Netflix’s Black Mirror season 4 delivered a memorable finale with its Black Museum episode. The series is a British dystopian science fiction anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker and produced by Zeppotron for Endemol. It examines modern society, particularly with regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies. Each episode is usually set in an alternative present or the near future, often with a dark and satirical tone, with a few experimental and lighter exceptions.
What Was Black Mirror’s Black Museum Episode About?
The story revolves around two main protagonists, Letitia Wright and Douglas Hodge, who portrayed the roles of Nish and Rolo, respectively. Wright’s career spans a number of blockbusters, including Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ready Player One, while Hodge is best known for starring in Penny Dreadful and several other BBC productions.
The episode follows a woman, Nish, as she visits the Black Museum, a museum dedicated to objects and artefacts from past crimes and tragedies. During her visit, she meets the museum’s owner, Dr Rolo Haynes, who tells her a series of strange stories about the items on display.
The plot thickens as Rolo talks about Dr Peter Dawson, who implanted something in himself that gave him pleasure when his patients were in pain. After killing a homeless man, he put himself into a coma. Then, Rolo reveals his plan to insert Carrie’s consciousness into Jack’s brain. This resulted in Carrie being “paused,” Jack getting a new girlfriend (Emily), and an ultimately unfortunate outcome for Carrie. Unexpectedly, viewers learn that Rolo lost his job because he shifted Carrie’s consciousness into a toy monkey.
Black Museum Ending Explained
At the end of the “Black Museum” episode, it is revealed that Nish is the daughter of Clayton Leigh (Babs Olusanmokun). This is a heartbreaking moment that is typical of the Black Mirror series, which is known for tackling difficult themes. It turns out that Clayton agreed to be part of a museum display that features a hologram of himself being tortured in an electric chair.
The plot twist of Nish being connected to Rolo and Clayton is particularly powerful and demonstrates that Black Mirror never shies away from the hard topics. The finale of the episode is particularly poignant as it suggests that people will go to extreme measures to have command over their lives.
As the story progresses, Nish takes charge and becomes determined to get revenge. Struggling to breathe, Rolo is informed that Nish had placed him in the water because her mother, Clayton’s wife Angelica (Amanda Warren), had died of distress after seeing him in an unconscious and frightening state.
Nish had come to the Black Museum to exact revenge on Rolo for the harm he had caused her family, so she transfers his consciousness to the hologram of Clayton and activates the electric chair, making sure that everyone would remember the suffering he had gone through. The last scene is Nish lighting the musuem on fire as she walks away.
All seasons of Black Mirror are available for streaming on Netflix.
