cooper a magazine with Shou's face on the cover. Now this is one of those things that everyone just brushes by, but the fact that he has already seen his face will play a bigger role later on.
- Quick Synopsis
Cooper is an adventurous man who loves to travel the world and see new places; yet, the one place he can't bear to visit is his home. In London, he meets a beautiful girl name Sonja with whom he spends the night with, and she tells him that he must call his mother. Despite the fact that his mother continues to call him, Cooper rejects her call and when he finally decides to return home, he realizes that his credit card had been stolen and he has no funds to return home. He finally decides that the only way he can return home is to make money fast, and through an app called Oddjobs, he finds a listing for a video game company called Saito Gemu. Cooper can't believe that he is getting paid to play a new video game, but he soon learns that there are some things in life that are not worth playing with.
- Discussion
Cooper has to be one of the most likable characters in the show thus far for me. Like Sonja said, he's a good guy. It's easy to tell even from the beginning when he comforts the little girl on the plane, to how despite sleeping with Sonja, he treats her with kindness and respect. It's this kindness within him that he shares with everyone he meets that makes him likable, but this kindness isn't given to his mother whose call he constantly rejects.
His rejection of his mother's phone call is very harsh considering the fact that she had just lost her husband and now she worries about losing her son. In the beginning of the episode, we see Cooper sneaking out of the house and into a car and it can be assumed that he is running away from home to avoid his mother. We do not find out the true reason to why he is avoiding her until he confides in Sonja that it is not she he is running away from, but what she represents.
Cooper has always been close to his father and he even said that his father was his "best friend" and they had so many memories together, memories that were stolen because of his Alzheimer. He said that there were times where his father looked at him like he didn't know who he was, and the look of pain from his face shows just how hurt and traumatize he feels on the inside despite his cheerful and joking demeanor on the outside. Cooper admits that he needed to travel so he can make memories, while he can. Here's the key phrase: while he can. The episode doesn't give any information away on whether or not the disease runs in the family, but whether it is or isn't, what matters is how Cooper feels about the situation. He either 1. believes he is going to meet the same end as his father so he wants to go out and do what he can while he is able or 2. he knows that the disease will run in the family, and he knows that his time will come. Either way, he's running away as far as he can but his mother's constant phone calls brings him back to reality: he has to face reality eventually.
What I found really saddening is that Cooper avoids his mother's phone calls not because he doesn't love her, but because he doesn't know how to show that love to her. He admits that his father and him have always been close, but with his mother, he doesn't know how to talk to her or how to be around her. He knows she is in pain and is mourning over her husband, but he doesn't know how to comfort her because he can't even comfort himself. His explanation makes his refusal to talk to her a little more understandable-he's scared that he will make the situation worst for her.
A lot of people joke that Cooper's end could have been avoid if he had just "called Mom" and despite that being a joke, I definitely see some truth to it. The first, and I guess this is where the ball started rolling, is when he finds out his credit card number has been stolen. He could have called his mother and ask her to help him out, and he would have been out of London and on the way home in no time. However, what kind of Black Mirror episode would that be huh? A really boring and tame one, that's for sure-we all know a typical reoccurrence in this show is the fact the characters learn their lessons too late-but hey, that is what makes the show more interesting for us.
Cooper's refusal to listen to Katie's instruction about turning off his phone is another one of those "you should have just done what you were told" moments. I don't know why but this reminds me of all those little "commercials" shown before the actual movie would play, where there would be some sort of skit showcasing how important it is to turn off cellphones as to not disturb others. I don't think anyone actually turns off their phone, the most they'll do is put it on vibrate and the really considerate ones would just ignore looking at their phones throughout the whole movie. Most of us don't though, myself included. I mean I wouldn't be pulling out a bright screen and start answering a call, but I am guilty of texting. Normally, I'm pretty desert about it and no one notices-the worst I've dealt with is someone giving me "the look." However, Cooper isn't that lucky and we find out towards the end that it was this mistake that actually did kill him.
