Black Mirror fans will definitely check in to season 7’s “Hotel Reverie,” but their hearts may never check out thanks to the powerful Issa Rae–Emma Corrin romance at the center of what writer-creator tells Entertainment Weekly is “a spiritual sequel” to the sci-fi show’s classic season 3 love story “San Junipero.”
The episode begins with Hollywood A-lister Brandy Friday (Rae) growing increasingly frustrated with both speculation about her personal life and an insignificant slate of roles to choose from. At the same time, a cinema professional named Kimmy (Awkwafina) ties to build credibility for her Redream company, a service that takes old movies and recasts the leads with contemporary stars using the show’s infamous Nubbin technology to transfer an actor’s consciousness into the in-movie world.
Brandy is interested in starring in the company’s revamped version of the classic film Hotel Reverie (not a real movie), which follows a Casablanca-inspired courtship blossoming between an heiress, Clara (played by Corrin’s Dorothy Chambers) and a man she meets at a resort. Brandy’s only condition is that she wants to star opposite Clara, not in the role of Clara.
Issa Rae and Emma Corrin in ‘Black Mirror’ season 7’s ‘Hotel Reverie’. Nick Wall/Netflix
The studio agrees, and Brandy flies to London to film the project, which only requires her to be on set for the length of the movie’s runtime, as the Nubbin device allows the team to film the project line-for-line within the movie’s world, but with the in-story characters and events programmed to accept Brandy’s presence as the prior actor’s.
But, as Brandy is drawn deeper into the world of the film — and becomes more and more infatuated with Dorothy — she begins to make mistakes that alter the plot of the film and confuse the characters. At one point, she calls Clara “Dorothy,” prompting the character’s emotional overflow to overload the system, leaving Brandy stuck inside the film, where time passes much faster than it does in the real world.
With Brandy in peril, the team weighs pulling her out of the system, though that puts her at greater risk of dying in the real world, as her consciousness is too closely interwoven with that of the film. Without the movie crew able to watch Brandy’s every move, she and Dorothy bond, sharing intimate scenes of their own without cameras rolling.
Their growing intimacy also prompts Dorothy to explore the outer limits of the film’s world, and when she breaches the edge of the film and walks beyond the set, it triggers memories of her own repressed sexuality that she explored with a prior lover, a woman who’s shown to have committed suicide prior to the shooting of Hotel Reverie.
When the Redream crew finally gets the film back on course, they tell Brandy that she needs to speak the film’s final line in its twist ending, which is meant to reveal the true intentions of Clara’s husband, Claude, and his murderous inclinations toward both Brandy’s character and Clara.
But, with a newfound sense of agency, Clara picks up a gun dropped by Claude, and shoots him in the back as he strangles Brandy, completely altering the ending of the film. With police on the way, Brandy improvises a save for Clara, and grabs the gun in preparation to take responsibility. When the cops arrive, Clara takes the gun, points it at the police, and is consequently killed, ending the movie.
Awkwafina and Issa Rae in ‘Black Mirror’ season 7’s ‘Hotel Reverie’. Nick Wall/Netflix
Later, with Brandy extracted and the film released to positive reception, the actress still mourns the in-movie loss of the character she fell in love with. But, when she returns home one evening, she finds a box from Kimmy that contains a telephone that connects to her computer and allows her to converse with Dorothy’s consciousness inside black-and-white footage of one of the actress’ early Hollywood screen tests.
“It’s a companion piece, in some ways. Clearly, there’s definite themes that overlap,” Brooker tells EW of the episode’s connections to “San Junipero,” which followed Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as lovers whose consciousnesses choose to spend eternity together in a digital city after their physical bodies die in the outside world.
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Brooker says both Black Mirror episodes are “about nostalgia, escape, relationships, and second chances,” and says “there’s shared DNA” between them. Still, he confirms that “it’s not specifically the same tech, say, that we show in ‘San Junipero,’ though,” despite the fact that “Issa gets to put on the little Nub on the side of the head” to visit Hotel Reverie.
Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw in ‘San Junipero’. David Dettmann/Netflix
Both episodes explore queer romance that blossoms via transferred consciousness inside a digital landscape, but “Hotel Reverie” also directly references the iconic episode. Near the end, when Brandy accepts Kimmy’s package, which is addressed to a residence on Junipero Drive.
“It’s certainly in the same Venn Diagram of Black Mirror episodes,” Brooker confirms.
Black Mirror season 7 is now streaming on Netflix.
