Black Mirror Season 2 Episode 1 Recap – Be Right Back

Ash is in a car scrolling through his phone while listening to the news. Martha knocks on the car’s window calling for Ash to open the door. Her hands are occupied with coffee. She asks Ash to get the coffee in her hands, but Ash isn’t paying attention. She calls him again and tells him her hands are already burning while holding the hot coffee. Ash says sorry and takes the coffee from her. They go home, singing happily while getting to their destination.

While on the way, they discuss a bit about the music they listen to. Ash says he listens to the Bee Gees, but Martha says otherwise. She tells Ash he hasn’t played a single Bee Gees song for ten years. Ash tells her he listens through his headphones. Martha challenges him about his favorite Bee Gees track. Ash answers, “How Deep Is Your Love.” Martha tells him it’s not very him. Ash starts singing the song for her.

Martha and Ash arrive at their old house. Martha makes him choose between tomatoes or roasted tomatoes, but Ash isn’t paying full attention again. She throws a towel at him to check if he’s still solid. She says he keeps vanishing with his phone and calls it a thief. She sits beside him. Ash tells him he is sharing a photo online because people may find it funny. Martha says it’s not funny because it’s sweet. Ash disagrees and tells her some stories about their trip to Safari Park. It was their first family outing after Jack died. Everyone was quiet. The next morning, all of Jack’s photos were taken off the wall. She did the same when his father died. She left just one photo in the entire house, a photo of a boy faking his smile.

Ash tells Martha to get dressed because Van is coming. He will do them an extra day for them, Martha has work to do due on that day, so she can’t join him. Ash leaves the house. Martha continues her work. Evening comes, but she is still not finished with what she is doing, and Ash hasn’t returned home. Martha tries calling Ash, but he is not answering her call. She calls customer service, but they tell her Ash is not back yet. She calls her sister to tell her that Ash is not back yet. She worries something terrible could have happened to him.

A police patrol car stops in front of their house. She opens the door for them, but she quickly closes it too. The next day, Martha goes to the funeral. She sits down beside Sarah. Sarah tells her she can’t believe what happened. It’s just like what happened to Mark. She also tells Martha she can help her sign up for something that can help her because it helped her. Martha tells her to stop, but Sarah keeps babbling about that “something.” Martha shouts and tells her to shut up. Martha leaves while her sister accompanies her.

Martha goes home alone. She cleans the whole house, goes to the attic and sees some of the pictures there. Her daily life continues, but it’s not the same anymore. She reads the messages sent to her email and sees Sarah’s message saying she signed her up. She also receives a message from Ash, but it’s just a software using Ash’s name. That is what Sarah was talking about. Martha calls Sarah and tells her it’s sick. But Sarah says it helps.

The following day, Martha continues her work when she feels the need to puke. She immediately goes to the toilet and vomits. Martha tries a pregnancy test — positive. Martha calls Naomi. She isn’t available to talk, so she tells her to call as soon as she gets her voice message. Martha keeps on crying. She doesn’t know what to do until she remembers the app Sarah told her. She tries it and clicks on “Touch to Talk.” Ash greets her, even making a joke. She cries because it feels real. She tells Ash she is pregnant. Ash says he wished he’s with Martha at the moment. Martha bursts into tears.

After a while, Martha calms down. Naomi calls her and tells her she’ll come over, but Martha stops her. She tells Naomi she’s fine. That night, she chats with Ash and tells him she hopes she can talk to him. Martha plays different videos with Ash to feed them into the app. Ash tells her he will call him when he’s ready. After a while, Ash calls her.

Martha once again bursts into tears when she hears Ash’s voice. It feels real. Martha hikes alone. She’s talking with Ash. She tells him a story about their memories of hiking. She happily talks to Ash as if he’s real. Martha sits down on the grass. Ash asks Martha to show him what she’s seeing by using her phone. Her sister calls her again, but she drops it and continues talking with Ash.

Martha has her ultrasound. She records her ultrasound to send it to Ash’s system. They talk while Martha fixes her sweater while walking. She drops her phone and panics. She tries to talk with Ash, but his voice isn’t clear. She rushes home. She tries fixing her phone by charging it. Ash calls. Martha apologizes, but Ash tells her it’s okay. Ash assures her he’s not going anywhere. Ash tells her they can take it to another level, but it’s expensive.

A package for Martha arrives. It’s a big package. Martha slowly opens the package. It creeps her out a bit when she sees what’s inside. She asks for Ash’s help, so she takes a picture and feeds it into the app. Ash tells Martha to get the bath ready. Martha puts the package in the bathtub. Ash tells her everything she must do, then tells her to leave the bathroom and wait.

While waiting, Martha hears something. She slowly approaches where the sound is coming from. The package Martha bought became a real human Ash. He appears in front of her and asks her to lend him some clothes. Martha cannot believe what she is seeing. The Ash in front of her asks for a towel and some clothes because he is dripping wet, but Martha doesn’t seem to hear what he said. She keeps on staring at the Ash in front of her. After some time, Martha slowly touches him. It does look like Ash. Martha checks every part of Ash; everything is just in the same place. She cries.

Martha wakes up and gets surprised to see Ash beside her. Martha is working when he enters the room. Ash asks her if she needs something like water, coffee, or juice, but Martha refuses. Martha apologizes to Ash because she still cannot believe Ash is in front of her. She tells him she needs time to get used to it. Naomi visits her unexpectedly, so she pushes Ash to get inside their bedroom to hide. Naomi tells her she’s not answering calls or texts, so she decides to check on her. Come evening, Naomi leaves. She tells Martha to get in touch with her, and she’s happy that Martha is trying to move on — she saw a man’s clothes in the bathroom. Naomi gets a bit nosy but stops immediately when Martha just stares at her.

Ash asks Martha what her friend said. Martha tells him Naomi is her sister, and he knows her. Martha says Naomi told her she’s happy to see her move on. But in reality, Martha never moved on. She’s still stuck with the memories of Ash. Ash asks her if everything is alright. Martha says yes, raising her voice a bit. She drops the glass she is holding, so Ash helps her to clean the shards of glass. Ash gets cut, but he doesn’t bleed.

Martha gets frustrated at Ash. The Ash she’s with doesn’t breath normal and doesn’t even argue with her. She tells the Ash in front of her that he is far from her real husband. She tells him to leave the house, so he leaves. The following day, Martha sees Ash standing in the middle of their yard. He did stay the night there and tells her he must stay within at least 25 meters of his activation point — the bath. He asks Martha if he can get inside, and she agrees.

Martha invites Ash to go out. They go to a hill overlooking the sea. Ash shouts, “No! Don’t do it!” He looks at Martha and tells her not to jump. Martha says she is not going to jump. Instead, she asks him to jump. She tells him he’s just a performance of the real Ash without thinking, and it’s not enough for Martha. Ash is about to jump, but Martha tells him the real Ash would’ve been scared. Immediately, Ash becomes frightened, telling her he doesn’t want to die. Martha gets confused and shouts at the sea, “No!”

Martha and her daughter will eat cake. It’s her daughter’s birthday. Her daughter requests Martha to make another slice. She will bring it upstairs. Martha refuses at first, but her daughter insists. Her daughter brings the cake to the attic where Ash stays. Martha’s daughter talks to him and then calls her mom to join them upstairs.

Our Thoughts

Those who leave us for good no longer have the power to come back. So the only thing we can do for them is to move on, continue our lives, and be happy. Being happy doesn’t mean we forget about them. The memories stay with us, and those would be enough.