Hey Guys, welcome back to the channel. In this video,
we will be watching an episode of the popular Netflix series “Black Mirror”.
The episode’s name is “Striking Vipers”. So, let's get started. Turn on subtitles and spoilers ahead.
The episode starts and we see our main character Danny in a nightclub.
Danny seems attracted to a girl, and he tries to strike up a conversation with her.
At first, the girl acts uninterested, but later we find out that the girl
is actually Danny’s girlfriend, and they were just role playing. Her name is Theo,
and she tells Danny that she really enjoyed the role playing that they were doing.
The couple start to seductively dance, and as you’d expect, this all ends with a romantic
night at Danny’s flat. Danny is having trouble falling asleep, so he gets out of his room,
and finds his flatmate Karl playing video games. Karl challenges him to a game, but Danny says that
he has work tomorrow. Karl hands him the game controller, and Danny simply cannot refuse.
They both play the fighting game “Striking Vipers”, and Karl is comfortably beating
Danny at this game. They soon start another round, and Karl picks a girl as his character,
while Danny picks a male. The game starts, and both of them are having quite the fun
playing this game. Karl wins this round as well, leaving Danny with zero wins.
Theo enters the room, and tells them to lower their voices, as she was sleeping.
The boys share a laugh, and Karl literally starts to hump Danny.
I can't put the clip here, but Karl was humping Danny, but jokingly I guess.
11 years later, we see that Danny is celebrating his 38th Birthday.
And Danny looks like he is going through a midlife crisis, with not many friends.
He is married to Theo, and they have a child together. Theo hears the doorbell ring.
She answers the door to find Karl who has significantly changed his look.
Theo hugs him and asks him about his wife. Karl answers that he had split up with his wife,
and was living the life of a divorcee.
The two best friends meet each other after years of not being in contact.
Karl is surprised to see that Danny has changed a lot since they last met.
They both hug each other, and Karl hands him a birthday gift.
Danny opens the bag and sees that Karl had brought him “Striking Vipers X”,
the latest installment of the fighting game they used to play together.
Seeing this gift, Danny seems happy, and he thinks about the past.
Danny notices that this game requires a VR set, which Karl had already purchased for him.
Danny sees the VR set, and Karl has nothing but great words for the game.
The two friends grab a beer. Karl starts to tease Danny for being old looking.
He then shows Danny the girl he is planning to meet that night.
Theo also takes a look at the girl, and gives a nod of approval.
That night, we see that Theo and Danny are trying to have a second baby.
But Danny says that he is exhausted because of the party, and doesn’t want to do anything.
So, Theo goes to sleep without Danny.
On the other hand, Karl gets lucky at his date,
but he isn’t quite happy, as he fails to connect with her.
Danny sits in his living room, playing tetris. He gets an invitation from Karl to play the game that
he was gifted that day. They connect to each other, and Karl tells him to use the VR set.
Danny opens the VR set, and finds a disk which he attaches to the side of his head.
The game starts to sync, and Karl picks Roxette, while Danny goes with Lance,
the same characters they used to pick back in the day. They’re both ready for the game.
Karl starts the game, and Danny’s head falls back, with him entering the game virtually.
They are in the same appearance as the characters they picked, and they are in a virtual world where
they can interact with each other however they like. Danny asks if the game will hurt him for
real. Karl replies that the game emulates all the physical sensations, meaning that it will hurt.
The fight starts. Karl starts punching Danny, who is getting the reaction in real time.
Karl hits some more combos, and wins the round easily. The second round is pretty much the same,
as Karl hits a few more combos. Slowly, Danny manages to block the attack. The
fight soon turns into a tussle, and they start rolling on the ground.
After the tussle, Danny, who is in the game as Lance,
ends up on the ground with Karl, who is playing as Roxette, on top of him.
Overflowing with the physical excitement from the fight, Karl and Danny suddenly start making out.
But Danny quickly gets to his senses. He gets off of Karl, and logs out of the game.
He is completely perplexed with what happened. And Karl is also
confused as to why he kissed Danny in the game.
Next night, Karl is playing an arcade game, but his mind is elsewhere. Danny is playing
tetris just like yesterday, and he gets the invitation to play “Striking Viper X” by Karl.
Danny connects to the game, and they both try to act normal, as if nothing happened between them.
Danny lays back and says that this time they’re going to have a serious game.
The game starts and they find themselves in the virtual world of the game. The round begins,
and Karl steps forward in a striking stance. Danny is ready to defend, but Karl suddenly kisses him.
And this time, Danny doesn’t stop himself or Karl. He completely lets it go.
Now, two best friends are getting intimate with their video game characters, in a virtual game.
After their intimate session, they both awkwardly sit next to each other to chat.
Danny suddenly feels like someone is kicking him. He exits the game
to find out his son was trying to wake him up.
Danny later apologizes to Karl for exiting the game. Theo is back at home, but Danny acts like
he is asleep. The couple didn’t have any intimacy like they used to have before they were married.
You would think that after all this, they will stop playing that game.
But after that night, the game becomes a regular thing for them. They meet up in the game,
and they do everything, except for actually playing the game.
Slowly, all they can think of is the game. They constantly connect
to the game and live out their private secret life. Danny also starts losing
interest in his wife. And Theo starts to notice that something is off about him.
She thinks that something might be wrong with her, or she isn’t beautiful enough for Danny.
One night, they play the game. And this time, shockingly, they are talking to each other. Danny
asks Karl how it feels for him to be in a woman’s body. Karl replies that it’s “crazy”. He explains
that everything is different to experience when you’re a woman. The physicality, the emotions,
all of it is satisfying. And they begin to stare at each other’s eyes like they’re lovers.
