Black Mirror Season 3 Episode 1 Recap – Nosedive

A girl is having her morning routine, jogging around the area while holding her phone. She comes across a group of people along the way, and she greets them. She stops for a while and rates some of the people on her phone. When she gets home, she takes a bath and stares at herself in the mirror. She is practicing how she laughs. Lacie tells Ryan she will have some buyers that day, so he should put some pants on. Lacie leaves the house and buys some tea. The phone she uses can help her rate everyone she encounters with. Lacie is rating five stars to everyone she meets. She uploads a photo from her phone and gets touched when people rate her well.

Lacie goes to work where she meets Bethany in the elevator. They talk about things and stuff while checking each other’s feed. While working at her workstation, Lacie watches the people rate her five stars except for one —  Naomi Jayne Blestow. She checks her profile. Chester approaches Lacie and gives her a drink. He has only 3.1 in his ratings, so he thanks Lacie when she rates him good. Another workmate tells her that Chester and Gordon split, and all of them side with Gordon. Some workmates rate Lacie one and two stars; her ratings go down. Lacie visits a house she is planning to buy. The real estate agent shows her around the house.

The real estate agent sampled Lacie’s photo stream to create her hologram with a guy being sweet in the kitchen. It’s a scenario that can happen once she buys the house. The house costs more than what she expected. So the agent tells her an option: the Prime Influencers Programme where she would need a rating of 4.5. If she gets 4.5, she will get a 20% discount on the house. While eating, Lacie scrolls through her phone. She looks at Naomi‘s pictures and rates them highly. Ryan takes Lacie‘s tablet with an advertisement for Pelican Cove. He tells her no one is really that happy, even a two-year-old kid with a balloon isn‘t really that happy. Lacie tells him it‘s a nice place, but Ryan tells her she won‘t even qualify.

The following day, Lacie talks with Hansen about her social rating. Hansen gives her social status an analysis and tells Lacie that a 4.5 is achievable in 18 months or so. Lacie tells him she needs a shorter timeframe, so he suggests a boost. He explains that Lacie’s interaction is limited to her inner socials, so she needs to go out of her comfort zone. She needs to hang out with quality people to improve and boost her ratings. Lacie follows his suggestion and starts rating people from outside her circle.

At her office building, Chester approaches Lacie and asks for a star. The door won‘t open for him because he only has 2.4. Lacie apologizes and rushes inside. She gets on the elevator with Bethany again. Lacie tries her best to be nice with Bethany. She offers her a croissant, but Bethany declines. Lacie gets on her floor. They exchange ratings, but Lacie‘s smile turns upside down after receiving only three stars from Bethany.

Hansen tells her not to try too hard. She just needs to be herself. While looking at Naomi‘s pictures, she gets an idea for her post. She takes a picture of her rag doll. She waits for someone to rate it. She gets surprised when Naomi gives it a five-star rating. At home, Lacie is busy preparing tapenade. A snack she saw from Naomi‘s post. Suddenly, Naomi calls Lacie. Naomi tells her the news about getting married to Paul. She invites Lacie to her wedding and asks Lacie if she wants to be her maid of honor. Lacie gets surprised and petrified for a moment. She hesitates and tells Naomi she already has cool friends, but Naomi insists, recalls their childhood, and says she wants her oldest friend to be by her side. They end their call and Ryan makes Lacie remember all the things Naomi did wrong to her. Yet Naomi negates all that Ryan says, so Ryan just stops.

Lacie goes to Hansen and shows him Naomi‘s wedding guest list. Hansen tells her it‘s good. She gets hyped up that the next morning, she calls Carole, her real estate agent, and seals the deal with the house she looked at. She practices her speech for Naomi’s wedding in front of Ryan. She asks her brother for feedback, but her brother just tells her the truth about the rating thing which Naomi always has an answer to. Lacie and Ryan argue before she goes out. She gives Ryan a low-star rating, so he gives her the same. Outside, she bumps into Tamara who has a 4.8. She gives Lacie a low rating.

While on her way to the airport, Lacie gets a video call from Naomi. She checks if Lacie can attend the rehearsal dinner, checks if she got the dress, and gives feedback on Lacie‘s speech. Upon arrival at the airport, she gets another low rating from the taxi driver. When Lacie arrives at the airport, the ground attendant tells her that her flight was canceled because of a customer incident. Lacie tells the attendant she booked the flight weeks ago, so the attendant sees what she can do. She sees one seat on standby, but it‘s only reserved for members of their Prime Flight Programme where the rating should be 4.2 above. Lacie confidently asserts she‘s a 4.2, but the events that happened before her arrival at the airport decreased her ratings to a 4.1. Lacie asks her a supervisor, but the ground attendant says she can‘t. Lacie blurts out profanity and shouts that she needs help. Everyone in the airport gives her a low rating, and the ground attendant called security. The security subjects her to a temporary punitive measure and double damage. Her rating goes down to 3.1. The guard tells her to leave the airport immediately.

Lacie rents a car. Her current rating only allows her to drive a super saver fleet. She starts the car, but the system speaks Czech. She tries to change it to English, but she can‘t figure it out. While driving, she practices her speech. Naomi calls her. Lacie tells Naomi she missed her flight, so she won‘t make it to rehearsal dinner. She tells Lacie she‘s already driving. Surprised that she‘s driving, Naomi tells her it‘s a nine-hour drive. Naomi asks her if she‘s okay and tells her she can find a replacement if Lacie wants. Lacie insists she can make it.