Oh, I want to talk about Katie. Ugh, Katie just rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn't put my finger on it then and I can't now either. She's polite enough, and she seems like she's someone you could trust but I think it's her nonchalant nature that set off the red flags in my mind. When Cooper is shown playing a game of Whack-a-mole and he's laughing and having a good time, she just looks at him as if he's a test subject. Yes, yes, I know he is her test subject and this is what he signed up for I get it, but still she has that look of someone who's willing to take things to the extreme without any caution. Like someone who would think that the end justifies the means which in the end, is true.
I know that Saito Gemu is a horror game industry, but when Cooper is dropped off at that "haunted mansion" it still gave me the creeps. This mansion looks like the setting for every horrible nightmare I have ever had-a large house, an isolated area, and me being alone with nothing but my fears to "comfort" me. Yeah, you wouldn't be able to pay me enough to stay in that mansion. Well I guess Cooper is braver than I am because he pretty much takes this as a fun challenge, the same way other people love to play horror games or watch horror movies-there's that thrill, that scare, and that bit of mystery. Yet, what Cooper doesn't realize is it's only fun if it's not real. Cooper isn't some animated character in a screen, he's not just an audience member watching a scripted movie, he's living in this nightmare.
One of the most fascinating scenes (there are a lot, I know) was when Sonja shows up and tells him that Cooper is in trouble, and he needs to leave the mansion immediately. It was then that I thought "is this it? is this the big twist?" Yet, it doesn't seem to be in Black Mirror's fashion to make the twist something so obvious. With an app titled Odd Jobs, you can only imagine that these people are hiring people to do things they shouldn't be doing. Yet, it seemed so real. Especially with her explanation about how she found him, and the research she had done on the facility. I know there are many interpretations on this scene, and a lot of people have really solid and convincing theories on what really went down-definitely check out some reviews on Youtube if you're interested-but here is what I think happened.
What I was trying to figure out is what does Sonja showing up have to do with Cooper's fears? At first I thought it was just his unconscious mind having second thoughts about this experiment. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, I kept thinking this whole experiment was a setup, and these people just wanted to torture and eventually kill Cooper. I mean, with all the horror stories on the news these days, the thought did creep into my mind. Yet, as I thought about it, I rewatched the beginning of the episode and realize how much Sonja and Cooper cared about each other despite just meeting. They weren't the typical one night stand people who just sleep together one night, and are done with one another by the next morning. They are both really cool people and they bonded, and to me, it seemed like Sonja is one of the few people he confides in. Cooper travels the world because he is running from his problems, but when he confides in Sonja, he is actually facing his problem and bringing the baggage to the front of the line. It seems like Sonja turning into some sort of monster that tried to kill him in the mansion, represented her betraying his trust and hurting him. In fact, if we wanted to take it one step deeper, I feel like everyone fears that someone they trust could betray them. As human beings, we put our trust in so little people, and to have one of those people betray us is a fear that many people can relate to. There's also the possibility that Sonja could have been in on this whole experiment from the beginning (because wouldn't that be a twist worthy of the show?), and that would also show a huge betrayal of trust.
However Cooper's most deepest fear is him becoming like his father and losing his memories. When Katie begins to ask Cooper basic questions that he could not understand, you can see just how scared he is. He's scared that his memories will fade, and this is something that he cannot control. Alzheimer is a condition that strips away the human mind, and it is one thing to watch it happen to someone you love but it is another thing completely to watch it happen to you or worse, in Cooper's case, wait for it to happen to you. Cooper tells Sonja, he wants to make memories while he can because he knows that the possibility of him getting Alzheimer is very likely.
