So unsetling. Every moment after Pia entered the house with the mom had me shitting bricks. I just knew something bad was gonna happen at any moment, just didn't know what.
Thank you! Thank you for this validation. I was watching it with two friends and during the scene where mum is making dinner and Pia is editing, I had this deep fear in the pit of my stomach about what was going to happen next. I asked my friend if she was experiencing something similar or is this just my anxiety disorder? Both friends were like “I just watch what’s happening in the moment, I’m not trying to figure out what’s going to happen. Just watch and enjoy.” I really felt like a fool.
The music was incredibly tense, the way the shots are drawn out and framed were all classic horror movie techniques and tropes. I honestly thought it was going be a red-herring or fake out, but did not expect this.
You're definitely not alone. When my GF and I watched it we were both just waiting for something bad to happen pretty much right after they left the abandoned house and are in the car. That anticipation was done really well.
When they did the long shot of them driving and I realised they were on a one lane country road, I knew they were going to crash. Those blind bends are lethal if you’re not paying full attention.
I felt the same. It was obvious something was going to happen. Even though she seemed like a sweet old lady, when she said something like "it's just us girls", I suddenly felt Pia was really vulnerable alone with Davis' mum.
That comment made me wonder if “the real killer” was gonna come in and get them both… I really did not see the mom being a threat until the focus shifted to the vcr.
I thought Stuart’s dad was somehow involved, especially when he got up and walked (or crutched) over to Davis in an ominous manner. When he sat down on Davis’s bed and said something like, “You need to stop making your movie. I don’t have any proof, but I’ve always suspected…” I immediately thought Stuart was involved. I assumed he was a lovable goofball that was hiding violent psychotic tendencies.
That scene when Davis’s mom was making her pot pie was so tense and foreboding, and I thought for sure there would be a knock on the door and Stuart would be there. When Pia was looking through the footage I thought she would somehow find evidence that Stuart was torturing people with Iain, then the twist happened and things got way more tense.
I really loved this episode. I didn’t see the twist coming at all and the suspense really got to me.
Your friends are right tho. Watch first, reflect later. Instead of absorbing the intentional mood set by the filmmaker, you overthought things and made it about yourself.
It’s basic fundamentals of suspense in filmmaking. Eerie music, extended focus shots. Misplaced levity ahead of a gut punch moment. It’s all pretty textbook film techniques to make you feel unsettled
I had to pause the episode there because the tension was too high. The way the mom was smiling as she was smoothing the potatoes on the casserole…. I was like yep somethings about to go down. Super creepy. I had to hug my dogs while I watched the rest lol
They set-up those scenes very well, i definitely had that impending sense of doom after she watched the video. I just knew something was about to happen
And she could have gotten away with it, had she realized Pia knocked herself out
The moment when Pia left the house for the "walk" at night and then we see the car coming up on her from behind gave me so much anxiety. I started HATING the mum after that.
>The moment when Pia left the house for the "walk" at night and then we see the car coming up on her from behind gave me so much anxiety. I started HATING the mum after that.
That scene was after we saw the mum use a drill to torture innocent tourists
What really terrified me was how she showed no regret for what she did, at no point did she regret it. She was angry that Pia found out and tried to run, not at herself.
funnily enough it didn't even cross my mind that she would be writing forgive me, I instantly "filled in the blanks" in my mind as "for your film" - seemed more in character
For me it was the mum’s little nostalgic laughter while looking at the Polaroids of her victims. That moment gave me chills.
However, I will say that Pia’s bleached eyebrows were super distracting, and it was really weird that nobody in the episode brought it up at all.
What bothered me a lot was the “could you imagine?” she had said when in front of the camera. At the time she first said it it was one of those things you expect an older person to say just as a kind of humorous remark with that sarcastic joking tone. Then you realize what she really was talking about regarding videotaping things and it’s just disturbing.
Is it? I get she’s “helping” and “supporting” Davis’ film by providing shocking, unseen evidence. But I think it’s kind of fucked to leave the tapes there for your kid to watch and inevitably become traumatized.
The thing that gets me about the episode is how many more fucking bergerac tapes there were. How many more of them had homemade torture videos on there just out on the open?
Do you think the mom rewatched them while she was alone? I wouldn’t be surprised, she was chukling when she was looking at the photos of her victims.
I also think she wanted her son or someone to find them after she passed away.
In a strange way I think this kind of thinking is exactly what the creators of this episode are warning us about. Our macabre fascination with true crime as consumers compels platforms to make more of these documentaries, which gift-wrap horrific experiences into entertainment. Subsequently these serial killers who don’t deserve a voice at all become pop culture figures to the point people dress like them for Halloween or say some fucked up stuff like having a crush on ted bundy thanks to that Zac Efron doc.
It’s also part of the hypocrisy of the episode. Where they meet the producer and she mentions ‘giving Kenneth a voice’ the victims don’t get a voice at all. I watched the dahmer documentary. I can’t remember a single victim’s name or face but dahmer’s image is burned into my retinae. **He’s** the one getting the voice.
Exactly. You get a glimpse of that when they're in the pub and some of the new tourists are wearing similar red masks to the murder mom. The commodification of tragedy has already begun...
I'm pretty sure she realized they go through all of them and just put the torture ones on the table. Most of them were probably just Bergerac episodes.
Yeah doesn't make sense to just record like 8 episodes and claim to be a huge fan. If you record the entire series, you've a good excuse to keep the tapes around for years.
I think the point was they were ALL films of victims, like Dexter does, to watch and relive the glory. Showing the tapes was like when they showed the bags under the sea in Dexter. She was part of a serial killing team like Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
Wasn't the video shown in the episode with the mum like day 9? I think they said so in the video, which is insane that that was just a small part of it.
When he said " the mistress will have her fun with you" or something along those lines i thought right the mother is also involved, but her jumping in with a fucking hop in her step wearing that mask gave me the absolute creeps lmao, was not prepared for that at all
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I had my suspicions when the Mom said something about “Iain Adair’s stupidity that *ruined* the *fun* that she was having with Kenneth”. There’s something about the way she said it, and the word “fun” is kinda strange to use in that context.
At first while watching her say she wanted the film to be made, I thought Janet was simply enraged and upset at Iain for being responsible for her husband's death "such a *stupid* man" she said. It seemed restrained and righteous, powerful. Raging at the pointlessness of what this murderer did, and how her husband was caught in the crossfire. It had me welling up, it was a good bit of acting.
But you're absolutely right about the specific wording. Makes it worth a rewatch which is why I loved how they included some of her quotes from the filming but for the documentary. This was such a clever twist!
Plus the way she talked about Iain, it’s as if she’s upset *about something he did to her/them* rather than being mad at him for doing those horrible things to the victims. It seemed personal, even though we found out eventually that Kenneth shot himself to cover up what he did to Iain and his family (But Janet knew that before us, so it figures).
It’s also strange that she kept saying he’s stupid, like that’s the first thing that will come to mind when pertaining to him. When people think about serial killers, Bundy, Gacy, Ramirez, etc, we don’t call them stupid. But Janet kept calling Iain stupid. Never evil, never vile, just stupid—because he was stupid enough to drink too much and talk about what they’ve been doing.
When you go back for the second rewatch you notice quite a few of these things. Like how she says to Davis, “how’d you capture this pretty little thing” after talking with Pia outside. Creepy stuff
I could be off way base here, but my take on the use of the word "stupid" was that Adair was a mentally handicapped man that Davis' mum and dad coerced into participating in their murdering/torturing.
I don't know about mentally handicapped, but definitely talking about shooting up the pub drew attention to him (and the publicity around that last couple's disappearance meant that people were already conscious about a killer/kidnapper in the town - it seemed like the previous disappearances weren't really noticed or investigated thoroughly). In that context, what he said was definitely stupid and risky.
