Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 3 recap: A dream come true?

The third episode of the seventh season of Black Mirror turns a dream into reality. But is that reality as good as the dream? That's a tricky question to answer. The Black Mirror episode, 'Hotel Reverie,' focuses on a struggling studio, Keyworth Pictures, that used to be a big name in the black-and-white era. A tech company representative, Kimmy, comes to her rescue with a software called Redream, which can cast any actor into an AI-simulated movie set.

This Black Mirror episode introduces us to Brandy Friday, a rising Hollywood actor who is tired of playing supportive characters and wants something different. She wants to play a lead in a romance, in a movie like one of her favorite films, Hotel Reverie. Hence, when Keyworth Pictures remakes their classic film Hotel Reverie through the Redream software, Brandy wants to play the lead character. She eventually gets cast as the lead, Alex Palmer, opposite an AI version of Clara (played by Emma Corrin), who Dorothy Chambers originally played.

What is the Hotel Reverie episode of Black Mirror really about?

Black Mirror's episode Hotel Reverie explores the realities of technology, love, and stardom. The logline for the episode reads,

''A high-tech remake of a classic film sends its A-list star into another dimension, where she must stick to the script if she ever wants to make it home.''

Brandy Friday, played by Issa Rae, arrives at the shooting of the Hotel Reverie remake with no knowledge about Redream. She is briefed about it by Kimmy, played by Akwafina, and then immersed into the AI-simulated world of the original movie. Brandy is told to stick to the script and say her lines, and if she messes up, she will be pulled out of the simulation.

Brandy does as she is asked to do, and things go smoothly for a while. However, in one scene, Brandy affects the story arc by mistake, as she cannot play the piano that her character is supposed to play. She tries to get back on track but calls Clara, Dorothy by mistake, which makes the simulation Clara feel things the real Dorothy must have felt in her real life. Other plotholes are created, which makes it impossible for the Redream team to pull Brandy out of the simulation until she says the last lines of the film and reaches the end credits.

They decide to continue, and the shooting continues. However, Clara acts a little differently than she is programmed to. The team continues to shoot until an engineer in the team spills coffee over the tech system and they lose live footage and connection to Brandy. However, time moves faster in the simulation, and Alex and Clara have spent days together before the Redream team has access to them again. Brandy and Clara fall in love in the days they spend in the simulation while the team works on fixing the system.

Once the system is restored, Cara forgets everything, and Brandy has to finish the film heartbroken. The film continues with more changes occurring in the story arc, and Clara dies in Alex's (Brandy) arms. As the film ends, Brandy says,

''I'll be yours forevermore.''

and the credits roll. Brandy is pulled out of the simulation, and the remake of Hotel Reverie is a success. At the end of the Black Mirror episode, Kimmy sends Brandy a telephone and a file that has an AI version of Dorothy so that Brandy can talk to her again. But it's not the same as the real person, and Brandy is still heartbroken.

Through this Black Mirror episode, we also learn how Dorothy, a star of her time, led a double life. She was a queer woman in a society that would not accept her true self. Hence, despite being successful, she struggled in her personal life and finally died by overdose of sleeping pills. The real Dorothy never got to live the life she wanted to. Black Mirror, through Hotel Reverie, shows us how far technology can take us, but also its irreversible consequences. The simulation malfunction did not kill Brandy (but it could have), but it altered her life significantly.

It was a dream come true for Brandy to work on the remake of her favorite film. However, her experience is far from what she had hoped for. She pursued her dream project and found love, only to lose it. Dorothy had lived a difficult life without love for stardom, but her only escape was death. Black Mirror sheds light on these aspects of love and stardom while portraying how the only winner here is technology.

All seasons of Black Mirror are currently streaming on Netflix.

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