Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 3 Recap – Crocodile

A wild party night — everything goes so fast that you cannot see what’s happening inside. The following morning, a couple drives together while singing to the music they are listening to. Rob looks at Mia while driving, and suddenly, he hits someone crossing the road. Rob tells Mia he didn’t see him and slams his hands on the steering wheel. They get out of the car to check on the person — he’s dead. Mia tells Rob they must call someone to report someone is dead, but Rob stops her. He tells her he knows he will go to prison once they report it because he is driving drunk. Mia tells him they can’t just leave the body. Rob tells her he needs to think. He sees a lake nearby, so he gets his sleeping bag in the car and puts the body inside. Mia is hesitant, but she doesn’t have a choice. They throw the body into the lake. The atmosphere is already different.

Mia is in front of a mirror, practicing her speech. Mia waves goodbye to her son and her husband and leaves their house. While going to her car, she receives a text message. Shazia, an insurance investigator, gets out of her car. She knocks on Mrs. Carmichael’s door. Shazia introduces herself. She tells her she is there to talk about the accident. Mia is introduced in front of many people and starts the speech she is practicing earlier. After her conference, Mia is inside her hotel room when someone knocks on her door. The person outside tells her he is Rob, so Mia opens the door. Mia says it’s been like two years since they last saw each other, but Rob corrects her by saying it’s three years. Mia tells him Rob must have something important to say because he drops by her hotel room. Rob tells her he saw something about architecture, so he went to see her.

Mia offers him a drink, but Rob refuses and tells her he quit drinking already, like entirely quitting more than nine months ago. Mia talks about alcohol but suddenly stops after realizing she shouldn’t be talking about booze. Mia says she hopes Rob is not there to talk about what happened, but Rob says it’s about that. Rob says he keeps thinking about that night again and can’t let it out of his mind. Mia reminds him that he told her to forget all about it already, but Rob tells her he can’t do it anymore because it feels like it just happened in his head. Mia asks why he can’t stop thinking about what happened. Rob shows her a printed photo of the person they hit by accident and a photo of his wife. He tells Mia the wife didn’t remarry. She also didn’t move out of her house, hoping her husband would return. Mia says there’s nothing that they can do anymore. Rob tells her he will write the wife a letter, but he will not mention anything about Mia. Mia stops him and says they can trace them back and find the body because of the letter.

Rob says that when he stopped drinking alcohol, everyone told him to make amends to those he had hurt. Rob realized he had hurt the wife more than anyone. Mia tells Rob that it was all his idea. It’s been fifteen years since the incident happened, and the guilt is always there. Rob apologizes. Mia stops him and begs him not to do it, but Rob tells her he has made up his mind. He tries to get out of the hotel room, but Mia stops him. She kills Rob. Mia looks outside the window and hurriedly closes it.

Shazia continues to investigate and gather information about the Carmichaels. Someone enters her room holding a big clear glass with a pet inside. Anan tells her its name is Codger, a guinea pig. He thinks Shazia doesn’t like the gift, but he tells her Ali will surely love it. Still, he can return it to the pet shop if she doesn’t like it. Shazia says Codger will stay. Anan greets Shazia happy birthday before he leaves her room.

Mia is looking out of her window, checking her surroundings. She orders room service as a camouflage. She plays a pornographic movie to make it look like she is inside, enjoying her night. But she is checking the route for her plan to dispose of Rob’s body. She puts Rob’s body under the pushcart and leaves her room. She successfully put Rob’s body in her car’s trunk. She is in the middle of the snow, still looking for the perfect time to dispose of the body when her husband calls her. She talks to them for a while and ends the call. Mia breaks into her Nolan architectural project. She throws the body and leaves. The following day, Mia checks out of the hotel and goes home. She sees Shazia outside, still gathering information about the accident, but they don’t know each other. Shazia goes to the owner of the pizza van. She asks him about what happened. She tells him they must cooperate or else the hassle and money they will use for the case is too much. She puts some chips on his temple to check his memory. They start to recall the memory of last night. The more emotional his response, the more vivid the pictures are. The video ends, but Shazia tells him what he gave is already useful.

Mia is already home. Her husband tells her that night is the big musical night. He notices Mia is out of herself, so he asks her if she is okay. She says she’s okay. Her husband and son leave. Mia finds some champagne to drink to calm herself. While in her car, Shazia is looking for the yellow girl in the guy’s memory — Noni Harper-Brown. She also asks for her cooperation in the investigation. They start to recall, and Shazia gets more leads about the case. Mia remembers something important, so she cleans her car. Shazia goes to the dentist. They recall a memory, and Shazia captures a woman staring at the window. She asks the hotel about the woman in that room. Shazia identifies the woman from the hotel room as Mia Nolan. She goes to her to ask for help with the case she is investigating. She drives to where Mia lives.

Shazia rings the doorbell. She asks for Mia’s cooperation, but Mia refuses at first. Shazia tells her it’s a police requirement to always cooperate with something when investigating a case. Shazia is setting up the memory recaller when Mia asks her about it. Mia tells her about what happened by telling the story, but Shazia still insists on using the memory recaller. Mia makes coffee for Shazia. She excuses herself to go to the toilet to practice what she needs to recall that day. Shazia attaches the chip to Mia’s temple and starts their memory recall. Mia starts to picture what happened during the incident last night, but while recalling that, she remembers what she did to Rob. Shazia sees everything. She stops the memory recall and says she got what she needed. Shazia rushes to leave Mia’s house.

Mia follows Shazia outside. Shazia rushes to start her car, but it doesn’t start. Mia breaks the car’s window. Mia confines Shazia somewhere. When Shazia regains consciousness, Mia apologizes to Shazia. Shazia is sobbing and tells her she will not tell anyone about what she saw and will delete everything. Mia thinks Shazia is lying, so she tries to use the memory recaller on Shazia. Mia watches the memory of Shazia talking with Anan about Mia. She apologizes to Shazia and asks her to close her eyes. She kills Shazia. Mia goes to Shazia’s house holding a hammer in her right hand. She sneaks inside. Anan goes upstairs and relaxes in their bathtub. Mia follows him and pounds him on the head until he dies. Mia gets ready to leave the house when she hears a baby’s sound. She also kills the baby.

Mia goes to the musical night with her husband. She is late, but she still makes it. She can’t focus on the whole play because the forensics is already at the crime scene. They got the guinea pig and used the memory recaller. It leads them to Mia.

Our Thoughts

Which is more important: your accomplishments in life or your inner peace? Having been sober for quite a while, Rob realizes it is inner peace. But Mia disagrees, so she kills him. She cannot imagine being taken away from the life she already has. Is there someone to blame? None. But all secrets eventually come out no matter the time. With the recaller device, investigators have tools to backtrack an event leading to a crime scene. This is unfortunate for Mia, but it is what she told Rob before she killed him: “They will trace it back.” Yet, Mia does not want to just give up her life. Shazia, Anan, and the baby add to her list of victims. What a horrible mess you can do when you can’t let go of your accomplishments. It may be understandable from the perspective of hard work, but to kill a child? Mia must already be drunk on what she has achieved.