Commentary: ‘Black Mirror’ Managed To Out Matrix ‘The Matrix’

The Matrix was not the first to pioneer a group of characters heading to the center of an infrastructure hoping to find a grandmaster of reality, but it is a very notable story that did just that. It should also be noted that it took this idea and applied it wholly to a computer program. Since they are built around a source code, there is something at the heart of the digital world from which everything else is built. This concept came to life in The Matrix Reloaded when Neo (Keanu Reeves) encountered the Architect (Helmut Bakaitis), a sophisticated program responsible for making sure the Matrix functions properly. Black Mirror’s sequel episode, “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” employed a similar concept, and it actually pulled it off better than The Matrix.

The episode follows the adventures of Captain Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti) as she leads her crew of digital copies out of the prison reality created for them by video game designer Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons). Unfortunately, they wind up in an online science fiction video game filled with ruthless players they have to steal from in order to survive. In an effort to escape the game, Nanette heads to the center of the game’s universe, which they believe is the game’s source code. In reality, it’s a digital clone of Daly, who is trapped there to create new worlds in the game for all eternity.

The Architect was supposed to be a big reveal in The Matrix, but it ultimately fell a little short. In order to simulate a computer, the character was stiff and wordy, but it came across as annoying. The copy of Robert Daly in the game serves a similar purpose, but the show pulls it off much better. In this instance, viewers are already familiar with Daly, but this is a different version of him — not yet corrupted by the events of the first episode. There’s also some sympathy there as he is a former villain turned prisoner in the audience’s eyes. He presents Nanette with a choice to save herself or her crew, which is exactly what a figure in his position would do. It brings a sense of humanity to this digital world that was missing during the same interaction in The Matrix.

Black Mirror is now streaming on Netflix.