生死搏击

分析

The episode is a romance, where Danny, Karl and Theo are in a love triangle.[19][20][21] Dan Stubbs of NME and Jim Vorel of Paste characterised it as a "spiritual sequel" to "San Junipero".[22][23] Stubbs saw that as in "San Junipero", the episode "finds the beauty and ugliness in a new form of romance".[22] Writing for Vox, Alex Abad-Santos compared that in "San Junipero", Kelly and Yorkie "play semi-artificial, digital-only versions of themselves", like Danny and Karl.[24] Stubbs and Wired's Matt Reynolds found that in "Striking Vipers", the technology is not the focus of the episode—instead its implications and the human stories are.[22][25] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club analysed that the episode has humour but it is "never designed to undercut the emotional development of the characters".[26] Sexual and gender fluidity, infidelity and love and friendship are major themes, with The Guardian's Lucy Mangan writing that "every boundary is porous".[27][28] Critics identified a large number of questions posed by the episode. Louisa Mellor wrote in Den of Geek that the episode initially asks about Danny and Karl's sexual activity: "Is it cheating? Porn? Love?" It also asks if they are gay or bisexual.[29] Commenting in Wired, Victoria Turk viewed the episode as making a case that engaging in virtual reality porn is infidelity.[25] Tasha Robinson, a reviewer for The Verge, said that Karl's attempts to persuade Danny to keep the relationship going is "needy and manipulative" and characteristic of an "imbalanced relationship", with Karl going back and forth between "defending their virtual trysts as meaningless fun" and "claiming they mean everything and are worth any risk".[30]

Critics explored the implications of Danny and Karl's relationship. Vorel wondered whether it was a romantic or physical connection, how Karl's choice to play a woman related to his masculinity, and whether there would still be attraction if Danny and Karl swapped characters. He called the pair "two alpha males" who feel "shock and embarrassment" when made to confront their sexualities.[23] Michael Ahr of Den of Geek suggested that the pair could be suppressing their homosexuality or "indulging in the objectification of their avatars' hyper-sexualized appearances".[28] Den of Geek's Alec Bojalad gave a partial answer that "there is at least some homosexual energy" but "Roxette and Lance's bodies are an essential part of the equation".[31] Bojalad found that despite uncertainty over their sexuality, Danny and Karl "needed each other in ways they didn't fully understand because they didn't have the language for it".[31] Abad-Santos suggested that Karl enjoys "letting Danny take control sexually". He also recalled playing Li in Street Fighter II, the only female character, as did lots of gay children because it gave them "the freedom to be someone ... who [they] could never be".[24] Handlen said that Karl could be interpreted as a "potentially closeted trans woman ... but the text stops short of suggesting he's going to make any steps towards transitioning or understanding himself better".[26] Vorel reviewed that the episode "chooses not to judge its characters", while The Atlantic's David Sims said it "withholds answers for most of the questions".[20][23]

Some reviewers drew meaning from the technological aspect of Danny and Karl's relationship. Sims analysed that the episode raises questions about "how sexuality on the internet is continuing to evolve".[20] Stubbs queried whether the "meat person or the avatar" is the real version of us, when "we spend our leisure time in a virtual world and our real lives wearing our work masks". He also suggested that a "virtual/real life balance" could be as fundamental as a work–life balance.[22] Hugh Montgomery, writing for the BBC, found a "pornographic quality of computer game violence" and Abad-Santos saw "Striking Vipers" as serving to connect "video game addiction and porn addiction" as well as "violence and men's sexuality".[24][32] Another perspective came from Bojalad, who wrote that the episode sees video games as "a safe, consequence-free simulation space for little boys and eventually little men to work though the complex feelings they've so often ignored".[31] Ahr similarly described that Striking Vipers X lets the characters "shed their culturally ingrained male inhibitions and admit their devotion to each other in a way that society discourages in real life".[28]

