![black mirror wiki waldo black mirror wiki waldo](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/w_736,h_485,c_fill,g_auto,f_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fnetflixlife.com%2Ffiles%2Fimage-exchange%2F2020%2F06%2Fie_17299-850x560.jpeg)
Would you believe that there are a lot of people out there who think Donald Trump bears an uncanny resemblance to an incorrigibly vulgar cartoon blue bear named Waldo? With its message so prominently in place by the midpoint, The Waldo Moment leaves little else for us to discover protagonist Jamie is powerless to stop the media juggernaut he’s set in motion, and with her brief career in tatters, Gwendolyn eventually shuffles out of the narrative with nothing more to do.Welcome to the fifth part of our ongoing series, examining all the ways that the artistic and entertainment communities have been trying to warn America that Donald Trump (or someone like him) was up to no good. It’s as well-acted and well-shot as we’ve come to expect from Black Mirror, but neither its characters nor its plot felt as engaging as Be Right Back – nor did its events feel as horribly compelling as an earlier brush with politics, season one’s gut-wrenching National Anthem. The episode makes valid points about self-interested politicians being as poisonous to democracy as apathetic voters and cynical telly producers, but it’s hard not to sit through The Waldo Moment and feel a little dissatisfied with the stark, undisguised presentation of its underlying message.
![black mirror wiki waldo black mirror wiki waldo](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTViMzM5NTctYmJkYi00YTIwLThkOWUtNDc4MjRkMjI1NjhkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODExNTExMTM@._V1_.jpg)
It’s such a sudden, on-the-nose image that it’s more blackly amusing than shocking – like one of those public safety commercials from the 1970s (“Remember, kids: don’t take the democratic process for granted…”). This point was rammed home in a rather abrupt coda, where a destitute Jamie, now cut off from his monstrous creation, literally wakes up in a dystopian police state governed by Waldo’s leering face. There’s still undoubtedly a technological thread in this episode, with Waldo operated like a virtual puppet with futuristic gloves, and all the chatter of social media and iPhone apps, but this is arguably detachable from the central argument: that self-absorption will be the death of politics. Like every episode of Black Mirror, The Waldo Moment addresses a particular current concern – this time about apathy and distrust in British politics. In the episode’s second half, Jamie can only look on helplessly as Waldo’s fame continues to grow, with a YouTube hit video attracting American corporate interest, and the bear surfing a wave of cynicism to a second-place win at the local by-election.
![black mirror wiki waldo black mirror wiki waldo](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/0fRRssf9EAFS_ZfUXdbk6g_8Cio=/0x300:5760x3540/960x540/media/img/mt/2016/10/BlackMirror_EP2_Shut_Up_And_Dance_0392r1/original.jpg)
This particular plot point has an impact later on, as a spurned (or so he thinks) Jamie uses his insider knowledge of Gwendolyn’s apathy to wreck her career on live television, and further Waldo’s status as an icon of disenfranchisement. Jamie and Gwendolyn eventually meet in a hotel bar, and in spite of their different backgrounds, they find a common ground neither truly believes in what they’re doing, and both hope their current jobs will soon lead to something better. With his protests falling on deaf ears (“I’m not dumb or clever enough to be political!”), Jamie’s soon despatched in the Waldo van, shadowing Munroe and drowning out his political messages with puerile jokes. Spurred on by that first televised encounter, producer Jack Napier (Jason Flemyng) and his underlings devise a high-tech means of having Waldo follow Munroe around on his by-election campaign, which involves a van kitted out with a huge LED screen and some obnoxiously loud speakers.
#Black mirror wiki waldo tv
Gwendolyn sees the position as little more than a first rung on a long career ladder, and seems resigned to the likelihood that her Tory opponent Liam Monroe (Tobias Menzies) will beat her in a forthcoming by-election.Īlthough Jamie has no interest in politics, a vulgar interview between Waldo and Munroe (the Tory MP mentioned earlier) impresses viewers and producers alike, and the blue bear’s popularity hastens the planning of the creature’s own solo TV show.
#Black mirror wiki waldo series
In one, we meet Gwendolyn Harris (Chloe Pirrie), a young woman on the cusp of a new career in politics, having scraped into the role of a local Labour MP in spite of a less than stellar job interview (“I did commit a series of murders in Huddersfield between 19”). The Waldo Moment begins with two intertwining stories. Somewhere in the middle is the answer, with a dystopian political satire told with bleak humour, yet lacking either the emotional tug of the first episode, or the second’s palpable sense of outrage. Reader discretion advised.Īfter the understated melancholy of Be Right Back, and the aggressive aural assault of White Bear, we were wondering where the third and final Black Mirror episode might take us. Warning: the following contains paragraphs of a spoiler-filled nature.