Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 6 Recap – Black Museum

A girl drives her car while humming and singing to “Always Something There To Remind Me.” She stops her car to recharge it. She looks around the charging station, but she sees no one. She brings out a solar charger from her compartment and charges her car. It shows it will take more than three hours to charge fully. She sees the Black Museum nearby, so she tries to go inside, but the door is still closed. A sign on the door says, “Tours begin at 11a.m.” She looks around, and she sees a red car. Looking up, she sees big signage: Rolo Haynes‘ World Famous Black Museum. She tries to open the door again, but it is still closed.

A man opens the door from inside and tells her she is first in line. The man notices her accent and asks if she is from Australia. She tells him she‘s from Britain and her name is Nish. The man also introduces himself: Rolo Haynes, the owner of the Black Museum. Rolo asks Nish if she wants to go inside already, even alone. Rolo tells her the museum is not for the faint-hearted. Nish tells him she can take it, so they go inside. Rolo checks Nish’s bag for security purposes. He tells Nish to remove anything metallic before going through the scanner — all clear.

They walk inside while Rolo asks Nish about herself. Nish tells him she is driving to his dad’s house because his birthday is coming. Her mom wants to surprise him. Rolo opens more lights. He tries to turn the air conditioner on, but it doesn‘t work. Nish looks around the museum. She asks Rolo, “What is all this stuff?” “Authentic criminological artifacts,” Rolo answers. He adds that if something was used for something bad, it‘s in the museum. Rolo tells her she can look around and take her time. If something piques her interest, he can tell her everything about it. Rolo says everything has its own sad story. Nish tells Rolo she is not in a rush, so she will take her time.

One device catches Nish’s attention, so she asks Rolo what it is. Rolo asks if she has heard of Dr. Peter Dawson. Nish says no. Rolo shares his story when he was still working in New York for the guys up top. Nish asks her if he‘s like a scientist, but Rolo tells her he was sort of in the recruitment department. Rolo tells Nish that the idea was to make people with no healthcare coverage sign up in exchange for an occasional experimental treatment.

A doctor failed to save a patient. Rolo approached him and offered him something. He took the doctor into his office and showed him Kenny and Hector, two animal experiments they did a test on. Rolo tells Dr. Dawson that the plan was for Hector to receive Kenny‘s knowledge of a maze Kenny fully knows, but the test failed. Yet, when one of their researchers spilled hot coffee on Kenny, they saw that Hector felt the same. They found that the device allowed anyone to share physical sensations. Rolo added that Hector felt the burning sensation but took no damage at all. Because of what happened with Hector, their team was able to make a prototype for receiving human sensation. Rolo tells Dr. Dawson that if he could feel what his patients were feeling, it would be easy for him to cure them. Peter Dawson was happy to receive the transmitter.

They ran a trial test on him and his girlfriend. Rolo stabbed the girl’s finger with a pencil. Dawson felt it immediately and correctly identified where his girlfriend was stabbed. Dawson saved so many lives because of the device. Nish just listens to Rolo’s stories, but he interrupts him by saying, “But.” Nish tells him Peter Dawson was having a great time, so she tells Rolo there‘s got to be a but. Nish continues saying, “He‘s having a great time, but…” Rolo continues his story. One day, Senator Whitley was brought to the hospital because he had collapsed. They didn’t know what was wrong with him. Dawson was really into it, but he still couldn‘t see what was wrong with the senator. Suddenly, Dawson blacked out for five minutes — Senator Whitley was poisoned. Dawson changed after that.

Rolo tells Nish that Dawson‘s relationship with pain shifted, and he became addicted to it. The more Dr. Dawson felt pain, the more pleasure he got. Rolo told Dawson they knew there would be side effects in the future, but they cannot just pull it out of him because they still have so many people in their lineup. Rolo advised Dawson to stay at home and try to binge-watch a miniseries. Dawson didn’t have any patients to get the sensation anymore, so he started to hurt himself. But everything he did is still not enough. There was a missing ingredient — fear. Peter Dawson attacked someone to feel pleasure. Nish tells Rolo to tell her they put Dawson in jail. Rolo tells her Dawson is inside the hospital, but he is in a vegetative state.

After his story, Rolo feels so hot. Nish offers him a bottle of water. He drinks it all. Nish finds it weird but ignores it. Rolo shows Nish the teddy bear inside the museum. Nish tells him it’s cute, but Rolo says it has the saddest story ever. Rolo starts his story with Carrie looking for food on the table. She liked nothing until Jack approached her and gave her a cupcake. They had sex, and Carrie got pregnant. They lived as a family. But Carrie got hit by a truck while trying to take a picture of Jack and Parker. Carrie was confined at Saint Juniper Hospital. Jack visited Carrie every week and recorded a video of their growing son. A basic communication box was invented, and it was how Carrie who‘s in a coma responded to Jack while in the hospital. Rolo approached Jack and told him they were trying something that could help the likes of Carrie to have a lease on life. It is a device that makes Carrie see what Jack sees and makes her feel what Jack feels. It was like she could live again. Rolo asked for Jack’s answer.