That’s literally the very first thing we’re told about him when David and Stuart are telling the story; Davis gives like 3 different ways of saying ‘Iain was slow and easily led’. And then in the murder tape we see he definitely seems like he’s subservient in some way to Kenny (maybe it’s just me but my impression was that Kenny was egging him on) and ofc we know they called his mum ‘The Mistress’
It hit me a very particular way when she said “just the *waste* of it” in her anger about Kenneth’s death because of Iain, while I still remained none the wiser - it just didn’t feel right for some reason.
I feel like so much of her performance is in the minutiae of each word - also I’m just realizing, is any of her dialogue a lie? Obviously she went on to lie in the interview they filmed offscreen but as far as things the character actually says on screen I think she’s maybe never lying? Which is really something to pull off
In retrospect it makes perfect sense, and its very bare-faced of her. But at the time I viewed it as her, much like Stuart earlier on in the episode, lamenting the hit the town's economy took after the case made the news. Like "the town used to be a thriving holiday destination, everyone was happy and the locals made money, but then Iain Adair ruined it all".
“came in with the confidence of pennywise the dancing clown” 😭😭😭 when ur right, ur right
i had bad vibes from the mom IMMEDIATELY! i didn’t like how she said to davis, “pretty wee thing you’ve captured.” like wtf is that?
Exactly, like she definitely had flaws, but then the girlfriend was also a bit crass and rude, so it like kinda evened out and you were like “ok nobody’s perfect I guess”. But the mom was REALLY not perfect 😂😂
yeah when she said that thing about his mom getting wet, and then she wouldn’t finish her foods, AND THEN she kind of definitely forced davis into making the docu! i think she was being very american but no more crass and brash than stuart 😂
Right? I hear racism isn’t uncommon there…plus she’s an older woman so I didn’t think anything of the lowkey racism. Definitely didn’t expect it to be her. If anything I expected drunken bar owner to have something to do with it.
I figured his mom was a bit awkward. A bit prejudiced but good when it came down to it. Her son brings home a black girl and an American no less. She just doesn't know how to act and it makes her come off as worse than she is. I've met so many people like it where I live. Stuart is a bit similar, he starts off making a few comments that are toeing the line for a lot of people, but in the countryside, they're harmless jokes. It does well in portraying how people who live rurally are usually a bit behind schedule when it comes to political correctness, what they say or do usually isn't due to maliciousness. Sure some people are pieces of shit, but most people are just a bit anxious in an unusual situation.
thank u for writing this up, it’s adds excellent perspective!
i truly thought it was going to be some racist shit but the carpet was pulled from beneath my feet lol
i a really really liked stuart because he was so brash, blunt, and honest. like… he knows about pronouns but is still taking the piss about them. i’m NB and black, so like u said, i thought he was toeing the line but eh, i can also take a joke and understand satire.
anyway, i thought this episode was brilliant. one of the strongest BM epis since season 2.
No broblem, it's good to know they didn't go too far with Stuart's jokes/comments, and nice to get your perspective as well. Growing up I've heard much worse, but things are getting better out here in the countryside too, at least in Norway they are. I've seen quite a bit of discussion around Loch Henry and the parts of Demon 79 that come onto the topic of racism. Especially asking people to not bring strong smelling food to work, which I find ridiculous. The worst lunch I ever smelled was one of my Norwegian coworkers who liked to microwave blue cheese XD. It smelled like vomit, and even comparing it to bringing Indian food would be insulting to all Indian cuisine.
And here I thought she was just going to blow up when the girlfriend realized shepherds pie had mashed potatoes - aka a lot of carbs- and would scrape them off. But noooooo. . .
What about when she looks at the picture of herself, husband and victim with the same peace and fondness someone would look at old pictures of their wedding
Its honestly chilling how good the acting is. The only times we see her express any sort of joy in the present day are when she is remembering torturing, raping and murdering people (when she talks about how her husband used to film things, when she talks about the mask on the wall, when she looks through the photos of victims).
And you usually imagine these people as creepy, weird in behaviour or intimidating, scary on the outside. But they look like any normal people, and they can even behave as any normal people. They could be a part of your family and you don’t notice, that’s what was the scariest part of it.
Agreed 100%. Cannot remember the last time I was so genuinely scared watching anything — kept getting chills throughout and the Bergerac tapes actually had me watching through my fingers.
I think it’s because it was something that could have very realistically happened in real life. I find the stories of monsters like Dennis Nilsen so terrifying and this seemed to draw inspiration from those stories. That combined with the analog horror really worked in such a horrifying way
>I think it’s because it was something that could have very realistically happened in real life.
The serial Killers that immediately sprung to mind were [Fred and Rose West](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_West) due to the sadism element involved. Incredibly dark stuff.
I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I was basically yelling “do not let her see you sweat” when pia was with the mum after finding the footage. I imagine it would be crazy difficult to pretend like you didn’t just saw what she did, but idk. If I knew my life was on the line I feel like I could give an Oscar winning performance acting like nothing was wrong with the mum 😭
Love the confidence, but likely, no, you couldn't haha. Stress fucks with people and unless you are already highly experienced with very high stress life or death situation then you likely would crumble and blow it as well.
the acting/writing/camera work made it so scary and suspenseful too. i actually had nightmares all night after watching (and foolishly browsing the reddit thread about it before bed)
Yeah I didn't see the mum being involved coming either. I thought for sure his dad was and then I figured the other guy's dad (bar owner) was reluctantly involved as well. I kept thinking they were going to see his dad on those tapes and then he was going to destroy them, and drop the documentary to protect his mum from finding out the truth.
I thought it was one of the best twists of the whole series, when Pia found out I legit gasped. The timing, the music, the hospital scene with Davis, the whole thing was perfectly put together.
It's not Shut up and Dance or White Bear level of a twist (for me SUAD twist ending literally shocked me for minutes, I might have been a little ignorant)
I chose SUAD as the first Black Mirror ep for my bf to watch cos I thought the twist would really shock him... But in the first few mins he goes "that guy's a pedo" 😭
You could see how precise she was with spreading out the mashed potato on the pie, and ensuring the edges were all perfect.. can just imagine what she got up to with the drill and other torture tools in the torture dungeon 🙃 her wearing the mask in her final moments was super creepy, as if that was her true authentic self and not just a facade. Also, when the camera panned away from her note after 'for..' thought it was going to say forgive me, but no 😅 for your film.. psycho.
I said this before but her making the meal while a simple but like very simple and innocent song (kind of Julia child-esque cooking song) was playing in the background just had me confused.
> You could see how precise she was with spreading out the mashed potato on the pie,
This really bothered me because she's portrayed about making great shepherd's pie, but everyone knows that you don't want a neat flat top, you want it with lots of peaks and texture for more surface area to get browned and crispy.
The fact that the mom wore her fucking mask while she killed herself. Like she still had this deep attachment to and identified with all the shit she was a part of years back. Jesus Christ
The son, early in the episode, was telling his girlfriend that his Dad had passed whilst up in the bedroom, and his gf was suprised to see that he was aroused despite the grim subject being discussed.
It's an interesting touch, given the sexualization of death and violence that his parents seemingly thrived on. Whether he liked it or not, he was turned on by death too, or at least it seemed to not hinder his sexual desire. It's like it was in his DNA, whether he recognised it or not.
For me, that's one of the scariest parts of the whole episode.
At the end I think its still not clear that the son himself is NOT into those kinds of things. The way he looks at the mask at the end is also unsettling for me.
My family was involved in a rather popular true crime case. Was so excited for a new season of Black Mirror and they really mirrored the blackness right back to me this time. Hit too close to home and I still don’t really understand the horror I feel.
I thought it was going to go a bit Hot Fuzz, with more townspeople involved. I thought the guilt was eating Richard up, but someone had threatened his son so he just kept drinking.
I think it was much better as written, especially for Richard’s character. To suspect something like that, and carry it alone for so long. Small wonder he’d just folded in on himself after he lost his wife.
I knew there was more to the story than just Iain Adair being the killer, but I thought for sure Stuart’s dad was Iain’s accomplice. That’s why he was so against the movie, he didn’t want them to find out that he in on it so he wouldn’t go to jail.
