Beyond the Sea
Year: 2023
Directed by: John Crowley
Starring: John Hartnett, Kate Mara & Aaron Paul
Runtime: 80 minutes
Published: 26/06/23
Directed by: John Crowley
Starring: John Hartnett, Kate Mara & Aaron Paul
Runtime: 80 minutes
Published: 26/06/23
When Moses wrote the Ten Commandments, one such command was ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’. But as all humans do, jealousy is inherent to our species. If we see something we deem desirable or attractive, we want it, and at times no matter the cost.
What if you wanted the life of your friend? What if you had a means to actually achieve that goal? Just another question answered by Charlie Brooker and the cheery folks behind Black Mirror.
Set in an alternate 1969, scientists have developed a way for astronauts to perform their mission in space, whilst also being able to spend time with their family down on Earth. Two years into a six-year mission, David (Josh Hartnett) and his family are attacked by a group of cultists, murdering his family and destroying his ‘replica’, severing his link to Earth and trapping him on the space station. His colleague, Cliff (Aaron Paul), recognises the psychological that this takes on David and offers him the opportunity to visit Earth using his replica for short period when he does not need it. Initially grateful to Cliff for the opportunity, it doesn’t take long for David to replace his grief for greed.
Similar to the Series Three episode Men Against Fire, Beyond the Sea has a serious case of missed opportunity with the premise for the episode, and the technology at the centre of it. The idea of astronauts controlling mechanical versions of themselves on Earth whilst they live in space is an awesome concept (although it does beg the question of why they don’t have the replica in space controlled by a human on the ground to minimise potential casualties?), but despite a strong opening act, Beyond the Sea doesn’t do anything particularly interesting with this premise.
What if you wanted the life of your friend? What if you had a means to actually achieve that goal? Just another question answered by Charlie Brooker and the cheery folks behind Black Mirror.
Set in an alternate 1969, scientists have developed a way for astronauts to perform their mission in space, whilst also being able to spend time with their family down on Earth. Two years into a six-year mission, David (Josh Hartnett) and his family are attacked by a group of cultists, murdering his family and destroying his ‘replica’, severing his link to Earth and trapping him on the space station. His colleague, Cliff (Aaron Paul), recognises the psychological that this takes on David and offers him the opportunity to visit Earth using his replica for short period when he does not need it. Initially grateful to Cliff for the opportunity, it doesn’t take long for David to replace his grief for greed.
Similar to the Series Three episode Men Against Fire, Beyond the Sea has a serious case of missed opportunity with the premise for the episode, and the technology at the centre of it. The idea of astronauts controlling mechanical versions of themselves on Earth whilst they live in space is an awesome concept (although it does beg the question of why they don’t have the replica in space controlled by a human on the ground to minimise potential casualties?), but despite a strong opening act, Beyond the Sea doesn’t do anything particularly interesting with this premise.
The setting is confusing, why set the episode in the sixties yet have futuristic space technology far sleeker and more advanced than what we have today. We’ve all seen the lunar lander used in the Apollo 11 mission, and it’s nowhere near as sophisticated as the technology used in Beyond the Sea. It’s also strange to have one of the opening scenes be Dave and his family watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the cinema, where it’s declared that one day we’ll have technology advanced enough to transmit images wirelessly, only to have Dave be a literal robot whose consciousness is being beamed down from space.
This aside, the opening is strong, particularly once the cult shows up because it puts Dave and the technology in a position I’ve never seen before. He is present for the murder of his family, but powerless to do anything because he is not physically there in the same capacity. The replica’s look identical to their intended pilot, so the setup that Cliff allows Dave to use his body seems almost like he’s stepping into Cliff’s life because on Earth he looks identical to Cliff. This setup is brilliant, and there’s so many avenues that the story could have gone down to explore the implications of such technology. But instead, Beyond the Sea opts for a rather baffling choice that I don’t really see appealing to anybody outside of pure shock value.
