Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 2 Recap – Arkangel

A middle-aged woman is inside the operating room. She is about to give birth to a child. The doctors ask her if she feels some pain or something. The woman apologizes to the doctor. She tells them she can’t push anymore. The doctor says she doesn’t need to apologize. They successfully deliver the baby out of her womb. She immediately asks if the baby is okay. They take the baby into her hands. The baby comes out fine and healthy.

A three-year-old girl named Sara is eating her food with the help of her grandfather. Marie tells her father she will take Sara to the park. She asks if he wants to come with them, but he refuses. He says he‘ll just finish his painting.

They arrive at the park. Sara goes to the slide to play. Someone approaches Marie, so she loses focus on Sara. Sara sees a cat; she plays with it. Sara continues to play alone until she runs off somewhere. Marie‘s friend asks how old Sara is. Marie replies that Sara is three years old. She is about to ask her daughter to say hi to her friend and her son, but Sara is nowhere to be found. Marie starts to find Sara. She keeps looking for her, shouting her name until she finds her. Sara runs to her and hugs her tight. Marie takes Sara to a laboratory.

The doctor tells Marie that Sara will be part of their trial period. They will run some tests on her first before putting her in their system. The doctor assures her they will do a safe full-body test. They make Sara sit on a chair and let her watch some cartoons. They inject something into her temple, and that’s it. The doctor talks about the parental tub Marie will use. She also tells her to ask as many questions as she wants. The doctor sets up the tablet. It allows Marie to find Sara wherever she goes and knows whatever she is doing. The doctor explains how the tablet works.

Marie and Sara are playing hide and seek. Sara is trying to look for her mother. She sees her grandfather painting. He tells her to look upstairs. Sara finally finds her mom. Marie tickles her daughter. Marie goes to work. She leaves Sara to her grandfather, but she also brings the tablet, so she still knows what is happening to Sara. Sara and her grandfather are inside their art room, painting together. Her grandfather checks her work and praises it until he finds it difficult to breathe. He tries to sit down, but he goes off balance and drops to the floor. The tablet alerts Marie. She immediately goes home. Her father gets sick and needs assistance.

Sara grows up fast. Her grandfather dies. She looks at her mother in the cemetery, but her face is blurred. Sara starts going to school. She watches some videos with her classmates, but she can‘t watch them properly — everything with violence is blurred out. Sara asks what is happening in the video. Trick tells her she won’t understand because of the chip inside her head, but Sara insists she wants to know. Trick agrees to tell her what happened, but he gets blurry every time he says and does something like parental advisory.

Sara slowly realizes how different she is from everyone. She tries to stab her finger to see if she will see blood, but it gets blurry. Marie sees what she has done, so she immediately goes to her. Marie stops her, but Sara slaps her mother. They visit a doctor the next day. Marie asks the doctor if Sara has autism, but the doctor tells her she doesn‘t. Marie blames herself for putting the Arkangel into Sara‘s head. The doctor tells her she can’t get rid of the chip, but she can throw away the tablet. Marie follows the doctor’s suggestion. She tells Sara she will be on her own starting that day. Sara walks to her school. She reencounters the dog, but this time she can see it. She jolts down in surprise, making her step backward, and gets almost hit by a car. Marie is getting worried and is tempted to look at the tablet again. She does, but she turns it off when she sees Sara is safe.

Sara sees some of her classmates fighting. She approaches Trick sitting alone and asks if he is okay. Trick asks her if she has ever seen a bust lip before. Sara says, “Not until now.” She tells Trick her mom turned off the system. Trick shows Sara the things she has never seen in her lifetime. Everything that Sara sees overwhelms her. Days passed. Sara is already a lady. Her mom never turned on the system again. Sara and Meryl see Trick and his friends in a van outside school. He invites them to Lake Dalston. Sara tells him they will think about it, but she really wants to go. When she gets home, she tells her mom she will have a movie night with Reilly and their friends. Marie thought movie night is every Wednesday. Sara tells her Reilly’s mom will have some guests that evening, so they are doing it that night. Marie tells Sara that she is also going out.

Sara goes to the lake with everyone. Trick asks her if she wants to try smoking, and she does. Sara gets lost in the moment and loses track of time. Marie is on her way home, trying to call Sara, but she is not answering her phone. She calls Ava, Reilly’s mom. Marie asks her if they are done with movie night already. Ava tells her they never ended up in their house. She thanks her and ends the call. Marie also calls the other parents of Sara’s classmates; they all don’t know where Sara is. Marie panics, so she turns on the system. She finds Sara and sees her having sex. Sara and Trick are cuddling in bed when someone knocks on the door. Meryl tells them she is busted already as her mother knows she is not at Reilly’s house.

Sara is outside their house and thinks her mother is not yet home because the lights are still off. Marie asks Sara about Reilly. Sara says she‘s great. She knows Sara is lying, but she doesn’t confront her. The following day, Sara tells Marie she will be a little late from school because she will help Meryl with her project. Sara is with Trick and asks him to give her what he sells — narcotics. Trick doesn‘t want to even show it to her, but she insists she wants to try for once. The tablet rings and Marie sees Sara taking drugs.

Marie gets upset, so she looks for Trick through the Face Seeker search engine. She gets his profile and sees where he is working. She tells him to stay away from her daughter; she is just 15 years old. She blackmails him and says she will send the video to the police if he doesn’t stay away from Sara. Trick gets nervous upon knowing Marie still has the Arkangel. Sara gets home and tries to call Trick, but he hangs up on her. She also sends him some messages, but Trick does not reply. Sara lays on her bed. Marie calls her for dinner, but Sara says she‘s not hungry.

After a few days, Sara confronts Trick at work. Trick tells her he doesn‘t want to be with her. Marie sees everything. The next morning, Marie mixes a crushed pill in Sara‘s juice. While in class, Sara suddenly goes out to vomit. The school nurse tells her the vomiting is because of the emergency contraceptive pill. Marie learned Sara is pregnant, so she bought an emergency contraceptive for her miscarriage. Sara learns about it and looks for the pills; she finds the box in a trash bin. She looks for the Arkangel tablet and sees that her mom has been watching her since that night in Lake Dalston. She packs her clothes to leave. Marie gets home and looks for Sara. She confronts her mother. She starts hitting her mother until everything gets blurry. Sara leaves their house. Marie regains consciousness, so she looks for Sara, but she can‘t find her anymore. Sara hitches a ride with a truck.

Our Thoughts

A mother’s love is the greatest form of love, they say. Nothing can compare to a mother’s love — unconditional. They will do anything for their children, eager to turn the world upside down for them. Yet, too much of something is also harmful, even if you just mean well. Such is what happened to Marie for Sara. Marie was too protective to the point that she has robbed her daughter of her early experiences in life that Sara alone should figure out. Trust is also an issue in this episode. It goes hand in hand if you truly love someone. If it gets broken by anyone, especially a daughter, there‘s that pain and healing process everyone goes through. Marie guarded Sara too much. But should we blame Marie for loving her daughter too much, being that overprotective mother?