Cooper's fears revolve around 1. being forgotten (when his dad couldn't recognize him towards the end of his life and when his mom looked at him and didn't know who he was-I feel like the main reason why he is avoiding her is because he is scared of having to go through the same ordeal with his mom as he went through with his dad) and 2. forgetting (that is why he wants to make as many memories as he still can)
Now the ending of the episode is pretty trippy because we find out that none of that really happened and Cooper only lasted 0.04 seconds in the "game." Katie mentioned "every synapse of his brain lit up at once" meaning that within those 0.04 seconds, Cooper's brain made up everything that we saw-from him playing the game, to him meeting Saito, to him going into the mansion, and to all the other events-and that just shows how incredible the human mind is. Cooper never even met Saito yet just by seeing his photo in a magazine at Sonja's house, he made up Saito in his mind. The Saito of Cooper's imagination is game nerd and can speak perfect English, yet the real Saito is more into the actual experiment and couldn't care less that Cooper died; also, he also cannot speak English at all. It also shows how we sometimes conjure up images in our mind of how other people are even if we do not know them, and how real those perceptions can be.
Lastly, I found it quite poetically sad that throughout this whole episode, Cooper ended up doing the one thing he was avoiding: he finally "called 'Mom'."
This wasn't a favorite of mine because I felt like the ending left me with more questions than answers. I know a lot of people like that because they want to be able to theorize and discuss, but this episode left me feeling a bit incomplete. Like what game were they really going to test Cooper for? Also, maybe it's because I'm a sucker for somewhat of a happy ending but I thought it was so sad that Cooper died before answering his mom :(
★★★ /5 What I was trying to figure out is what does Sonja showing up have to do with Cooper's fears? At first I thought it was just his unconscious mind having second thoughts about this experiment. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, I kept thinking this whole experiment was a setup, and these people just wanted to torture and eventually kill Cooper. I mean, with all the horror stories on the news these days, the thought did creep into my mind. Yet, as I thought about it, I rewatched the beginning of the episode and realize how much Sonja and Cooper cared about each other despite just meeting. They weren't the typical one night stand people who just sleep together one night, and are done with one another by the next morning. They are both really cool people and they bonded, and to me, it seemed like Sonja is one of the few people he confides in. Cooper travels the world because he is running from his problems, but when he confides in Sonja, he is actually facing his problem and bringing the baggage to the front of the line. It seems like Sonja turning into some sort of monster that tried to kill him in the mansion, represented her betraying his trust and hurting him. In fact, if we wanted to take it one step deeper, I feel like everyone fears that someone they trust could betray them. As human beings, we put our trust in so little people, and to have one of those people betray us is a fear that many people can relate to. There's also the possibility that Sonja could have been in on this whole experiment from the beginning (because wouldn't that be a twist worthy of the show?), and that would also show a huge betrayal of trust.
However Cooper's most deepest fear is him becoming like his father and losing his memories. When Katie begins to ask Cooper basic questions that he could not understand, you can see just how scared he is. He's scared that his memories will fade, and this is something that he cannot control. Alzheimer is a condition that strips away the human mind, and it is one thing to watch it happen to someone you love but it is another thing completely to watch it happen to you or worse, in Cooper's case, wait for it to happen to you. Cooper tells Sonja, he wants to make memories while he can because he knows that the possibility of him getting Alzheimer is very likely.
Cooper's fears revolve around 1. being forgotten (when his dad couldn't recognize him towards the end of his life and when his mom looked at him and didn't know who he was-I feel like the main reason why he is avoiding her is because he is scared of having to go through the same ordeal with his mom as he went through with his dad) and 2. forgetting (that is why he wants to make as many memories as he still can)
Lastly, I found it quite poetically sad that throughout this whole episode, Cooper ended up doing the one thing he was avoiding: he finally "called 'Mom'."
This wasn't a favorite of mine because I felt like the ending left me with more questions than answers. I know a lot of people like that because they want to be able to theorize and discuss, but this episode left me feeling a bit incomplete. Like what game were they really going to test Cooper for? Also, maybe it's because I'm a sucker for somewhat of a happy ending but I thought it was so sad that Cooper died before answering his mom :(
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