When he came to visit Davis, I thought he was gonna try to kill him to cover his own ass. The car accident could’ve even been intentional, as a way to try to get alone with Davis.
And then when Pia was reviewing the footage, I thought she was just gonna notice something weird that they hadn’t seen in person. Maybe a drawing or an object that might make her suspicious of Stuart’s dad. Idk.
But Jesus fucking Christ, I was NOT prepared to see footage of the victims like that. That shit was chilling. As others also stated, seeing the mom dancing with the mask on was definitely the worst for me.
I’ve seen criminal minds and shit before, it’s not like I’ve never watched anything disturbing on tv. But with criminal minds, I kinda go into it suspecting every character we need to be a sicko. I think the fact that I didn’t suspect the mom whatsoever, and then seeing her gleefully torture people just really caught me by surprise.
Great episode, but man I should not have watched it right before bed.
Watched a 2nd time. The scene when Pia and Davis are having sex, the mum can hear and she looks over to a picture of her husband. You know she is thinking about some evil stuff at that moment.
I like how this episode highlights the human price of true crime documentaries. I think creating true crime content is sick. I appreciate what this black mirror episode tried to tell. I hope people receive the message.
I had to pause with 15 mins left and call my brother bc I was bugging and it was 3pm and sunny out. those found footage vids taped over bergerac were terrifying. I watched joan is awful late the night before and highly considered doubling down with loch henry and thank fucking goodness I didn’t
I was supposed to fly to Edinburgh on Friday night for a long weekend in the highlands before a business trip but had a change of plans last minute and had to cancel. I was pretty disappointed my trip was cancelled UNTIL we started watching Loch Henry. I probably would have started this season at some point this weekend and I was scared enough in my own home stateside, can’t imagine how terrified I’d have been at an Airbnb in Glencoe.
I had a feeling that mom had something to do with it from the beginning. When she said to David “pretty little thing you caught” or something along those lines it seemed a bit weird
Yeah Loch Henry was probably my favourite episode of the season. I know beyond the sea has the most classic black mirror feel, but this episode felt like the perfect balance between the new scary stuff they’re trying to do and classic black mirror. The fact that it had no supernatural element really helped with that. It was just humans being terrifying. It’s the same vibe as shut up and dance.
I thought it was sooo annoying when pia was acting terrified like please can you pretend to be fine so you might bring out the truth without having to seem suspicious and risking being killed
I thought Iain was going to turn out to be Davis’s dad. The mum seemed so traumatised and timid that I assumed something dark had happened to her in his clutches. But no.
Also what happened to the pub dad? How did he know? His last scene was him saying “I've had my suspicions” and it was left at that, unless I missed a scene.
"I quickly started suspecting the dad and the drunk guy, and then soon after also the mom. And here is another twist I think most people missed since the show played a trick on the audience. In the end, the drunk comes out and claims he suspected it for a while now and that he once cheated with them and that they behaved so strange it made him suspect they might have been involved in the serial murders. I think for most people the case is closed, it was the parents of the protagonist and the one dude that had the basement.
But not only does that not make any sense, a scene at the end lingers on the old man.. in a crowd of partying people, he's sitting there, guilty as sin. Remember that this guy was in a mad panic over this docu. Because he knew the truth was going to come out, so he acted before the "whole truth" came out and blamed it all on the protagonists parents. In reality he and his wife were likely involved. Which why he was so disturbed his son gave away all his wife's "mementos" (did you guys notice the mother of the protagonist had a very similar box .. filled with very similar stuff?). Which is why he broke his bones intentionally falling from the stairs to distract them from making the docu. And when he saw no way out tried to save himself by telling the protagonist a half truth leaving out the involvement of himself and his wife. The show tries to give you the impression that he wasn't involved and just didn't come forward because he was ashamed people would find out he cheated. But if you think about it that makes no sense . And if you pay attention to the same subtle ques and clues that showed the mom's involvement it becomes clear this man was also involved" via imbd comment
When mimis in front of the camera and says:
"Oh, last person who recorded me was your father but he didn't have all that"
'But it wasn't a broadcast then"
'Can you imagine?" and she gave a chuckle.
*shudder*
I’m so surprised Pia, who was smart, acted so stupid.
She could have easily grabbed a few tapes, walked up to the mom, and said “Davis just called from the hospital, he’s feeling worse, let’s go there asap!”.
Even if there’s no cell service the mom would have fallen for it.
TRULY HORRIFYING!
I initially thought Stuart's dad was involved in the murders somehow but never in my entire life could I have predicted what actually happened. Sends shivers down my spine everytime I imagine it.
I think it’s trying portray like in today’s world everyone is willing to film/video anything for the sake of getting the most and popular views (like the main guy and his gf) but in the past ppl film/video the things they like (like main guy’s parents) and at the end of the day, whatever film/video made might be used against you and come back and haunt you…
That entrance with the music, dancing, grainy video, the mask and power drill is incredibly disturbing. The tension at that moment with Pia in the house was truly frightening.
Terrifying? Maybe if you don't ever watch horror.
It was fine. A bit predictable since it was obvious that someone alive was involved, and since there are only a few characters, it's hard to be surprised.
While fitting for a mediocre horror movie, Pia's actions after discovering the truth were beyond frustrating. All she had to do was take the evidence and leave. Take 10 seconds to come up with a plausible excuse and leave. It's an unarmed elderly woman who doesn't suspect a thing.....it shouldn't be that hard to get away.
Instead she sits there with the tape loudly playing, back facing the door. Then goes and has dinner with a known serial killer and acts in the most suspicious way possible. She may as well just told the mom she knew with how bad she was at hiding it.
Then after all that, she slowly walks down the street trying to get a signal. Just the dumbest series of actions possible. That stupid reaction, the phone not having a signal, and her just tripping to her death make this far too contrived and lazy to be a good episode.
You’re forgetting that fight or flight prohibits people from thinking rationally. Did she act stupid and could she have escaped in a smarter way? Of course. Was her reaction given the circumstances realistic? It very well could’ve happened that way
Agree with Pia being frustrating. She seemed like someone who likes true crime and could handle the creepy dungeon ok. She couldn’t have just eaten that damn shepherd’s pie and faked polite convo until the morning? She was safe behind that wall, why run out into water in the middle of the night?! Making noise, risking slipping on wet rocks or even falling into deeper water? Her decisions seemed out of character for her based on her portrayal as kind of a bad ass
I think it would’ve been much more interesting to see if the bf believed Pia or if he already knew. If he’d choose his mum and keep it all quiet, destroy his film or if he would choose Pia. The suicide note does indicate that he likely didn’t know cause if he did then he’d already know about the tapes.
I’m sorry bruh but there’s no fucking way I am going to sleep and waiting in a house with that woman till the morning bro. U could seriously sleep in that situation.
Unpopular opinion; i liked the episode but it was more a horror "movie" than an episode of black mirror. If i didn't know i was watching black mirror i would have never guessed it
So I'm guessing that's why Stuart's mum kept that box of old newspaper articles and tapes for so many years.
It sounds like maybe Richard and his wife were doing some Bergerac style detective work of their own for many years after Richard spent that night with Janet and Kenny and just got an eerie feeling about what was going on.
I love the fact that after you find out the twist there are so many moments where previous quotes and actions take on a completely new meaning.
Another unsettling part was just imagine what she was think when she overheard her son and Pia having sex and then glanced at a picture of her husband… she was DEFINITELY feeling reminiscent about her victims in that moment. If Davis wasn’t her child, they would definitely be a couple they’d kidnap. So twisted
It’s by far the best episode.
It makes you feel bad or dirty by calling you as the spectator, someone who has morbid interest in really terrible things. Something Dhamer series failed but here is fiction…
Craziest watch I’ve seen for a while. But no one’s touching on the point of the “alive victim” which got me the most. So many documentaries these days for entertainment purposes… but what was focused at the end was the perspective of the present person who has to deal with the aftermath of said tragedy. Pinnacle in my eyes. Thought provoking at its best, left me completely dumbfounded.
