Black Mirror S05 E03: Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too

Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too is the third and final episode of the 5th season of Black Mirror. 

The episode features sisters Rachel and Jack who live with their father who is designing a humane replacement to eliminate mice from households. The family has moved to another city and the 2 girls are struggling to come to terms with the loss of their mother. Rachel is gifted an Ashley Too doll on her birthday which spouts out motivational lines resulting in it (a robot doll) becoming a 15-year-olds closest companion and alienating her from other humans in her life. 

Miley Cyrus as Ashley O along with the AI doll Ashley Too

Their story runs parallel with teenage music sensation Ashley O who we see as happy on camera but her off screen persona is a complete contrast. She is under the control of her manager/aunt/guardian who is keen to make money off her niece until she turns 25 and maybe even after that. As Ashley O rebels against her support system (controllers) and refuses to take her pills they are slipped to her over the course of a single dinner rendering comatose. Ashley O is hospitalized and her legion of fans are distraught. 

Technology is used to interpret her subconscious thoughts and shape her preferred crude rock music into pop (because just hiring a ghost writer would be too non Black Mirror right) with the voice recordings taken for the Ashley O dolls serve as the audio for Ashley Eternal (a holographic version of Ashley which kind of makes front row seat demand at concerts to be useless)

When the words Black Mirror flashed on screen at the beginning of the episode and the glass cracked up until this point we had an episode showing us a glimpse into the future of concerts and a possibility of simultaneous concerts as well as the horrific possibility of technology controlling the real pop star. It was a representation of the culture of controlling people for profits and going to any measure to achieve that control. The 'my way or the highway' culture. This is/will be/could be the future and was perfect for an ending. 

But no, the two sets of parallel stories intervene with Rachel's Ashley Too watching a broadcast about Ashley O which causes it to glitch out? Too convenient for the doll to suddenly break out against the limiter installed in it as the siblings find out when they set about to repair it. The beans are spilled and aided by the two sisters the digital Ashley O i.e. Ashley Too goes to set things right and then guess what Ashley O and Ashley Too team up. Are you kidding me?

It seems as though Charlie Brooker has taken to watching and getting heavily inspired by Disney which is where the star of this episode Miley Cyrus made her name as Hannah Montana. 

After watching 'Smithereens' I had big hopes from this episode but rather than end the episode at a proper moment which would have maybe appealed to more fans as well as earned praise for its shorter runtime they chose to give the big star her defining moment in beating the villains. The 'Ashley Eternal' reveal would have worked well without all of the other forced drama. 

In the final credits scene, I was stunned to see Charlie Brooker credited as the writer. Was this uh this..... thing actually written by the brain behind 'White Bear'? 

Just because 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too' is part of the iconic 'Black Mirror' series people may start thinking about it and try to interpret various sorts of conclusions. Social media comment sections may be filled with ardent fans debating this stuff. But honestly, if this episode had been the series premiere instead of 'The National Anthem' then Black Mirror would have remained a Channel 4 show and probably ended in the early part of the decade. For now though this would be considered as one of the most disappointing episodes of Black Mirror and possibly be remembered as 'That Miley Cyrus episode.' Quite a shame considering that Miley's performance is one of the better ones of the series.