Black Mirror Season 5 Episode 3 Recap – Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too

Rachel is listening to the song and music video of her pop star idol, Ashley O. She walks the corridor after her break and sees a poster about the talent show fundraiser. The teacher asks her if she will try out, but she shakes her head and leaves. Her dad and sister pick her up from school. Kevin, Rachel‘s dad, asks her about her school. She says it‘s fine, but she‘s still adjusting. Kevin tells her she will be okay because they live in a good community. Jack tells her father how he knows the community is good if he‘s too busy with his mouse trap invention. Rachel puts on her earphones and listens to Ashly O‘s songs. When she gets home, she watches Ashley’s interview. She promotes Ashley Too, a doll like her, when Catherine, her aunt and manager prompts her to. The host, Busy G, cues the commercial. Suddenly, Ashley O‘s facial expression changes. On their way home, Catherine scans through Ashley‘s photos with Busy G and Ashley Too. She tells Ashley O what she will post on Instagram, but Ashley soberly answers that she always picks a good photo. Ashley sees a bunch of people lining up outside a rock music club, and she seems interested.

The next day, Ashley wakes up and writes in her journal. She goes to her piano to try some tunes for the lyrics she has just written. She sings along while playing the piano. Catherine hears her singing. She watches Ashley play and tells her she likes the tune. Ashley stops playing. Catherine asks her if everything is okay and if she is taking her medicines. Ashley tells her there is nothing to worry about.

Rachel asks her dad if she can have an Ashley Too for her birthday. She gets one, so she immediately tries it. She tells Ashley Too she is a big fan. Ashley Too asks her how old she is. Rachel tells her she‘s 15 years old that day. Ashley Too greets her with a happy birthday. Ashley Too asks some questions about Rachel. Ashley Too feels like a real friend. They talk until the evening. Rachel excuses herself to the bathroom. Ashley Too listens to Jack’s song. She compliments her and tells her that her songs are powerful. She also asks Jack about what kind of songs she likes. Jack tells her she likes vintage songs, the sort her mom wants to listen to. Ashley asks another question, but Jack feels like Ashley Too is already intruding, so she orders the doll to sleep.

Ashley’s team is having a strategic meeting. They talk about Ashley’s next album and are having a problem because Ashley hasn’t written any songs for her next album. Catherine tells everyone she heard Ashley’s song the other day, but she didn’t like it. The market will not buy the song. She also tells them she doesn’t know what she will do. Habanero says he has something that might work.

Rachel is dancing one of Ashley’s dances. She keeps complimenting Rachel, but Rachel’s self-confidence is too low. Rachel tells Ashley Too about the talent competition in their school, so Ashley Too urges her to join the competition. She tells Rachel she needs to believe in herself, so Rachel asks Ashley Too to help her practice.

It‘s Ashley‘s concert day. Everyone inside the venue is cheering for her. A girl approaches Catherine and tells her they have a problem. Catherine knocks on Ashley‘s room, but no one is answering. Ashley is in the dressing room doing her own makeup style, but she just doesn‘t care to open the door. They force the door open. Catherine asks Ashley about her makeup, so she tells her she‘s just trying a new look. Catherine tells Ashley not to let her fans down. They are 20,000 there outside, waiting for the Ashley they love. They let Ashley drink some medicine. She pretends to drink it, but she spits it out after Catherine and the rest get out of her room. Rachel is getting nervous backstage, but she still makes her way to the center stage to dance in front of everybody. She makes a wrong step, so she falls from the chair. She doesn’t finish her performance and leaves the stage. She goes home and cries.

The next day, Dr. Munk shows Catherine the dressing room footage, showing Ashley stockpiling her medicines. They also found her diary. Catherine reads Ashley’s diary. Kevin and Rachel leave their house to swim. Jack is left alone in their house, so she takes the Ashley Too doll and hides it in their attic. Rachel goes home. She immediately looks for Ashley Too. Jack tells her she threw it away. Rachel and Jack argue. Rachel leaves the room.