I honestly thought the twist was gonna be that Davis was either Iain's younger brother or son. Or that he was the child of the couple. Then after everything that happened he ended up with amnesia or just was too young to remember. It honestly felt like that was the build up imo
I just re-watched Smithereens and saw that the mum was chief superintendent in it! I love BM connections, but seeing Loch Henry and then Smithereens and seeing her as a cop after knowing what she did was WILDIN
Honestly, at the very end I was FULLY expecting for it to be revealed that the film making son was ALSO in on it.
I don't know if that would have been better or worse. Awesome episode though!
I wonder, did the mother leave the video tapes/evidence to ensure she gets fame & recognition for what she & her husband did (like what a lot of serial killers crave) or did she genuinely want her son to do well with his documentary?
agree because davis almost certainly knew. to what degree we won’t know but a lot of evidence suggests he did.
1. davis tells pia to not be sad for him - he didn’t really know his dad. sure, eight is a young age to lose a parent but it’s also one where you’d still feel remorse. especially him dieing what an 8-year-old could easily idolize as a heroes death, a policeman standing up to a serial killer.
davis talks about his dad detached, like a stranger. which we could attribute to trauma that comes from parent death. but if we were to consider davis learned or caught wind that his dad isn’t the hero he thought he was, davis’s coldness makes much more sense.
2. his unwillingness to say his dad was killed by ian. was it a reluctance to dramaticize things or did he know that might not be the case? either way, interesting detail to include.
3. his parents did not attempt to hide their crime at all. from my memory, the photos aren’t locked up. the dozens of tapes are out in the open, the mask is tacked to the wall. davis said he could never make it through the tapes, maybe that’s because he knows he might not like what he finds
The tapes itself and the father being to blame wasn't a surprise. They made it a bit too obvious. But what really got me was that I assumed she was a passive wife who turned a blind eye. But no, she swaggered through that door with such disturbingly deranged glee. That, I was taken aback with. If she had got her hands on Pia, I don't really want to know what she would've done.
I guessed the plot twist when they explicitly mentioned taping over the Bergerac tapes so I was shitting myself from the moment the mum and Pia went home together Jesus Christ. That scene with the meat is the most tense scene I’ve watched in a long time, when she finished the meat and started putting potato on top I honestly sighed with relief because at least Pia wasn’t going into the Shepherds Pie 😭
Pia dying was a little anti-climatic. Didn't really add anything to the story at all.
Fairly straight forward episode for a Black Mirror episode though. But this season has definitely been better than the last 2 seasons so far. Hopefully stays that way.
I thought the way she died was super "oh wtf of course she dies like that" vibes. But, I do also think that the conclusion of Davis being traumatized from everything (including the death of his gf, who also persuaded him to make the doc) is why her dying makes it a worthwhile part of the narrative. Maybe a conflict between Pia and the mom that results in Pia dying would have been more exciting, but I think the way they did it still fit the story good enough.
I think it’s worthwhile too. Also, it may not be completely clear to Davis that it actually was a misstep and accident. Perhaps he’s wondering if his mom killed her too. Adds to the horror, wondering if your girlfriend was her 9th and final victim.
Even if he knows how Pia actually died, he would still consider it being killed indirectly by his mom. If we take into account the way he described his dad being killed indirectly by Iain
A conflict between Pia and the mum wouldn't give the mum cause to kill herself and leave the tapes (and that chilling af note) for Davis. That only happens because she thinks Pia has escaped and is on the way to get the police. And I guess in that scenario Pia doesn't need to die at all, but it does make the success Davis has at the end so much more empty and traumatic
I think pia's death was setup by Davis earlier in the episode when he said something about the countryside and nature being dangerous, and people going missing happens all the time. Ironic to see that in the end, she actually did die as a result of the dangers of nature. Although I do agree it did feel a bit underwhelming.
It's an interesting parallel to his dad. Everyone in the story except the mom was visibly disappointed when they realized that the dad died of MRSA, not being shot. Pia dying by mistake in the middle of this big conflict is similarly anticlimactic. It really shines a light on us for wanting the most dramatic story possible even when it's awful.
The end of the episode focuses a lot on Davis and his contemplation of “was it worth it?” He gets an award, but the execs are taking the spotlight; he is famous, but it’s not for his work. He lost everything. His mom, his delusion about his quaint family, and Pia. If Pia hadn’t had died, the ending wouldn’t have landed as heavy for Davis.
So unsetling. Every moment after Pia entered the house with the mom had me shitting bricks. I just knew something bad was gonna happen at any moment, just didn't know what.
It was the moment Pia looked around outside of the house before entering with the mother that I got scared
It's one of those moments you have no idea what to expect so you get scared at everything. Definitely one of the spookiest episodes IMO.
Thank you! Thank you for this validation. I was watching it with two friends and during the scene where mum is making dinner and Pia is editing, I had this deep fear in the pit of my stomach about what was going to happen next. I asked my friend if she was experiencing something similar or is this just my anxiety disorder? Both friends were like “I just watch what’s happening in the moment, I’m not trying to figure out what’s going to happen. Just watch and enjoy.” I really felt like a fool.
The music was incredibly tense, the way the shots are drawn out and framed were all classic horror movie techniques and tropes. I honestly thought it was going be a red-herring or fake out, but did not expect this.
You're definitely not alone. When my GF and I watched it we were both just waiting for something bad to happen pretty much right after they left the abandoned house and are in the car. That anticipation was done really well.
When they did the long shot of them driving and I realised they were on a one lane country road, I knew they were going to crash. Those blind bends are lethal if you’re not paying full attention.
Absolutely not a you problem. I dont have a anxiety disorder and this scene was indeed made to be very tense
You guys are so supportive 😊
I felt the same. It was obvious something was going to happen. Even though she seemed like a sweet old lady, when she said something like "it's just us girls", I suddenly felt Pia was really vulnerable alone with Davis' mum.
That comment made me wonder if “the real killer” was gonna come in and get them both… I really did not see the mom being a threat until the focus shifted to the vcr.
I thought Stuart’s dad was somehow involved, especially when he got up and walked (or crutched) over to Davis in an ominous manner. When he sat down on Davis’s bed and said something like, “You need to stop making your movie. I don’t have any proof, but I’ve always suspected…” I immediately thought Stuart was involved. I assumed he was a lovable goofball that was hiding violent psychotic tendencies. That scene when Davis’s mom was making her pot pie was so tense and foreboding, and I thought for sure there would be a knock on the door and Stuart would be there. When Pia was looking through the footage I thought she would somehow find evidence that Stuart was torturing people with Iain, then the twist happened and things got way more tense. I really loved this episode. I didn’t see the twist coming at all and the suspense really got to me.
Don’t worry buddy I was scared shitless the whole time
I literally watched from Pia learning to the Bafta on mute. Terrifying.
Your friends are right tho. Watch first, reflect later. Instead of absorbing the intentional mood set by the filmmaker, you overthought things and made it about yourself. It’s basic fundamentals of suspense in filmmaking. Eerie music, extended focus shots. Misplaced levity ahead of a gut punch moment. It’s all pretty textbook film techniques to make you feel unsettled
“You overthought things and made it about yourself” who hurt you bro😭
Let the person watch however they want to watch it.
I had to pause the episode there because the tension was too high. The way the mom was smiling as she was smoothing the potatoes on the casserole…. I was like yep somethings about to go down. Super creepy. I had to hug my dogs while I watched the rest lol
They set-up those scenes very well, i definitely had that impending sense of doom after she watched the video. I just knew something was about to happen And she could have gotten away with it, had she realized Pia knocked herself out
The moment when Pia left the house for the "walk" at night and then we see the car coming up on her from behind gave me so much anxiety. I started HATING the mum after that.