At work, Danny gets a message from Theo asking about a babysitter for the night.
Danny asks why, and we can see that Theo is disappointed. It’s their wedding anniversary,
and with all that is going on with Karl, Danny has completely forgotten about his wife.
He texts Karl that he won’t be able to meet him tonight at the game.
Karl looks at the message and is confused.
Theo is waiting for Danny at a bar. She notices that a man is looking at her. The man comes to
her, and asks her if he can buy her a drink. Theo smiles at him, and then shows him her
wedding ring. The two of them share a laugh, and the man walks away. But Theo is definitely
happy to get that sort of attention in a long time. And Danny also arrives at the same time.
After their dinner, they start to talk. Theo tells Danny that he seems to get lost in his
own thoughts at times. She also tells him that it has been weeks since they had sex.
Danny lies that he was just tired due to his work.
Thoe doesn’t believe him, and asks what is wrong. She questions Danny on why he was
losing interest in her. Danny lies that nothing was wrong. But, Theo knows that he is lying,
and she begins to cry. She directly tells Danny that if he is cheating on her,
he just needs to tell her. But Danny assures her that he was not cheating on her.
That night, Danny gets the invitation to the game from Karl. But this time,
he disconnects the game, puts the VR set in the box, and puts it away.
Next day, Karl messages Danny. And Danny calls him to say that he can
no longer play “Striking Viper X” with him. But Karl tries to stop him.
He says that they were not cheating on anyone. They were just playing a game.
Danny is insistent that he only wants to think of his wife and no one else.
Karl proposes that they play the game once every month. But Danny declines his offer,
and hangs up the phone, leaving Karl sad.
Seven months later.
Karl looks completely wasted. He was living like a person who was having
a tough time dealing with a break up. Theo, on the other hand, is pregnant
with her second child. And she is happy that Danny is back to him being a caring father,
and a loving husband. It’s Danny’s birthday, and she has brought him a
gift. She then tells Danny that she has invited Karl for his birthday.
Danny doesn’t know what to say or do. The doorbell rings, and Theo knows that it's Karl.
Danny had finally given up on that video game with Karl. And now,
he doesn’t know how he will react with Karl getting back in his life.
The three of them sit together to have dinner.
Theo goes back to the kitchen to get dessert, leaving the two guys alone.
Danny is mad that Karl came to his house, and didn’t make an excuse
when his wife invited him. Karl says that he had no excuse, and he begins to tell Danny that
no matter who he was sleeping with, nothing matched what was between them in that game.
He says that he tried that game with many other people,
but nothing felt special like when he was with Danny.
He played every character in that game, but he still couldn’t keep Danny out of his mind.
Danny says that he can no longer help him. But Karl keeps on talking about the game, and tries to
remind him of Roxette and Lance. He even starts to whisper in Danny's ear trying to seduce him. Danny
shoves him away, and Theo also notices it. But, she thinks that the two of them were just joking.
The dinner ends, and Karl is preparing to leave. Theo tells them to hug each
other before leaving. And Karl whispers to Danny, to meet him in the game at midnight.
Karl then leaves the house, and Danny is having trouble going to sleep.
He checks his phone, and it's exactly midnight. He closes his eyes to sleep,
but the temptation in him wakes him up. He goes down the stairs,
and the game begins. They’re both back in the game, doing what they used to do 7 months back.
And this time, Karl tells Danny that he loves him. Danny gets thrown back by what he just heard.
He is frustrated by what it has all boiled down to. Karl says, he knows that Danny too
has feelings for him, but he’s just afraid to say it. Danny then tells him to meet him at a place
outside of the game, outside of their gaming characters, in 30 minutes, and exits the game.
30 minutes later, they meet at a place. Danny says that they need to kiss each
other outside of the game, to know if they really have feelings for each other.
If they like the kiss, it means that they truly loved each other.
But if they don’t, it means that they were just too involved in their game characters.
Karl agrees to it, and he steps forward. After gathering his courage, Danny is ready as well.
They finally kiss each other in real life.
And Karl nods his head saying that he didn’t feel anything. Danny agrees to it,
and they have the understanding that they don’t love each other for real.
They shake each other’s hand, but Karl is not letting go. He says that
it's different in the game, so they should just continue playing it. Danny obviously
tells Karl to just get everything out of his mind, but Karl says that he cannot.
The two of them then get in a fight, and are caught by the police. Theo goes to the
police station to get Danny out. She asks him why he was fighting with Karl. And this time,
Danny tells everything that has been going on between him and Karl in the last year.
One year later, it’s Danny’s birthday again. Theo has given birth to their second child,
and Karl also looks happy in his life.
It looks like everything is back to normal.
Theo and Danny kiss each other and this episode of Black Mirror ends here.
Thanks for watching, and if you liked this video, please leave a like,
and, No. I repeat No. The episode doesn’t end here.
Right after kissing Danny, Theo hands him a box, and Danny does the same.
Theo tells Danny that they have until tomorrow morning to return their boxes to each other.
Danny opens his box, which has the VR headset to play “Striking Viper X”. He starts the game,
and Karl joins him. We see a mark on Karl’s
calendar indicating that they are now playing the game once a month.
On the other hand, Theo puts her wedding ring inside the box, which was given to him by Danny.
She then goes out to a bar, where she immediately gets noticed by a man.
Danny and Karl are back to playing “Striking Viper X”, and Theo is possibly involved in a
role playing game, in her real life. And the episode truly ends here.
Thanks for watching. If you liked his video, please leave a like and subscribe to the channel.
And if you ever get invited to play “Striking Viper X” by one of your long lost friends,
what would you do. Please comment down below and stay safe.