Critics found that Danny and Karl's sexual activity gave them what they were lacking in their real lives. According to Bojalad, Danny and Karl's younger selves have a "classic and recognizable college student dynamic".[31] Ahr wrote that the "sudden" time skip creates an "atmosphere of disillusionment", with a "contrast between the party atmosphere of the intro and the mundane backyard barbecue".[28] While Danny lives an "idyllic suburban life", as Stubbs put it, Vorel and Vulture's Charles Bramesco said he has a mid-life ennui.[22][23][33] His sex with Theo is for conception, not enjoyment.[29] In contrast, Stubbs called Karl a "rich executive living the bachelor dream"; he fits the trope of a "ladies' man" and dates younger women.[22][24][29] Bojalad believed that Danny and Karl each wanted what the other person had: Karl's freedom or Danny's security.[31] Mellor wrote that Danny gets "energy, abs, joint mobility" and "virility" when playing Lance, which he has been deprived of through ageing and parenthood. Additionally, she wrote that Theo has a "need for excitement in the desert of adult responsibility".[29]

Some critics noted foreshadowing in the initial scenes, eleven years before the main story. Bojalad and Ahr both commented that Theo is aroused by Danny treating her like a stranger, a sign of her later desires to meet strangers at a bar.[28][31] Reynolds interpreted that the roleplay "sets up this idea that the desire to be someone a little different is a completely human thing".[25] Additionally, Karl's mock-humping of Danny while playing Striking Vipers was seen by Bramesco to indicate homoerotic tension.[33] Ahr stated that early on, Theo tells Danny he should talk "more openly and frequently" to Karl, and communication between them is a central tension in the episode.[28] The episode also makes reference to other Black Mirror instalments: it shows products made by SaitoGemu, of "Playtest", and TCKR, of "San Junipero"; and Karl's pinball machine has different gameplay modes that can be seen to reference locations from past episodes.[34][35]

评价

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the episode holds an approval rating of 73% based on 37 reviews. The website summarises that critics found it "well-produced and thought-provoking", but that "holding back its emotional punch" makes it less powerful than similar episodes.[19] Out of five stars, the episode received ratings of five stars from the BBC, four stars in The Independent, two stars in The Telegraph and one star in Vulture.[21][32][33][36] It also attained a graded rating of an A in The A.V. Club.[26] In positive criticism, Stubbs said it was "one of the most sensitive, emotionally affecting" instalments, with Mangan concurring that it was "one of the most tender", and Vorel opined it to be "among the series' most pitch-perfect achievements".[22][23][27] Ahr wrote that it had a great "level of literary merit, allowing for all sorts of analysis for those willing to plumb its depths".[28] However, in The Telegraph, Ed Power panned the script as "listless".[36]

Critics identified various parts of the plot to be weak. Power criticised the occurrence of virtual reality "as a plot device" as overused in Black Mirror.[36] While Vorel saw Danny and Karl's reactions to be "profoundly well-earned", and Bojalad saw their sex scenes as "surprisingly raw and powerful", Bramesco did not see a "foundation of desire" leading to the first kiss.[23][31][33] Vorel and Robsinson wanted further information about how or why people are using Striking Vipers X as a sex simulator, or why it was designed to have this functionality.[23][30] Contrastingly, Stubbs opined that the initial in-game scenes were "incredibly funny" and the rest were "brilliant".[22] Turk criticised Roxette's description of sex as "the full orchestra" for women to be "awful" and "corny", and Bramesco and the Digital Spy critics Ali Griffiths and Morgan Jeffery disliked Lance's "don't feel like a gay thing" line.[25][33][37] Sims said that the ending was "odd" and "slightly melancholy".[20] Turk thought Danny, Karl and Theo's once-a-year arrangement is a dated solution because it maintains Danny and Theo's "traditional hetero monogamous marriage with two kids and an annual family barbecue", rather than meaningfully integrating any change into it.[25] Similarly, Bramesco thought that the supposedly happy ending works by "gracefully eliding" every day of the year but one.[33]

Some critics found the episode weaker than "San Junipero", which starred Gugu Mbatha-Raw (left) as Kelly and Mackenzie Davis (right) as Yorkie.