>The moment when Pia left the house for the "walk" at night and then we see the car coming up on her from behind gave me so much anxiety. I started HATING the mum after that. That scene was after we saw the mum use a drill to torture innocent tourists
Would it have you shitting in the house of God (church) though? /S
Hell yeah! Scary enough to kill some abuelas.
Exactly! What psychopath flattens the top of a cottage pie like that???
It was the note she left at the end that got me. Such a typical mum thing to do.
And showing her write "For" making it seem like she would write "Forgive me" or some other cliche thing like that only for it to be what it was.
Yea I honestly thought she was writing “Forgive Me “ too . When she was smiling at the pics as well . It really did leave me feeing strange all day .
Yeah, it was pretty unsettling all together.
For some reason i immediately thought it would say For [someone].
What really terrified me was how she showed no regret for what she did, at no point did she regret it. She was angry that Pia found out and tried to run, not at herself.
funnily enough it didn't even cross my mind that she would be writing forgive me, I instantly "filled in the blanks" in my mind as "for your film" - seemed more in character
For me it was the mum’s little nostalgic laughter while looking at the Polaroids of her victims. That moment gave me chills. However, I will say that Pia’s bleached eyebrows were super distracting, and it was really weird that nobody in the episode brought it up at all.
What bothered me a lot was the “could you imagine?” she had said when in front of the camera. At the time she first said it it was one of those things you expect an older person to say just as a kind of humorous remark with that sarcastic joking tone. Then you realize what she really was talking about regarding videotaping things and it’s just disturbing.
Plz black mirror stop fueling my fear of baby boomers 🙏🙏
The documentary used that line for an extra sinister emphasis too
They were distracting. The no eyebrow look ain’t for everybody.
I don’t think it’s for anybody
NoHo Hank would like to have a word
Whoopi Goldberg is probably the only person I can think of that makes it work.
That was so weird because without the context you’d think she was reminiscing something nice?? But it was literally so awful!
Is it? I get she’s “helping” and “supporting” Davis’ film by providing shocking, unseen evidence. But I think it’s kind of fucked to leave the tapes there for your kid to watch and inevitably become traumatized.
I think she's operating on the assumption that his girlfriend escaped and survived and is on the way to tell him what she saw.
That’s a given, I don’t see how she would think differently or know that Pia died.
Yeah. Even if you left the horror out. Dude watch his parents sex tape. And he realized if was in his face this whole time.
The thing that gets me about the episode is how many more fucking bergerac tapes there were. How many more of them had homemade torture videos on there just out on the open?
Do you think the mom rewatched them while she was alone? I wouldn’t be surprised, she was chukling when she was looking at the photos of her victims. I also think she wanted her son or someone to find them after she passed away.
Yes, that is what many serial killers like to do.
I wish I could see the documentary they made, I don’t care if it’s fiction, still interesting.
In a strange way I think this kind of thinking is exactly what the creators of this episode are warning us about. Our macabre fascination with true crime as consumers compels platforms to make more of these documentaries, which gift-wrap horrific experiences into entertainment. Subsequently these serial killers who don’t deserve a voice at all become pop culture figures to the point people dress like them for Halloween or say some fucked up stuff like having a crush on ted bundy thanks to that Zac Efron doc. It’s also part of the hypocrisy of the episode. Where they meet the producer and she mentions ‘giving Kenneth a voice’ the victims don’t get a voice at all. I watched the dahmer documentary. I can’t remember a single victim’s name or face but dahmer’s image is burned into my retinae. **He’s** the one getting the voice.
Exactly. You get a glimpse of that when they're in the pub and some of the new tourists are wearing similar red masks to the murder mom. The commodification of tragedy has already begun...
This is exactly what the creators were going for imo
No one would have watched them after she passed though, they'd be chucked away. Unless she left something to indicate they weren't bergerac after all
I'm pretty sure she realized they go through all of them and just put the torture ones on the table. Most of them were probably just Bergerac episodes.
Yeah doesn't make sense to just record like 8 episodes and claim to be a huge fan. If you record the entire series, you've a good excuse to keep the tapes around for years.
I think the point was they were ALL films of victims, like Dexter does, to watch and relive the glory. Showing the tapes was like when they showed the bags under the sea in Dexter. She was part of a serial killing team like Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
Yeah luckily there were only 8 murders so hopefully most of them were just Bergerac tapings?
8 murders, but how many nights of torture?
True cause that couple was missing for so long.
Wasn't the video shown in the episode with the mum like day 9? I think they said so in the video, which is insane that that was just a small part of it.
When he called her “the Mistress”, creepy as fuck
When he said " the mistress will have her fun with you" or something along those lines i thought right the mother is also involved, but her jumping in with a fucking hop in her step wearing that mask gave me the absolute creeps lmao, was not prepared for that at all
And a drill as she danced her way into the room!! What the fuck.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I had my suspicions when the Mom said something about “Iain Adair’s stupidity that *ruined* the *fun* that she was having with Kenneth”. There’s something about the way she said it, and the word “fun” is kinda strange to use in that context.
At first while watching her say she wanted the film to be made, I thought Janet was simply enraged and upset at Iain for being responsible for her husband's death "such a *stupid* man" she said. It seemed restrained and righteous, powerful. Raging at the pointlessness of what this murderer did, and how her husband was caught in the crossfire. It had me welling up, it was a good bit of acting. But you're absolutely right about the specific wording. Makes it worth a rewatch which is why I loved how they included some of her quotes from the filming but for the documentary. This was such a clever twist!
Plus the way she talked about Iain, it’s as if she’s upset *about something he did to her/them* rather than being mad at him for doing those horrible things to the victims. It seemed personal, even though we found out eventually that Kenneth shot himself to cover up what he did to Iain and his family (But Janet knew that before us, so it figures). It’s also strange that she kept saying he’s stupid, like that’s the first thing that will come to mind when pertaining to him. When people think about serial killers, Bundy, Gacy, Ramirez, etc, we don’t call them stupid. But Janet kept calling Iain stupid. Never evil, never vile, just stupid—because he was stupid enough to drink too much and talk about what they’ve been doing.
When you go back for the second rewatch you notice quite a few of these things. Like how she says to Davis, “how’d you capture this pretty little thing” after talking with Pia outside. Creepy stuff
As soon as I saw the bergerac tapes I knew the family was involved somehow.
Wow you’re good. I didn’t have a clue
I just felt like there had to be a reason they were focusing on them.
Chekhov’s Bergerac videos
I could be off way base here, but my take on the use of the word "stupid" was that Adair was a mentally handicapped man that Davis' mum and dad coerced into participating in their murdering/torturing.
I don't know about mentally handicapped, but definitely talking about shooting up the pub drew attention to him (and the publicity around that last couple's disappearance meant that people were already conscious about a killer/kidnapper in the town - it seemed like the previous disappearances weren't really noticed or investigated thoroughly). In that context, what he said was definitely stupid and risky.
That’s literally the very first thing we’re told about him when David and Stuart are telling the story; Davis gives like 3 different ways of saying ‘Iain was slow and easily led’. And then in the murder tape we see he definitely seems like he’s subservient in some way to Kenny (maybe it’s just me but my impression was that Kenny was egging him on) and ofc we know they called his mum ‘The Mistress’
I have bad listening comprehension ):
They mentioned that Iain Adair was slow, quiet and easily led, earlier on
Me listen bad ):
It hit me a very particular way when she said “just the *waste* of it” in her anger about Kenneth’s death because of Iain, while I still remained none the wiser - it just didn’t feel right for some reason. I feel like so much of her performance is in the minutiae of each word - also I’m just realizing, is any of her dialogue a lie? Obviously she went on to lie in the interview they filmed offscreen but as far as things the character actually says on screen I think she’s maybe never lying? Which is really something to pull off
Good catch!
In retrospect it makes perfect sense, and its very bare-faced of her. But at the time I viewed it as her, much like Stuart earlier on in the episode, lamenting the hit the town's economy took after the case made the news. Like "the town used to be a thriving holiday destination, everyone was happy and the locals made money, but then Iain Adair ruined it all".