The performances are pretty strong across the board. Paul brings his A-game and so does Hartnett, interestingly though the two of them never get to properly share a scene together and so aren’t afforded the opportunity to allow their powerhouse performances to give Beyond the Sea a standout moment. Kate Mara plays Lana, Cliff’s wife, and she too delivers a good performance. But the script in general doesn’t allow for her to have intimacy with either Cliff or David, so she feels like she’s always at arms length.
I can’t address what I mean without spoiling the ending, which is probably the darkest Black Mirror has ever gone. So, skip to the final paragraph if you don’t want to know. But the whole thing comes to a head when Lana (Kate Mara) denies David’s sexual advances whilst operating Cliff’s replica. When Cliff confronts David about this, David occupies Cliff’s replica and murders Cliff’s wife and child, with the episode ending on Cliff’s discovery of what David has done.
This is such a waste of the potential the episode had. Whilst I was watching the episode I had an idea of what I thought was going to happen, and when that didn’t happen I was extremely disappointed…and maybe that says more about my expectations than the episode itself but hear me out.
I was expecting David and Cliff to get into a fight on the space station, David to win, and then David takes over Cliff’s replica permanently, pretending to be Cliff so that he can regain the life that was stolen from him. That to me is a far better ending, that makes a lot more sense, than David kills Cliff’s family because his wife won’t sleep with him.
For me, Beyond the Sea is a missed opportunity. Whilst I shouldn’t let expectations cloud my judgement, I really feel like creator Charlie Brooker and director John Crowley wasted the potential the episode had. Considering how Black Mirror is rarely afraid to get its teeth really sunk into moral and ethical dilemmas, Beyond the Sea seems to do everything it can to avoid anything remotely intelligent and present something for the lowest common denominator, and it’s just unsatisfying.
The performances are good, but without the script to back it up, Beyond the Sea feels like its just treading water.
This aside, the opening is strong, particularly once the cult shows up because it puts Dave and the technology in a position I’ve never seen before. He is present for the murder of his family, but powerless to do anything because he is not physically there in the same capacity. The replica’s look identical to their intended pilot, so the setup that Cliff allows Dave to use his body seems almost like he’s stepping into Cliff’s life because on Earth he looks identical to Cliff. This setup is brilliant, and there’s so many avenues that the story could have gone down to explore the implications of such technology. But instead, Beyond the Sea opts for a rather baffling choice that I don’t really see appealing to anybody outside of pure shock value.
The performances are pretty strong across the board. Paul brings his A-game and so does Hartnett, interestingly though the two of them never get to properly share a scene together and so aren’t afforded the opportunity to allow their powerhouse performances to give Beyond the Sea a standout moment. Kate Mara plays Lana, Cliff’s wife, and she too delivers a good performance. But the script in general doesn’t allow for her to have intimacy with either Cliff or David, so she feels like she’s always at arms length.
I can’t address what I mean without spoiling the ending, which is probably the darkest Black Mirror has ever gone. So, skip to the final paragraph if you don’t want to know. But the whole thing comes to a head when Lana (Kate Mara) denies David’s sexual advances whilst operating Cliff’s replica. When Cliff confronts David about this, David occupies Cliff’s replica and murders Cliff’s wife and child, with the episode ending on Cliff’s discovery of what David has done.
This is such a waste of the potential the episode had. Whilst I was watching the episode I had an idea of what I thought was going to happen, and when that didn’t happen I was extremely disappointed…and maybe that says more about my expectations than the episode itself but hear me out.
I was expecting David and Cliff to get into a fight on the space station, David to win, and then David takes over Cliff’s replica permanently, pretending to be Cliff so that he can regain the life that was stolen from him. That to me is a far better ending, that makes a lot more sense, than David kills Cliff’s family because his wife won’t sleep with him.
For me, Beyond the Sea is a missed opportunity. Whilst I shouldn’t let expectations cloud my judgement, I really feel like creator Charlie Brooker and director John Crowley wasted the potential the episode had. Considering how Black Mirror is rarely afraid to get its teeth really sunk into moral and ethical dilemmas, Beyond the Sea seems to do everything it can to avoid anything remotely intelligent and present something for the lowest common denominator, and it’s just unsatisfying.
The performances are good, but without the script to back it up, Beyond the Sea feels like its just treading water.