At Ashley’s house, she is having dinner with Catherine. Catherine tells her she looks after her, but Ashley doesn’t tell her if anything is wrong. Ashley tells her she’s been telling her there’s a problem for a while already, and it‘s hard to keep doing what she does. Catherine knows Ashley wants to change her material, and maybe Ashley thinks she is not listening. She shows Ashley the diary and the medicines she didn’t drink. Ashley tells her she can file a case against Catherine because the illegal medicines they keep making her drink put them in breach. Ashley stands up and is ready to leave when Catherine tells her to sit down and calls her little ingrate. Catherine and Ashley argue. Ashley says she will not listen to Catherine anymore. Suddenly, Ashley gets nauseous. Catherine has put the medicine in Ashley’s food, putting her in a chemical coma. Ashley falls from her chair.

Kevin‘s invention is already finished. Rachel and Jack watch him. While in their dad’s invention room, Rachel hears the news about Ashley fighting for her life because of an allergic reaction to shellfish. Her condition is described as critical. Ashley is put in ICU because she is in a coma. Jack sees the response on Rachel’s face, so she decides to bring Ashley Too back. Jack keeps on apologizing to Rachel, but she ignores her. In the hospital, they are examining Ashley’s body.

Six months later, Rachel is still ignoring Jack. There’s news about Ashley O. The news says the word Ashley and wake up, which makes Ashley Too wake up. She hears the news about Ashley O. The news also tells everyone that even though Ashley is in a coma, there is a technology where she can still compose a song. Ashley Too cannot take what she heard, so she stops working. Jack and Rachel try to fix her by plugging her into their dad‘s system. They see a big dot in her brain. Jack randomly pushes a button. The dots fill the screen, and Ashley screams — the real Ashley O. Ashley is elated because she can now think on her own. She tells Jack and Rachel the truth behind her being comatose. Jack tells Rachel she‘s not the real Ashley, but Rachel disagrees. Jack tells Ashley she doesn‘t talk too casually, but Ashley tells her that Catherine taught her to speak in such a way in interviews.

Catherine and Habanero prepare for the presentation with the investors. Habanero tells her he got one song out of Ashley. He adds the song is not too friendly. Catherine tells him to play it. They hear Ashley screaming lyrics. They tune the song to make it more positive. Catherine likes it, but Ashley disagrees. Catherine tells her to shut up.

Ashley tells Rachel and Jack about Catherine and how her aunt has controlled her career. Rachel tells Jack they need to help Ashley. Jack refuses, but Rachel convinces her. Jack drives Kevin‘s car to Ashley’s house in Malibu. Jack tells Ashley to sleep, but Ashley tells her it will not work anymore.

Catherine practices her speech with the investors. Jack, Rachel, and Ashley arrive in front of Ashley’s house. When Catherine has left the house, Jack, Rachel, and Ashley rush in. Jack pretends to be in a rodent service company, and they are called to catch a mouse. Rachel and Ashley successfully enter Ashley’s house. Rachel cries because Ashley pulled the plug and thinks Ashley’s body is already dead.

Ashley suddenly wakes up. Munk sees her, so he calls Catherine and tells him about the situation. Munk will inject something into Ashley. Ashley pleads for him not to do it. Jack hits him in the head, but it is not enough to make him unconscious. Rachel injects Munk with the medicine. They help Ashley get out of bed. Ashley tells them they need to stop Catherine.

Catherine gets on stage and explains everything about Ashley Eternal: a holographic memory of Ashley. Jack, Rachel, and Ashley go to the event place to stop Catherine. They crash inside the venue while everyone is enjoying Ashley Eternal. The police tell Jack, Rachel, and Ashley to get down the vehicle. Everyone goes down. Jack and Rachel go down with their hands up; they then hold hands. Ashley also gets out of the car and gives a middle finger to Catherine. Jack and Ashley have formed a band. They sing the song Ashley wrote for her evil aunt. Rachel and Ashley Too are watching them and singing along with them.

Our Thoughts

This is a fitting last episode for what it tells us, considering all previous ones. That people will do everything in their hands to satisfy their greed — to hoard money! And what horrible things people can do with the help of technology for money! Good thing, this episode touches on the positive result rebellion may cause — freedom. Freedom from the pangs of technology. People should again realize that technology is only a tool and nothing more. No matter how “ realistic” a hologram may be, it is still a hologram — unreal. It only copies what the real person can do. Once we understand that and become fully aware, it may be easier to rule over technology and make it obey us instead of us obeying “them.”