Comparisons to "San Junipero" based on quality were largely unfavourable, such as that of The Guardian's Guy Lodge, who saw "Striking Vipers" as "hollow by comparison".[38] Reynolds thought that the episode's themes were "explored in a more gripping way" in "San Junipero".[25] Similarly, Bramesco reviewed the episode as a "dunderheaded thought experiment" which was like "San Junipero" but where "everything that could have gone wrong ... does so".[33] Sims found it "nervier" and "less swooning" than the other romance episodes, lacking the "rebellious fun" of "San Junipero" but also the "tragic tinge" of "Be Right Back" and "Hang the DJ".[20] Similarly, Power critiqued that "San Junipero" and "Hang the DJ" had "something genuinely profound" to say about love, but "Striking Vipers" does not. As such, only the former two episodes "earned" their happy ending.[36] Griffiths and Jeffery criticised that "queerness is always neatly hidden away in virtual worlds" in Black Mirror, both in "San Junipero" and "Striking Vipers". They stated that "Striking Vipers" did not address its themes deeply enough, such as by not showing on-screen the conversation Danny has where he confesses the situation to Theo.[37] However, Montgomery dissented, writing that "Striking Vipers" was similar to "Be Right Back" and "San Junipero" as three of "the finest and most soulful" episodes.[32]

Critics were divided on whether the episode addressed the questions it raises to a sufficient degree. Griffiths and Jeffery said that it "never really gets to the crux of what it means for Danny to be attracted to Karl" as Roxette, and does not show enough of Karl's perspective.[37] Lodge argued that there is a "frustratingly regressive tone" as the episode is "embarrassed and coy about its subject matter".[38] However, Turk said that "enough was shown ... to raise the most interesting theme": that Danny and Karl are attracted to each other only when Karl is a woman.[25] Vorel, Mellor and Robinson commented that the episode was surprisingly mature, with Bojalad summarising that it "presents a stunning example of reckoning with technology and one's own wants and desires in a mature, adult fashion".[23][29][30][31] Montgomery thought it was a good premise for the show as it is "both technologically plausible and richly philosophical".[32] Jon Paul of Syfy Wire found the topic of how black men "struggle with the energy that comes with exploring intimacy" and "suppress themselves" interesting, along with how men behave "relatively distant and neutral". He linked this to toxic masculinity.[39] Lodge criticised that "queer desire is treated ... as a disorienting byproduct of alien technology rather than a matter of the heart" and that the implications of Karl enjoying sexual experiences in a woman's body are "glibly grazed over".[38]

Some reviewers found the characterisation to be lacking. Reynolds wanted to "understand the characters a little more" and Handlen said the episode "never quite gets under the surface" of them.[25][26] Abad-Santos went further, saying that Danny and Karl seem to "exist just to raise points and get us to the end of a thought-provoking argument, rather than as people in a meaningful story".[24] Bramesco and Power said that, respectively, the pair had "zero demonstrated chemistry", and are not convincing with their "supposed transcendent charge".[33][36] In contrast, Fiona Sturges of The Independent praised the "nuanced depiction of marriage, parenthood" and their consequent "erosion of spontaneity", and Handlen saw Danny, Karl and Theo as being given "a measure of dignity and compassion they might not have found on other shows".[21][26]

Critical comments about the acting and directing were positive. Stubbs reviewed the all-black cast as further establishing Black Mirror as "a bastion of diversity ... not as a box-ticking exercise".[22] Handlen and Mellor found the performances "solid" and "strong", respectively, with Mellor praising Danny and Roxie in particular.[26][29] Handlen wrote that Abdul-Mateen "is terrific as Karl, selling the character's charm and enthusiasm and just absolutely landing the heartbreak".[26] Ahr said that Beharie's acting was "as expressive as they come".[28] Vorel also praised Mackie, Abdul-Mateen and Beharie.[23] Handlen praised Harris's direction, analysing that the shots often position Danny and Karl in "traditional fighting game poses".[26] Mellor and Sims praised the filming style and scenery of the in-game scenes, with the former commenting that Harris "successfully created two totally different textures for each world".[20][29]