Black Mirror
WARNING : spoiler ahead for Black Mirror season 7 , episode 5 " paean " .
The 5th installment ofBlack Mirrorseason 7,Eulogy , is a well - crafted and annihilating tale of love lost . Paul Giamatti ’s Phillip Connarthylives a muted , reclusive liveliness in coastal New England , spending much of his time wallowing in his own shame rather than examining the pain he ’s bring down on others , particularly on his previous lady friend , Carol Royce . Phillip knew her as Carol Hartman , the former love of his sprightliness whose longstanding absence seizure has left him bitter , beaten , and marred . He ’s silently troubled to learn that Carol has slip by out and is reluctantly fascinate by the Eulogy technology designed to honor Carol at her funeral .
The Eulogy technology arrives in a pristine clean box like any Apple machine and contains aNubbin , a quarter - sized machine seen in severalBlack Mirrorepisodes , including season 7’sUSS Callister : Into Infinity . Through the Nubbin , Phillip meet The Guide ( Patsy Ferran ) , an AI - mother knowingness who is interested with extracting dead on target and accurate memories of Carol from Phillip ’s recollection . The Guide assists Phillip in recall his time with Carol during the late eighties in New Yorkthrough photograph and music before it all came crash down . Through the paean process , Phillip inadvertently profit a more exact depiction of why he and Carol never worked out .
How Phillip Finally Remembers Carol Through Eulogy Explained
Phillip Peels Back Painful & Biased Layers Of His Memory To Find Something Pure
The net frame of Black Mirror " paean " show Phillip fondly remembering Carol ’s typeface after literally cut her and melanize her out from his retentivity . Carol had walk out of the eating house after Phillip had proposed to her years before , leaving a foetor of chagrin on him that Philip remain to bust like a cover through the years . He never saw Carol again after that fatal night and was so upset that he erased her from his memory , likely as a survival tactic . Even as The Guide walked Phillip through his photo , Phillip could n’t see Carol ’s brass until he had a better understanding of what went wrong .
The Guide quickly sees through Phillip ’s self - enforce recollection of his relationship with Carol and does n’t buy his victimhood turn . Their journeying through Phillip ’s photos reveals that he was the one who broke Carol ’s heart first by cheat on her with Emma . Carol retaliated with her own one - nighttime stand , an xylophonist in the London orchestra she was fiddle with , who ended up being Kelly ’s biological don . After attaining a more true recollection of his relationship with Carol , Phillip is capable to get at his buried love for her again when he recalls her original cello piece . He watches on fondly as she recreate from her heart like he did many years ago .
Who Plays The Cello At Carol’s Funeral: The Guide Or Kelly?
Kelly Appears To Have Taken After Her Mother’s Musical Talents
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Because the encomium tech educe the deeply - root memory of Carol playing cello from Philip ’s mind , Carol ’s girl , Kelly , is able to play her mother ’s original and unearth violoncello piece at her funeral . Carol ’s beautiful piece had only previously subsist in Philip ’s buried store . Those in attendance at Carol ’s funeral in London all wear Nubbins andsee Phillip ’s sunny and blissful store of Carol with their own eyes .
It appears thatKelly took after her female parent and plays cello as well , which explains her defence of the pawn throughout the sequence . When Phillip arrives at Carol ’s funeral , Kelly spots him and knows precisely who he is , even though it ’s their first time meeting in the flesh .
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How Phillip’s Memory Of Carol Fails To Capture The Full Picture
Left with himself and his devastation , Phillip blames Carol only for their kinship not work out . Phillip was marred most intensely by Carol going restrained and walking off during his marriage marriage offer and has been wear it on his arm ever since . Through The Guide ’s helpful crystalline lens , Phillip accomplish a more documentary reality of what happened between him and Carol . He had been avoiding certain subject , like Emma and his anger issues , that drove Carol off in the first shoes . The Guide forces him to confront them head - on .
Eulogy helps Phillip look at his flaws and acknowledge that Carol only walked away because his words and action pushed her to .
Phillip had begrudge Carol for decades base on his erroneous and cherry - picked rendering of events . pean help him look at his fault and know that Carol only walked off because his words and actions pushed her to . It make a tragic situation because both of them wanted to be together . It ’s also interesting becausePhillip enounce he was so in beloved with Caorl but perhaps he only loved how she made him feel , not who she was and what she had to say .
