Other Doctor Lives: Black Mirror: Season 7, Episode 4 – “Plaything” (2025)

*Episode premise spoilers*

As it happens, the only other episode of Black Mirror I’ve watched was also an Other Doctor Lives project, with Jodie Whittaker as a guest star. This time around, we’ve got an episode with a major role for Peter Capaldi.

When Cameron Walker tries to steal a bottle of liquor, a police DNA scan flags him in connection with an old unsolved murder. He’s brought in for questioning, but Cameron is less interested in discussing the murder itself than telling the psych evaluator about the “formative” experiences that led to it. The eccentric man spins a tale from the ‘90s involving a reclusive tech genius and the development of the first digital lifeforms in existence.

I know Black Mirror stories often involve near-future technology and its impact on society, so it’s interesting that this story, while set in the near future, is largely focused on the near past. While the older Cameron sits in the police station telling his story, most of the action occurs in the past. That’s in part because, in this instance, the technology we’re examining needed time to “grow” and develop.

Young Cameron, a reviewer for a gaming magazine, is invited to a private meeting with Colin Ritman, a tech prodigy who’s only recently returned to the scene after a breakdown. Cameron thinks he’s there to preview Colin’s new game, but Colin has much bigger things in mind. The “game” is merely a ruse to get funding: in actuality, he’s created the Thronglets, sentient lifeforms built from code. He pushes back on Cameron’s early misunderstandings—there’s not an objective, the Thronglets don’t exist for the user to make them do things, there doesn’t need to be a “point” to make them worthwhile. “We have to create software that elevates us, improves us as human beings,” Colin urges, “or else what is the fucking point of the tools at our disposal?”

Despite his initial confusion and skepticism, Cameron becomes increasingly enthralled by the Thronglets, spending more and more of his days caring for them and trying to understand their unique method of communication. It takes quite a while to get to the circumstances of the murder, which is tied up in Cameron’s obsession with the Thronglets and the victim’s inability to recognize their significance. It’s an interesting little yarn. Cameron’s characterization hits the “unstable loner” button pretty hard, but it also explores what can happen if someone vulnerable begins to see their computer as their only friend (after all, we’re currently living in an age of ChatGPT psychosis.)

Since most of the story’s action is taking place in the past, we spend a lot of the episode in flashbacks, where Cameron is played by Lewis Gribben. Colin, by the way, is played by Will Poulter—I’ve since gotten to know him through other things, of course, but Eustace Scrubb will always be the first character that comes to mind when I see him. With Peter Capaldi playing the older Cameron, that means we only see him in the present-day scenes in the police station, along with his narration over the flashbacks.

This is an interesting performance. The older Cameron is awkward and eccentric but fairly outgoing. During the police interview, he manages to control the flow of the conversation pretty well, all but ignoring the detective in favor of talking to the psych evaluator. His main focus is on the Thronglets, and he throws in other random details about his troubled past. He describes his dad as “an unpredictable violent giant who could never be appeased,” which is a hell of a line.

Cameron honestly could not care less that he’s been picked up in connection with a murder. He’s perfectly content where he is, and Capaldi has some fun with that in his performance. He waggles his fingers at the security camera, calling, “Hey, peekaboo!”, and he dismissively refers to the detective as “the chief…detective thingamabobby.”

Accent Watch

Scottish.

Recommend?

In General – Maybe. The two episodes I’ve seen of Black Mirror haven’t seen me running to watch more, but I’ve enjoyed both of them.

Peter Capaldi – I think so. The flashback structure means Capaldi’s role is smaller than Gribbens’s, but he does well with it.

Warnings

Violence, language, drug use, and strong thematic elements. 

Countdown to Thirteen: Black Mirror: Series 1, Episode 3 – “The Entire History of You” (2011)

I’ve been aware of Black Mirror’s existence for a while and have received assorted recommendations to watch it, but it’s fallen down the “so many shows, so little time” couch cushions.  So, it worked out nicely for me that Jodie Whittaker’s appearance in a series 1 episode gave me a good excuse to dip my toes in and see what it’s all about.  And bonus, since Black Mirror is an anthology show, there’s none of the usual confusion of checking in partway through an ongoing series for the sake of a certain guest star.  Score!

Everyone these days is dependent on the Grain, a bit of implanted tech that serves as a permanent harddrive for memories.  Anyone can rewind through their day, their week, their year – however far back they’d like to go – and replay their memories in every detail.  People can view these memories privately through special lenses or cast them on a screen so others can, for a moment, see what they saw.  When Liam meets an old friend of his wife’s who turns out to be a former flame, he becomes obsessed, scrutinizing every moment for looks, signs, or inconsistencies that confirm his jealous suspicions.

This is very much in line with the kind of story I understand Black Mirror enjoys telling, disconcerting tales that explore humanity’s relationship with technology and the effect it has on us.  It’s easy to see why this is a bad road for Liam to go down – even before he starts suspecting his wife, we see how he dwells on moments, replaying them over and over, reaffirming with every watch how convinced he is of his fears, suspicions, or insecurities.  I’m sure it’s comforting to think of digital copies of memories as “the real thing,” totally objective, but it’s obvious that two people can have the same experience (and even view each other’s memories of it) and not necessarily make the same inferences – very dangerous indeed.

Whittaker plays the wife in question, Ffion.  Early on in the episode, she plays enough ambiguity that, when Liam starts to obsess, we recognize which moments are snagging in his memory.  And later on, she sells the overall grossness of the situation:  being forced to watch her husband’s suspicious memories of her and give an “account” of herself, being interrogated by a man who’s like a dog with a bone and, of course, isn’t prepared to let anything go.  Because we see so much of her through his eyes (literally,) it’s harder to get a read on what’s actually going through her mind, and that makes Ffion a little uncomfortable to watch, but I think Whittaker is able to show enough to make you feel for her in the situation, even if she’s not altogether sympathetic.

The last Whittaker project I wrote about featured Rebekah Staton (Mother of Mine!) in a supporting role, and as it happens, this one does too.  Also, Liam is played by Toby Kebbell, who I recently watched in a reimaging of Macbeth, playing Malcolm.

Accent Watch

Northern (Whittaker’s real accent, I believe, or maybe a little lighter.)

Recommend?

In General – I’d heard good things about Black Mirror anyway, and after seeing this episode, I can see why.  Stylish, engrossing, and well-acted – be advised that it’s pretty dark, but I’d recommend it.

Jodie Whittaker – I can’t quite decide.  Ffion is a bit of a slippery character to get a handle on because of how the story is framed, but there are moments when Whittaker has a chance to bring her perspective through very well.  Maybe, I’d say.

Warnings

Sexual content, language, brief violence, drinking, and strong thematic elements.