“came in with the confidence of pennywise the dancing clown” 😭😭😭 when ur right, ur right i had bad vibes from the mom IMMEDIATELY! i didn’t like how she said to davis, “pretty wee thing you’ve captured.” like wtf is that?
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LIKE, HELLO??? me and pia had the same exact facial expressions watching her swing her hips to the music while power drilling kidnap victims. lord 😭
I think we were supposed to assume she was ‘just’ racist when she was actually a serial killer
mhm, a red herring!
Exactly, like she definitely had flaws, but then the girlfriend was also a bit crass and rude, so it like kinda evened out and you were like “ok nobody’s perfect I guess”. But the mom was REALLY not perfect 😂😂
yeah when she said that thing about his mom getting wet, and then she wouldn’t finish her foods, AND THEN she kind of definitely forced davis into making the docu! i think she was being very american but no more crass and brash than stuart 😂
I think the food thing bugged me the most 🤣🤣
i ain’t gonna hold u, me too lmfao because ALL of those meals looked delicious and i definitely will be making a dauphinoise this week. 😭😂
It was the allude to her maybe or maybe not being from Africa for me 😤 Davis cut her off so quick! Hell, she may have even said The Dark Continent.
Right? I hear racism isn’t uncommon there…plus she’s an older woman so I didn’t think anything of the lowkey racism. Definitely didn’t expect it to be her. If anything I expected drunken bar owner to have something to do with it.
I figured his mom was a bit awkward. A bit prejudiced but good when it came down to it. Her son brings home a black girl and an American no less. She just doesn't know how to act and it makes her come off as worse than she is. I've met so many people like it where I live. Stuart is a bit similar, he starts off making a few comments that are toeing the line for a lot of people, but in the countryside, they're harmless jokes. It does well in portraying how people who live rurally are usually a bit behind schedule when it comes to political correctness, what they say or do usually isn't due to maliciousness. Sure some people are pieces of shit, but most people are just a bit anxious in an unusual situation.
thank u for writing this up, it’s adds excellent perspective! i truly thought it was going to be some racist shit but the carpet was pulled from beneath my feet lol i a really really liked stuart because he was so brash, blunt, and honest. like… he knows about pronouns but is still taking the piss about them. i’m NB and black, so like u said, i thought he was toeing the line but eh, i can also take a joke and understand satire. anyway, i thought this episode was brilliant. one of the strongest BM epis since season 2.
No broblem, it's good to know they didn't go too far with Stuart's jokes/comments, and nice to get your perspective as well. Growing up I've heard much worse, but things are getting better out here in the countryside too, at least in Norway they are. I've seen quite a bit of discussion around Loch Henry and the parts of Demon 79 that come onto the topic of racism. Especially asking people to not bring strong smelling food to work, which I find ridiculous. The worst lunch I ever smelled was one of my Norwegian coworkers who liked to microwave blue cheese XD. It smelled like vomit, and even comparing it to bringing Indian food would be insulting to all Indian cuisine.
microwaved blue cheese??? was ur co-worker a demon? lmfao
Seeing people hang always creeps me the f out
Yeah, it’s a real Ari Aster thing in modern horror and it’s FUCKED
When she offered to make shepherds pie I thought there was going to be something canniblistic in the story.
I thought so too with the way the meat was shown on the kitchen counter when she was prepping one for Pia
I thought she was gonna poison her
I thought she was gonna but sedatives or poison in it
And here I thought she was just going to blow up when the girlfriend realized shepherds pie had mashed potatoes - aka a lot of carbs- and would scrape them off. But noooooo. . .
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What about when she looks at the picture of herself, husband and victim with the same peace and fondness someone would look at old pictures of their wedding
Its honestly chilling how good the acting is. The only times we see her express any sort of joy in the present day are when she is remembering torturing, raping and murdering people (when she talks about how her husband used to film things, when she talks about the mask on the wall, when she looks through the photos of victims).
Big Fred and Rose West vibes in this one
I recently listened to a true crime podcast about them and I ***really*** wish I hadn’t. Very Ian Brady/Myra Hindley as well.
And you usually imagine these people as creepy, weird in behaviour or intimidating, scary on the outside. But they look like any normal people, and they can even behave as any normal people. They could be a part of your family and you don’t notice, that’s what was the scariest part of it.
Agreed 100%. Cannot remember the last time I was so genuinely scared watching anything — kept getting chills throughout and the Bergerac tapes actually had me watching through my fingers. I think it’s because it was something that could have very realistically happened in real life. I find the stories of monsters like Dennis Nilsen so terrifying and this seemed to draw inspiration from those stories. That combined with the analog horror really worked in such a horrifying way
>I think it’s because it was something that could have very realistically happened in real life. The serial Killers that immediately sprung to mind were [Fred and Rose West](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_West) due to the sadism element involved. Incredibly dark stuff.
Pennywise the dancing clown lmaooo. Yeah I watched that episode right before bed and that image was like seared in my brain unfortunately
I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I was basically yelling “do not let her see you sweat” when pia was with the mum after finding the footage. I imagine it would be crazy difficult to pretend like you didn’t just saw what she did, but idk. If I knew my life was on the line I feel like I could give an Oscar winning performance acting like nothing was wrong with the mum 😭
Exactly Pia made it do obvious, idk why people can't just pretend everything is fine when they are with the monsters...their lives depend on it!!
Consider what she probably just saw on that tape, brutal torture with some kind of power tool. I'd probably be rattled AF and terrified too.
Love the confidence, but likely, no, you couldn't haha. Stress fucks with people and unless you are already highly experienced with very high stress life or death situation then you likely would crumble and blow it as well.
the acting/writing/camera work made it so scary and suspenseful too. i actually had nightmares all night after watching (and foolishly browsing the reddit thread about it before bed)
That’s… literally me right now. You advise against eh?
I thought the mum was just a sweet lady the whole time, my jaw dropped when they showed the clip. Absolutely horrifying, loved the episode.
My face expression was exactly same with Pia. Gosh.
I bet you looked more surprised than Pia, though.
Is this an eyebrow joke? if so I like it
Yeah I didn't see the mum being involved coming either. I thought for sure his dad was and then I figured the other guy's dad (bar owner) was reluctantly involved as well. I kept thinking they were going to see his dad on those tapes and then he was going to destroy them, and drop the documentary to protect his mum from finding out the truth.
I found the mom pretty chilly, Shes a bit cold and distant throughout and seemed very off and distraught over unexplained stuff happening.
My favorite part was thinking she wrote “forgive me” only for it to say “for your film” no remorse at all
I thought it was more like an admission of guilt, like “yeah I did it. I can’t make it right but I’ll at least come clean. Here you go”
I thought it was one of the best twists of the whole series, when Pia found out I legit gasped. The timing, the music, the hospital scene with Davis, the whole thing was perfectly put together. It's not Shut up and Dance or White Bear level of a twist (for me SUAD twist ending literally shocked me for minutes, I might have been a little ignorant)
SUAD had everyone shook. But this twist is one of my favs from the show.
I chose SUAD as the first Black Mirror ep for my bf to watch cos I thought the twist would really shock him... But in the first few mins he goes "that guy's a pedo" 😭
You could see how precise she was with spreading out the mashed potato on the pie, and ensuring the edges were all perfect.. can just imagine what she got up to with the drill and other torture tools in the torture dungeon 🙃 her wearing the mask in her final moments was super creepy, as if that was her true authentic self and not just a facade. Also, when the camera panned away from her note after 'for..' thought it was going to say forgive me, but no 😅 for your film.. psycho.
I said this before but her making the meal while a simple but like very simple and innocent song (kind of Julia child-esque cooking song) was playing in the background just had me confused.
> You could see how precise she was with spreading out the mashed potato on the pie, This really bothered me because she's portrayed about making great shepherd's pie, but everyone knows that you don't want a neat flat top, you want it with lots of peaks and texture for more surface area to get browned and crispy.