The car‘s battery gets low, so she parks at a charging station. She sees that the charging port of her car doesn‘t match the charging head of the station she‘s at. She asks the person behind the counter about the incompatible chargers. The guy tells her it‘s a different model, so she has to find an adapter. She rates him high, but he only gives her two stars and says it‘s not a meaningful encounter. Lacie asks everyone she sees for an adapter, but no one has one. She decides to walk.

She tries to hitch a ride, but people just pass her by because she only has 2.8. Everyone ignores her, but a big truck stops in front of her. Susan tells her to ride with her. She refuses at first because Susan only has 1.4. But she has no choice but to ride with Susan. Along the way, they talk about their ratings and their life. Susan asks Lacie what happened to her and why her rating is too low. Susan says she looks more decent than her rating. She explains what happened to her. Susan shares she was once a 4.6, and things happened especially when her husband got sick. She told anyone whatever is in her mind, so she dropped to a 1.4. Susan tells Lacie it felt like trying to remove tight shoes. But Lacie says she can’t do something like it. Susan has nothing to lose while Lacie is just starting to build her career, so she will lose it if she tries something like what Susan did. She tells Susan the world works around the rating of people. Lacie says something she thinks will offend Susan, so she apologizes. But Susan assures her it’s okay; she won‘t vote her down.

Morning comes, and they arrive at a place 30 miles from Port Mary. Susan wakes Lacie up and tells her there should be buses around the area. Susan left something inside her suitcase in case of emergency. Lacie is inside a bathroom cubicle—still practicing her speech—when she hears two people talking about Tranquility Con in Port Mary. The two girls are fans of the Sea of Tranquility. She approaches the girl who‘s still outside the cubicle and tells her she also likes Sea of Tranquility. She also tells her a fake story of a friend who has her costume already in the convention. She gets a ride on the RV. Inside, Lacie sits with a bunch of cosplayers. The girl who shared about Port Mary in the cubicle asks her questions about the Sea of Tranquility. But all of her answers came from what she heard from the girl in the cubicle.

Lacie avoids more questions when Naomi calls. Naomi tells her not to come anymore; she can‘t have a 2.6 attend her wedding. Lacie tells her she‘s an hour away and explains the low rating is temporary. She also tries to convince Naomi through Mr. Rags and her speech. Lacie tells Naomi she thought she invited her because she wanted to be with an old friend. Naomi tells her she just invited Lacie because she was once a 4.2, and all the simulations they ran forecasted an increase in her rating. But now that her rating has dropped so low, she doesn’t want her to come anymore. Everything was just about numbers. Lacie tells Naomi she will still come and do her speech; she knows everyone will like it, so they will give her a high-star rating. Naomi arrogantly tells her to go home and drops the call.

Everyone inside the bus is staring at Lacie. She honestly tells them she had not seen any of their show. The RV stops, and they drop her on the highway. Lacie stands in the middle of the road and shouts that she needs a ride. Everyone avoids her and gives her a low rating. Lacie hears a bike roaring. She approaches it and sees someone riding an ATV. She asks if she can borrow it. Lacie rides the bike through the highway; she arrives at the Honeysuckle entrance. The minimum entry rating is 3.8. Lacie finds another route. She falls into a dirty stream of mud. She carries her luggage and walks to the concrete fence of Honeysuckle.

Lacie changes into her dress and slowly sneaks onto the stage with her Mr. Rags while everyone cheers and claps for Naomi and Paul. She gets everyone‘s attention. Naomi tells Paul to get rid of her because Lacie‘s rating is only 1.1. But Paul hesitates, thinking about the guests. She introduces herself as one of Naomi‘s oldest friends. She cusses in the middle of her speech. Initially, the crowd cheers, so she thanks them, but when Lacie repeats the cussing, everyone gets disgusted. Naomi continues to nudge Paul to get rid of her.

Paul finally stands. Lacie sees him, so she tries to avoid him and goes around the area while giving her speech. She continues her speech even if no one cares anymore. She starts saying the truth about how Naomi treated her badly before. Paul and his friend Anthony try to get closer to stop her, but she gets a knife and points it at them. People in the venue start giving her a rating of 1 star. Her rating goes down to almost zero.

Security comes in. Lacie still roams around the area, sticking the knife to Mr. Rags‘ neck, and threatening to cut his neck. Everyone avoids her, afraid that she might stab them. She tells everyone that Naomi boned Greg. She points the knife at Naomi, but suddenly, a girl trips Lacie, so she falls down. Security apprehends her. While she‘s taken out of the venue, Lacie still screams she loves Naomi. Lacie is brought into prison. Inside her cell, she sees a man staring at her. She gestures giving stars even if she doesn‘t have a phone anymore. They end up shouting insults at one another.

Our Thoughts

Many of us care about what other people say; with technology, it‘s all about “star ratings.” Other people‘s opinions about different things can become either positive or negative. It is an opinion, so it must not be discredited. But it is not healthy to always seek this “opinion” in knowing how someone matters. It is more important to focus on yourself and know who you are and what you want to achieve. Once you know who you are, no amount of insult can ever bring you down.