So like all Black Mirror episodes, we are taken on a journey into the future where things seem all too familiar. This episode reflects on a system that gathers information on individuals over a series of relationships. Frank and Amy, our leading gent and lady, are absolutely perfect for each other, they know it, we know, but the system decides against it. They enjoy a 12 hour “relationship” all thanks to a system that is 99.8% accurate and successful for the perfect match, or so they say.
So as many people know how the episode goes, I’m not here to give a rewrite but share what stood out to me, my takeaway message as you would have it. We seem to believe or convince ourselves to stay in the wrong relationships. Whether it be because it’s convenient, deeper emotional issues like trauma bonding, or just convincing yourself you have to be in it for any reason. Yet the ones we desire most we believe or convince ourselves we aren’t able or allowed to. Why do we do this to ourselves, I know I am very guilty of this. For an array of unbelievable reasons, I stayed in a place that was not my home as you would have it. It was not a place of comfort, support or representative of any love whatsoever.
I find it baffling that we have this mixed up psychology in relationships, that we can seek out unhealthy and incompatible people and somehow try and bond to them. Why? Not everyone does this, and I know for a fact it has a lot to do with how we are treated and reared from birth well into our early adult life. We feel this sense of duty to those who are not reciprocal in our affections and understanding of our needs, or those who have diminished our self identity and tell us who we can or cannot choose to be loved by. No, I don’t mean the people who are right in their warnings, but those who are controlling of all our choices.

The other part that stood out was this understanding of how terrible the experience of having to endure meaningless relationships, one after the other. You’re waiting and hoping for it to end, or you’re full aware that it will end soon enough, and it’s so tiresome emotionally. The right match we search for, find and hold onto, yet it seems like everything including a flawless system tries to pull you apart. You will know if you’re a perfect match, you’ll know your twin flame, the other part of yourself.
It would seem the moment we take back our power and stop watching the clock is also the moment the greatest fear comes of if it had to end just like every other relationship because even though you know it’s the one, there could be this moment where we lose it all. Fear and terror of past emotional trauma takes over, and it would seem that we become the cause of a foreseeable end or issue to arise. We program ourselves into responding so negatively, we hurt ourselves before anything even happens.
The biggest take home message I have is, don’t ever give your power away or anyone to decide your life for you or leave it up to chance. It’s all you, you know who you draw to yourself and vice versa. We’ll know how to navigate through it because it is ours.







