Updated Review - 10/20/2023
Black Museum takes the basic outline of White Christmas but instead examines artifacts, telling the dark secrets behind them. The three stories told by the museum curator are all twisted and disturbing in their own ways. The first story feels like a sci-fi version of Crank, which gets more ridiculous as it goes along. The second story is the most memorable, as the grief of losing his wife turns sour once she becomes bitter and angry inside of his head. The third story of the man on death row is brief, but is crucial for the twist ending. It's revealed this was a rescue mission from the start with a backseat passenger along for the ride.
Overall the directing and writing are just average. Douglas Hodge and Letitia Wright are the standouts, though their screen time in the museum feels short. As the overarching story in the museum progresses, they divert our attention to the stories the end up feeling like filler without much to invest in. After taking their sweet time on the first two stories, oddly enough the ending feels rushed. It's an episode you must see twice to pick up on the subtle details, but on a third viewing it's much less engaging than the first time around.
7/10
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Review from 5/11/2019
Nish stops at a charging station for her car and visits a nearby museum. She meets Rolo Haynes who tells her about some of the disturbing artifacts.
Haynes was a neurological research recruiter and convinced Dr. Peter Dawson to test an implant that would allow him to feel the physical sensations of others. He felt the pain of his patients and the pleasure of his wife during sex. After experiencing death and surviving, Dawson becomes addicted to feeling pain.
Haynes tells the story of a stuffed monkey. Jack and Carrie have a baby boy and Carrie is put in a coma after a car accident. Haynes convinces his Jack to transfer Carrie's consciousness into his brain. Jack becomes annoyed with her and Haynes allows him to put her on pause. Jack meets a new woman who wants Carrie out of his head for good. They have Carrie transferred into a stuffed monkey where she has only a happy and a sad phrase to speak.
Haynes shows Nish the main attraction, a hologram of a convicted murderer, Clayton Leigh. Before his execution, Haynes got Leigh to sign over his post-death consciousness rights, torturing his hologram in an electric chair and profiting from it.
Haynes begins choking after Nish gives him poisoned water. Nish is revealed to be Clayton's daughter and she transfers Haynes' consciousness into Clayton's hologram. She shocks the Clayton and Haynes until they disappear, taking a keychain with Haynes being shocked indefinitely. She escapes the museum with the monkey and burns it down. Her mother's consciousness is inside Nish, happy to see her husband free.
There are many artifacts in the museum and other Easter eggs from previous episodes, tying together the Black Mirror universe. They seem to be further into the future, as laws have changed regarding the use of cookies and uploaded consciousnesses. Haynes is clearly a shady con-artist and Nish has a plan to take him down from the beginning.
The directing by Colm McCarthy is excellent, reminiscent of White Christmas. The stories are disturbing and interesting with a twist you won't see coming. The sayings, "Monkey Loves You" and "Monkey Needs a Hug" will haunt and comfort you at the same time.
9/10.
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