Jack told him he would think about it, but Carrie immediately agreed with Rolo’s suggestion. They tried the invention. As soon as Carrie‘s consciousness was downloaded on Jack, almost everything returned to normal. Rolo asked Carrie what she was seeing. Jack could hear Carrie. Carrie saw their child and told Jack to hug him. She felt it. Nish tells Rolo it‘s time to tell her the but of the story. Rolo asks, “How long can happiness realistically last?” Jack and Carrie started to argue with each other over small things. Parker dropped a glass, so Jack snapped at him. Carrie told him not to snap at their child. Jack started to look like he was talking to himself.

Jack went to Rolo to seek advice. Rolo suggested some privileges where he could pause Carrie whenever he wanted. Jack was inside the elevator with a girl, and Carrie saw him checking her out. They had another argument, so Jack paused Carrie. When Jack brought Carrie back, it’s already been eight weeks. Carrie was upset. She asked for Parker. Everything got complicated because of Parker. Jack and Carrie agreed on a sort of divorce agreement. Jack would pause Carrie for the whole week except on weekends when they would go to the park. Soon, Jack and Emily started to date each other. Jack and Emily went to Rolo for advice. Rolo told them they could delete Carrie. Jack asked him if it was like killing Carrie. Emily said it‘s just like deleting an email. Jack refused because of Parker. He asked Rolo if there was another way.

Rolo explained to them what they could do. He suggested they transfer Carrie’s consciousness to a new body where she could still see and feel Parker — a toy monkey. Carrie was unaware of the transfer until she woke up. Carrie wanted to go back to Jack’s head. She noticed the button on her chair, so she pressed it. The monkey said, “Monkey loves you.” Carrie pressed the other button. The monkey said, “Monkey needs a hug.” Emily tells Parker to hug the monkey. Carrie hammers on the buttons nonstop until Emily gets it from Parker. She tells Parker that the monkey needs to get used to things. Emily takes the monkey and threatens Carrie to be wiped out if she doesn’t cooperate with them. Carrie eventually agreed, but Parker got tired of his toy monkey after some time. Carrie is still inside the monkey. Nish asks Rolo where the crime is in the story. Rolo tells her the UN made it illegal to transfer consciousness into limited things like a toy. Nish can‘t believe Carrie is still inside the toy monkey. Rolo tells her it‘s also already illegal to delete consciousness. He adds that because of what happened with the toy monkey, he got laid off from TCKR, so he started the museum.

After that, Rolo tells Nish he will show her the prime exhibit. He shows him Clayton Leigh, the weather girl killer. Rolo tells her not to pity Clayton because he is a convicted murderer. Nish tells him he looks so real. Rolo explains how Clayton got there. He visited Clayton inside the prison and offered him help. Clayton didn‘t care, but Rolo insisted he would help Clayton‘s family. He convinced Clayton. Nish asks Rolo how Clayton‘s family felt about it. Rolo tells her they didn‘t care. But when Clayton talked to his wife about Rolo’s proposal, his wife actually disagreed, but Clayton convinced his wife it would help. Clayton never got the pardon. Rolo tells Nish that Clayton will be a pioneer who survives his own execution. Clayton was born again.

Rolo experimented on Clayton and made him a cash cow. People liked the feeling of pulling the lever and punishing Clayton. It gave a souvenir of Clayton experiencing the moment of execution. Rolo starts coughing nonstop, almost gasping for air. Nish suggests he sit down. Rolo notices her accent changed to American. Nish starts to tell Rolo what really happened back then. There were protests, and it hurt Rolo‘s museum attendance. She tells him Clayton is not dead, but he is barely alive. Nish tells Rolo that Clayton‘s wife saw him. Nish is Clayton’s daughter. She greets him happy birthday. She tells Rolo she found her mom dead after she visited the museum. Nish hacked the air conditioning system. She transfers Rolo’s consciousness to his dad‘s virtual self. She pulls the lever and leaves it until her dad is set free; Rolo‘s suffering is put into a little souvenir. Nish takes it and leaves the museum with the monkey. She burns the whole museum down and returns to her car. Nish talks to her mom‘s consciousness inside her. She asks her mom how she did. Her mom praises her and tells her she‘s proud of her.

Our Thoughts

People will always say technology helps people‘s lives become easier. But in this episode, does it really help? If technology leads your loved one to addiction, does it help? If a person‘s feelings and emotions are alive but constrained, does it help? This is one sick episode where technology shows its other side in the hands of psychopaths — heartless. This also shows that the human mind still has its advantage over technological advancements — our compassion. When discussing real-world technology applications, there are real boundaries in what should and shouldn‘t be.