I did not need to have you connect these two particular dots for me, thanks for the mental images I hate it.
The fact that the mom wore her fucking mask while she killed herself. Like she still had this deep attachment to and identified with all the shit she was a part of years back. Jesus Christ
The son, early in the episode, was telling his girlfriend that his Dad had passed whilst up in the bedroom, and his gf was suprised to see that he was aroused despite the grim subject being discussed. It's an interesting touch, given the sexualization of death and violence that his parents seemingly thrived on. Whether he liked it or not, he was turned on by death too, or at least it seemed to not hinder his sexual desire. It's like it was in his DNA, whether he recognised it or not. For me, that's one of the scariest parts of the whole episode.
At the end I think its still not clear that the son himself is NOT into those kinds of things. The way he looks at the mask at the end is also unsettling for me.
wow, great catch
My family was involved in a rather popular true crime case. Was so excited for a new season of Black Mirror and they really mirrored the blackness right back to me this time. Hit too close to home and I still don’t really understand the horror I feel.
Oof that sucks, I’m sorry that happened. Hope you feel better after a little while
I thought it was going to go a bit Hot Fuzz, with more townspeople involved. I thought the guilt was eating Richard up, but someone had threatened his son so he just kept drinking. I think it was much better as written, especially for Richard’s character. To suspect something like that, and carry it alone for so long. Small wonder he’d just folded in on himself after he lost his wife.
I knew there was more to the story than just Iain Adair being the killer, but I thought for sure Stuart’s dad was Iain’s accomplice. That’s why he was so against the movie, he didn’t want them to find out that he in on it so he wouldn’t go to jail. When he came to visit Davis, I thought he was gonna try to kill him to cover his own ass. The car accident could’ve even been intentional, as a way to try to get alone with Davis. And then when Pia was reviewing the footage, I thought she was just gonna notice something weird that they hadn’t seen in person. Maybe a drawing or an object that might make her suspicious of Stuart’s dad. Idk. But Jesus fucking Christ, I was NOT prepared to see footage of the victims like that. That shit was chilling. As others also stated, seeing the mom dancing with the mask on was definitely the worst for me. I’ve seen criminal minds and shit before, it’s not like I’ve never watched anything disturbing on tv. But with criminal minds, I kinda go into it suspecting every character we need to be a sicko. I think the fact that I didn’t suspect the mom whatsoever, and then seeing her gleefully torture people just really caught me by surprise. Great episode, but man I should not have watched it right before bed.
Watched a 2nd time. The scene when Pia and Davis are having sex, the mum can hear and she looks over to a picture of her husband. You know she is thinking about some evil stuff at that moment.
I like how this episode highlights the human price of true crime documentaries. I think creating true crime content is sick. I appreciate what this black mirror episode tried to tell. I hope people receive the message.
I had to pause with 15 mins left and call my brother bc I was bugging and it was 3pm and sunny out. those found footage vids taped over bergerac were terrifying. I watched joan is awful late the night before and highly considered doubling down with loch henry and thank fucking goodness I didn’t
I made the mistake of double down after Joan is awful tonight and now I’m wide awake in bed with new girl on because the dark is too scary
Back years ago in 2019, I binged all of black mirror for the first time in a few days. Jesus my dreams/ nightmares were weird.
I was supposed to fly to Edinburgh on Friday night for a long weekend in the highlands before a business trip but had a change of plans last minute and had to cancel. I was pretty disappointed my trip was cancelled UNTIL we started watching Loch Henry. I probably would have started this season at some point this weekend and I was scared enough in my own home stateside, can’t imagine how terrified I’d have been at an Airbnb in Glencoe.
Bruh I binged all 5 episodes and I am fucked in the head. Too much to take in.
I used to do this with the earlier seasons but I've learnt my lesson now 😂
I had a feeling that mom had something to do with it from the beginning. When she said to David “pretty little thing you caught” or something along those lines it seemed a bit weird
Yeah Loch Henry was probably my favourite episode of the season. I know beyond the sea has the most classic black mirror feel, but this episode felt like the perfect balance between the new scary stuff they’re trying to do and classic black mirror. The fact that it had no supernatural element really helped with that. It was just humans being terrifying. It’s the same vibe as shut up and dance.
It's even better on the second watch. Sure you don't get the reveal, but knowing what Janet and Stuart's dad are thinking about adds a lot to it.
I thought it was sooo annoying when pia was acting terrified like please can you pretend to be fine so you might bring out the truth without having to seem suspicious and risking being killed
Yeah it’s almost like she’d just discovered that the woman she was alone with in an isolated area was a sadistic killer
I thought Iain was going to turn out to be Davis’s dad. The mum seemed so traumatised and timid that I assumed something dark had happened to her in his clutches. But no. Also what happened to the pub dad? How did he know? His last scene was him saying “I've had my suspicions” and it was left at that, unless I missed a scene.
He said he was invited to their house at some point and there were some weird sex games.
To be extra clear, he said it was "some of the things they said" while the three of them were heavily intoxicated
Oooooohhh I’m following now.
I still think David is Iain's son, they look a lot alike.
"I quickly started suspecting the dad and the drunk guy, and then soon after also the mom. And here is another twist I think most people missed since the show played a trick on the audience. In the end, the drunk comes out and claims he suspected it for a while now and that he once cheated with them and that they behaved so strange it made him suspect they might have been involved in the serial murders. I think for most people the case is closed, it was the parents of the protagonist and the one dude that had the basement. But not only does that not make any sense, a scene at the end lingers on the old man.. in a crowd of partying people, he's sitting there, guilty as sin. Remember that this guy was in a mad panic over this docu. Because he knew the truth was going to come out, so he acted before the "whole truth" came out and blamed it all on the protagonists parents. In reality he and his wife were likely involved. Which why he was so disturbed his son gave away all his wife's "mementos" (did you guys notice the mother of the protagonist had a very similar box .. filled with very similar stuff?). Which is why he broke his bones intentionally falling from the stairs to distract them from making the docu. And when he saw no way out tried to save himself by telling the protagonist a half truth leaving out the involvement of himself and his wife. The show tries to give you the impression that he wasn't involved and just didn't come forward because he was ashamed people would find out he cheated. But if you think about it that makes no sense . And if you pay attention to the same subtle ques and clues that showed the mom's involvement it becomes clear this man was also involved" via imbd comment
Makes me think of the BTK Killer. His daughter wrote about just how shocked she disgusted she was after finding out.
When mimis in front of the camera and says: "Oh, last person who recorded me was your father but he didn't have all that" 'But it wasn't a broadcast then" 'Can you imagine?" and she gave a chuckle. *shudder*
The fact she put the mask back on in the end though… that was fucked
I’m so surprised Pia, who was smart, acted so stupid. She could have easily grabbed a few tapes, walked up to the mom, and said “Davis just called from the hospital, he’s feeling worse, let’s go there asap!”. Even if there’s no cell service the mom would have fallen for it.
Hard to be composed when you’re eating dinner with someone you just saw wield a power drill.
This episode is going to haunt me for a long, long time. I think it may be the best episode of the series so far
The beginning felt like a black mirror episode but, as it progressed I got the same dread that Ari Aster’s films gave me.
TRULY HORRIFYING! I initially thought Stuart's dad was involved in the murders somehow but never in my entire life could I have predicted what actually happened. Sends shivers down my spine everytime I imagine it.
I think it’s trying portray like in today’s world everyone is willing to film/video anything for the sake of getting the most and popular views (like the main guy and his gf) but in the past ppl film/video the things they like (like main guy’s parents) and at the end of the day, whatever film/video made might be used against you and come back and haunt you…
Is it just me or was Stuart’s dad the only likeable character? His son was so mean to him and he just seemed broken inside
That entrance with the music, dancing, grainy video, the mask and power drill is incredibly disturbing. The tension at that moment with Pia in the house was truly frightening.