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What Carol’s Note To Phillip Means & What Could Have Been
Phillip Might Have Worked Things Out With Carol If He’d Read Her Note
The one undeveloped photograph on Phillip ’s old television camera reveal a handwritten note Carol allow for " Philly " the night she turn down his marriage marriage offer . Remarkably , Phillip find the note in his shoebox full of Carol ’s erstwhile photographs and memorabilia . He reads it for the first time decades too tardily , adding a whole young layer of tragedy to his storey .
He come upon that Carol had try out to recite him about her one - night stand and that she was pregnant . The note also reveals that she was uncoerced to see him again and talk about everything . Until that point , Phillip believed that Carol never wanted to see him again . When Phillip did n’t show up at the denominate time and place in the note he never read , Carol assume their relationship was over . In the present twenty-four hour period , Phillip take in his resentment towards Carol for cutting him off so abruptly was based on a prevarication , or at least a big misunderstanding .
The Guide’s True Identity Twist As Kelly Royce Explained
Phillip Impatiently Skipped The Intro To The Eulogy Process
The Guide was n’t intentionally trying to conceal the actual - life person , Kelly Royce , who she was based on . The Guide was double with Kelly ’s personality , cognition , and likenessin edict to supervise the overall Eulogy process , which certainly include other masses than just Phillip .
EXCLUSIVE : Black Mirror star Issa Rae spoke about the conclusion of " Hotel Reverie , " let out whether she thinks it is a happy ratiocination .
The Guide explains she does not share a consciousness with the real Kelly to protect her from the excited weight of such a process . The Guide would have disclosed that she was found on Kelly if Phillip had n’t skipped the introduction , or more pointedly , had allow her to talk . It ’s starkly ironical deliberate that if he had been patient enough to hear Carol out , thing might have ended up differently .
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What The Eulogy Technology Is & How It Works
Eulogy Is A Profound & Remarkable Memory Extractor
Unlike the vast majority of technologies seen throughoutBlack Mirror(seeseason 7 , instalment 1 , " Common citizenry " ) , Eulogy actually seems to do more proficient than hurt for the great unwashed . Not only is it non - invasive and requires the full permit of the user , but it also has a sound approach towards a meaningful destruction . The Guide explain how everything about Eulogy works middling succinctly in the episode andnever force Phillip to confront areas of his past that he does not want to .
Black Mirror has featured vast Hollywood actors in the past , and while season 7 is no different , Bete Noire focuses more on forthcoming British talent .
Essentially , the Nubbin in the Eulogy kit has the power to retrieve optic , audial , and other data of Carol based on Philip ’s memory . It unlocks memories through photographic algorithmic projection , combining the information from the images with bestow impressions from drug user memory , often using music to guide memory unlocking . With the help of an automated guide who is close to the gone , Eulogy can discover and discern what portion of Phillip ’s computer storage are historically accurateversus those that are biased and skew for personal cause .
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The Real Meaning Of Eulogy’s Ending: Revisiting The Truth Of The Past
Phillip’s Newfound Awareness Of His Past Errors May Destroy Him Even Further
When we meet Phillip at the commencement of Eulogy , we feel bad for him because he wants you to . He ’s buried himself in a false and incomplete tale of what go bad haywire with Carol , which he likely does in most , if not all , other aspects of his life . He ’s clearly isolate for a reasonableness and that grounds is , unluckily , himself and his unfitness to address his issue and bear himself accountable . Phillip showing up at Carol ’s funeral point a positive footprint in his character maturation buthis protective layers that comfortably allowed him to be the dupe for decennium are now shredded from the Eulogy unconscious process .
The cease ofBlack MirrorEulogy is quintessentially semisweet but unless Phillip can live with these heavy truth ( alternatively of his ego - do fabrications ) , I ’m afraid he may not be better for it .
There could be a creation where Phillip and the veridical - spirit Kelly get a cup of deep brown and lecture about Carol in the veridical mankind . Phillip seems to have a much best reason of not only Carol but himself , which will hopefully spark novel living in him and break him out of his carapace of woe - is - me resentment . In a darker sense , Phillip may not be capable to cope with he and Carol falling apart because of him or not reading Carol ’s missive sooner when there was still hope for their kinship . The ending ofBlack MirrorEulogy is quintessentially semisweet but unless Phillip can subsist with these arduous truth ( instead of his self - answer fabrications ) , I ’m afraid he may not be dependable for it .
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