Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 5 Review: Eulogy

This article contains spoilers for the Black Mirror episode “Eulogy.”

Wait, was that the best episode of Black Mirror ever?

That thought incepted itself into my brain once credits began to roll on “Eulogy,” the fifth episode of Black Mirror‘s seventh season. Eventually, that thought trickled its way back out. There are better Black Mirror installments than this elegiac parable of lost love starring Paul Giamatti. Hell, there might even be a better Black Mirror installment from this season as I came to discover upon watching the equally gobsmacking “USS Callister: Into Infinity.” Still, I include my initial reaction in this review as an exercise in critical transparency and as a reflection of just how unexpectedly good the six episodes of this season have been.

As is always the case with Black Mirror, the quality of season 7’s stories have varied. The difference this time around is that there doesn’t appear to be an out-and-out stinker in the bunch. That’s pretty remarkable for a techno-dystopian anthology entering into its teenage years, and might even be unprecedented for any season of Black Mirror since the first one debuted on Channel 4 in 2011. Just when you assume Charlie Brooker and his collaborators are running out of ways to communicate that technology is strange and making us stranger, “Eulogy” comes along to reveal that there’s life on these Netflix servers yet.

Like any Black Mirror episode that touches upon ooey-gooey love stuff, “Eulogy” is bound to draw comparisons to the all-time great “San Junipero.” In reality, however, this installment isn’t so much about love as it is about the pain of self-reflection. Our “hero” is trapped in an isolation entirely of his own making and in true Scrooge-ian style, he is visited by the Algorithm of Girlfriends’ Past and given the chance to figure out where it all went wrong.

“Eulogy” begins its brisk 46-minute runtime with Phillip Conarthy (Giamatti) quietly living out the remainder of his middle age years in the Cape Code estate he inherited from his parents. The silence of his existence is disrupted by a phone call informing him of the death of Carol Royce, who Phillip knew back in the day as Carol Hartman. Due to his complicated history with the deceased, Phillip is unable to make it to London for the funeral but thanks to the Exciting New Technology (TM) of a company called “Eulogy,” he can contribute to Carol’s celebration of life by simply remembering some of the good times. And if Phillip can’t remember any of the good times, Eulogy can help him jog his memory by sending him an AI Guide (Patsy Ferran) to walk him around some interactive renderings of his old photos.

Like the best episodes of Black Mirror, the technology at play here is incidental to the plot. Eulogy’s Guide is neither benevolent nor malevolent and Phillip views her with neither suspicion nor awe – she’s simply one of many digital assistants that he comes across in a given day. The Guide is also not even that advanced as far as Black Mirror Macguffins go – surely, some firm out there in the real world is working on a Siri that can narrate a 3D rendering of a photograph.

But The Guide’s contribution to the pathos of this story is as remarkable as her technology is mundane. Because The Guide isn’t just any old digital helper, she’s a facsimile of Carol’s real-life daughter, Kelly Royce. Apparently Eulogy’s real value proposition is that it can create a convincing digital copy of whoever ordered the service, ensuring that whatever memories someone selects for a decedent’s funeral is family approved. Phillip would know all of these if he didn’t hastily zoom through the tutorial.

“Eulogy” benefits from its limited settings and even more limited cast. Giamatti does his usual “one of the best living actors” thing here but Ferran is the real revelation. Believable as both an impersonal avatar of a major tech company and Carol’s impassioned daughter, Ferran projects a sincere sense of curiosity and investment throughout.

Kelly’s presence in the story also gives “Eulogy” an added layer of bittersweet sadness. As Phillip struggles through his memories of Carol, most of them impacted by the damage he petulantly inflicted upon photos of her, it becomes clear that these aren’t just recollections of the past but visions of a lost future as well. Someone like Kelly could very well have been Phillip’s daughter, if only he had been able to get out of his own damn way.

After falling in love with Carol at a hippie co-op called “The Coop,” Phillip tried to build a life with her only to encounter road block after road block of his own making. He doesn’t realize Carol would have been happier playing the cello full-time rather than the keyboard in his shitty punk band. He’s jealous of the attention she seemingly pays Beetlejuice at a Halloween party, even if the photographic evidence appears to tell a different story. He thinks her rejection of his hasty marriage proposal is about him and not the reality that she got pregnant after a one night stand following his own infidelity. Phillip could have known the truth if he read the letter Carol left for him. But he never found that letter until now…until she was gone.

Written by Charlie Brooker and Ella Road and directed by Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor, “Eulogy” is a remarkable piece of sci-fi work with a perfect ending. Phillip can’t fix the mistakes of his past. He can’t turn back time and live out the life he should have lived with Carol. He can, however, use his AI-assisted journey into his mind’s eye to find an original cello composition from Carol so Kelly can play it at her funeral. As promised, he can give her a eulogy.

Damn, maybe this really was the best episode of Black Mirror ever.

All six episodes of Black Mirror season 7 are available to stream on Netflix now.

Learn more about Den of Geek’s review process and why you can trust our recommendations here.

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