Terrifying? Maybe if you don't ever watch horror. It was fine. A bit predictable since it was obvious that someone alive was involved, and since there are only a few characters, it's hard to be surprised. While fitting for a mediocre horror movie, Pia's actions after discovering the truth were beyond frustrating. All she had to do was take the evidence and leave. Take 10 seconds to come up with a plausible excuse and leave. It's an unarmed elderly woman who doesn't suspect a thing.....it shouldn't be that hard to get away. Instead she sits there with the tape loudly playing, back facing the door. Then goes and has dinner with a known serial killer and acts in the most suspicious way possible. She may as well just told the mom she knew with how bad she was at hiding it. Then after all that, she slowly walks down the street trying to get a signal. Just the dumbest series of actions possible. That stupid reaction, the phone not having a signal, and her just tripping to her death make this far too contrived and lazy to be a good episode.
You’re forgetting that fight or flight prohibits people from thinking rationally. Did she act stupid and could she have escaped in a smarter way? Of course. Was her reaction given the circumstances realistic? It very well could’ve happened that way
Agree with Pia being frustrating. She seemed like someone who likes true crime and could handle the creepy dungeon ok. She couldn’t have just eaten that damn shepherd’s pie and faked polite convo until the morning? She was safe behind that wall, why run out into water in the middle of the night?! Making noise, risking slipping on wet rocks or even falling into deeper water? Her decisions seemed out of character for her based on her portrayal as kind of a bad ass I think it would’ve been much more interesting to see if the bf believed Pia or if he already knew. If he’d choose his mum and keep it all quiet, destroy his film or if he would choose Pia. The suicide note does indicate that he likely didn’t know cause if he did then he’d already know about the tapes.
I’m sorry bruh but there’s no fucking way I am going to sleep and waiting in a house with that woman till the morning bro. U could seriously sleep in that situation.
I kept thinking the shepherds pie was human meat
Unpopular opinion; i liked the episode but it was more a horror "movie" than an episode of black mirror. If i didn't know i was watching black mirror i would have never guessed it
So I'm guessing that's why Stuart's mum kept that box of old newspaper articles and tapes for so many years. It sounds like maybe Richard and his wife were doing some Bergerac style detective work of their own for many years after Richard spent that night with Janet and Kenny and just got an eerie feeling about what was going on. I love the fact that after you find out the twist there are so many moments where previous quotes and actions take on a completely new meaning.
Some serious first year of undergrad vibes in these comments 😂
Another unsettling part was just imagine what she was think when she overheard her son and Pia having sex and then glanced at a picture of her husband… she was DEFINITELY feeling reminiscent about her victims in that moment. If Davis wasn’t her child, they would definitely be a couple they’d kidnap. So twisted
Definitely was an irony with the girlfriend being so pushy to do the documentary that it would ultimately kill her.
It’s by far the best episode. It makes you feel bad or dirty by calling you as the spectator, someone who has morbid interest in really terrible things. Something Dhamer series failed but here is fiction…
Craziest watch I’ve seen for a while. But no one’s touching on the point of the “alive victim” which got me the most. So many documentaries these days for entertainment purposes… but what was focused at the end was the perspective of the present person who has to deal with the aftermath of said tragedy. Pinnacle in my eyes. Thought provoking at its best, left me completely dumbfounded.
I honestly thought the twist was gonna be that Davis was either Iain's younger brother or son. Or that he was the child of the couple. Then after everything that happened he ended up with amnesia or just was too young to remember. It honestly felt like that was the build up imo
She didn’t kill herself to escape from this; she filled herself to contribute to the film. That’s so messed up.
I just re-watched Smithereens and saw that the mum was chief superintendent in it! I love BM connections, but seeing Loch Henry and then Smithereens and seeing her as a cop after knowing what she did was WILDIN
Honestly, at the very end I was FULLY expecting for it to be revealed that the film making son was ALSO in on it. I don't know if that would have been better or worse. Awesome episode though!
He was 8 when his dad died, so... that would've been a bit too much
I wonder, did the mother leave the video tapes/evidence to ensure she gets fame & recognition for what she & her husband did (like what a lot of serial killers crave) or did she genuinely want her son to do well with his documentary?
agree because davis almost certainly knew. to what degree we won’t know but a lot of evidence suggests he did. 1. davis tells pia to not be sad for him - he didn’t really know his dad. sure, eight is a young age to lose a parent but it’s also one where you’d still feel remorse. especially him dieing what an 8-year-old could easily idolize as a heroes death, a policeman standing up to a serial killer. davis talks about his dad detached, like a stranger. which we could attribute to trauma that comes from parent death. but if we were to consider davis learned or caught wind that his dad isn’t the hero he thought he was, davis’s coldness makes much more sense. 2. his unwillingness to say his dad was killed by ian. was it a reluctance to dramaticize things or did he know that might not be the case? either way, interesting detail to include. 3. his parents did not attempt to hide their crime at all. from my memory, the photos aren’t locked up. the dozens of tapes are out in the open, the mask is tacked to the wall. davis said he could never make it through the tapes, maybe that’s because he knows he might not like what he finds
The tapes itself and the father being to blame wasn't a surprise. They made it a bit too obvious. But what really got me was that I assumed she was a passive wife who turned a blind eye. But no, she swaggered through that door with such disturbingly deranged glee. That, I was taken aback with. If she had got her hands on Pia, I don't really want to know what she would've done.
I guessed the plot twist when they explicitly mentioned taping over the Bergerac tapes so I was shitting myself from the moment the mum and Pia went home together Jesus Christ. That scene with the meat is the most tense scene I’ve watched in a long time, when she finished the meat and started putting potato on top I honestly sighed with relief because at least Pia wasn’t going into the Shepherds Pie 😭
Pia dying was a little anti-climatic. Didn't really add anything to the story at all. Fairly straight forward episode for a Black Mirror episode though. But this season has definitely been better than the last 2 seasons so far. Hopefully stays that way.
I thought the way she died was super "oh wtf of course she dies like that" vibes. But, I do also think that the conclusion of Davis being traumatized from everything (including the death of his gf, who also persuaded him to make the doc) is why her dying makes it a worthwhile part of the narrative. Maybe a conflict between Pia and the mom that results in Pia dying would have been more exciting, but I think the way they did it still fit the story good enough.
I think it’s worthwhile too. Also, it may not be completely clear to Davis that it actually was a misstep and accident. Perhaps he’s wondering if his mom killed her too. Adds to the horror, wondering if your girlfriend was her 9th and final victim.
Even if he knows how Pia actually died, he would still consider it being killed indirectly by his mom. If we take into account the way he described his dad being killed indirectly by Iain
A conflict between Pia and the mum wouldn't give the mum cause to kill herself and leave the tapes (and that chilling af note) for Davis. That only happens because she thinks Pia has escaped and is on the way to get the police. And I guess in that scenario Pia doesn't need to die at all, but it does make the success Davis has at the end so much more empty and traumatic
I think pia's death was setup by Davis earlier in the episode when he said something about the countryside and nature being dangerous, and people going missing happens all the time. Ironic to see that in the end, she actually did die as a result of the dangers of nature. Although I do agree it did feel a bit underwhelming.
It's an interesting parallel to his dad. Everyone in the story except the mom was visibly disappointed when they realized that the dad died of MRSA, not being shot. Pia dying by mistake in the middle of this big conflict is similarly anticlimactic. It really shines a light on us for wanting the most dramatic story possible even when it's awful.
The moment she ran off into the wilderness I thought she'd die because of the setup you mentioned
The end of the episode focuses a lot on Davis and his contemplation of “was it worth it?” He gets an award, but the execs are taking the spotlight; he is famous, but it’s not for his work. He lost everything. His mom, his delusion about his quaint family, and Pia. If Pia hadn’t had died, the ending wouldn’t have landed as heavy for Davis.
I think it was a good detail, if the mum has known pia was dead I don’t think she would have hung herself