{"id":1231,"date":"2025-05-10T05:05:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T05:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/10\/netfilx-new-black-mirror-hotel-reverie-repeats-san-junipero\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T05:05:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T05:05:45","slug":"netfilx-new-black-mirror-hotel-reverie-repeats-san-junipero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/10\/netfilx-new-black-mirror-hotel-reverie-repeats-san-junipero\/","title":{"rendered":"Netfilx new Black Mirror Hotel Reverie repeats San Junipero"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Netflix\u2019s \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d has returned for its seventh season, once again exploring the dire consequences of near-dystopian technology. The show\u2019s third episode, \u201cHotel Reverie,\u201d is one of three episodes this season to feature a gadget familiar to returning fans: The Nubbin, a tiny disk that can transport the consciousness of its wearer into digital worlds. Armed with the excitement presented by the show\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/tckrsystems.tech\/\">website<\/a> highlighting the fictional technology, I was ready to dive into \u201cHotel Reverie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The episode opens with Kimmy (Awkwafina, \u201cAwkwafina is Nora from Queens\u201d) convincing Judith Keyworth (Harriet Walter, \u201cSilo\u201d), the head of failing production company Keyworth Pictures, to work with her company ReDream and revive \u201cHotel Reverie,\u201d the studio\u2019s successful noir film from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Modern-day blockbuster actress Brandy Friday (Issa Rae, \u201cRap Sh!t\u201d) agrees to be cast as the lead in this remake.<\/p>\n<p>Using Nubbin, ReDream transports Brandy into a computer-generated replica of \u201cHotel Reverie\u201d where she must act out the script in real-time. She interacts with digital replicas of actors like Dorothy Chambers (Emma Corrin, \u201cThe Crown\u201d) who plays the female lead alongside Brandy. But things quickly go awry as Brandy is unprepared for how real the set and its actors feel. The stakes are truly raised when a technological malfunction leaves her consciousness stranded inside the simulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At first, the plot is laughable \u2014 Kimmy\u2019s proposal feels almost like a caricature of the fear of artificial intelligence taking over artistic jobs and the death of original content as major studios produce mediocre remakes or sequels instead. However, the scary thing is that it\u2019s not only plausible, but it\u2019s also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stylist.co.uk\/entertainment\/era-of-sequels-and-reboots\/952867\">already<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/film\/news\/james-cameron-blockbuster-movies-ai-cut-costs-1236365081\/\">happening<\/a> in today\u2019s world. Keyworth Pictures\u2019s use of ReDream, which uses AI to remake \u201cHotel Reverie,\u201d is far cheaper and more efficient than traditional film production. \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d has never shied away from its cynical lens on technology, hinting at the idea of corporations using AI to save time and money instead of paying human creators to produce real art.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>The story grows more engaging when we see Brandy enter the fictional film set \u2014 it\u2019s uncanny to see her interact with the fake actors. Although Kimmy assures her that the actors won\u2019t see Brandy as a Black woman but rather as just the White male lead, it is very odd to watch Brandy, who uses language and mannerisms from the 21st century, be among people with terrible French accents and speaking in posh English from the 1940s. This contributed to ReDream\u2019s bizarreness, allowing for a laugh about the absurdity of this idea until ReDream programmer Jack (Charlie Hiscock, \u201cTed Lasso\u201d) spills coffee and pauses the movie sequence. It is here that \u201cHotel Reverie\u201d begins its journey toward its pinnacle and its demise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlack Mirror\u201d makes technology the center of its universe, but its best episodes feature human relationships entangled within these gadgets. Season three\u2019s \u201cSan Junipero\u201d is the perfect example. For some \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d fans, echoes of \u201cSan Junipero\u201d seem to underscore \u201cHotel Reverie;\u201d the episode even makes a direct reference when we see Brandy\u2019s mailing address at the end, labeled \u201cJunipero Drive.\u201d Both episodes focus on lesbian romances taking place in virtual landscapes. \u201cSan Junipero\u201d is undoubtedly one of the show\u2019s strongest episodes for making its lesbian relationship the center of the story. Although one can view \u201cSan Junipero\u201d as a tragedy due to the couple\u2019s circumstances outside of their virtual landscape, the couple\u2019s chemistry was undeniable, which urged us to wholeheartedly root for a happy ending.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHotel Reverie\u201d seems to attempt to replicate this relationship, which it does successfully, to some degree. Dorothy, who becomes self-aware of who she is in real life, is revealed to be attracted to women, leading to a romance with Brandy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite strong individual performances by Rae and Corrin, their chemistry together is a little lackluster. Maybe it\u2019s a symptom of the disconnect between the generations Brandy and Dorothy are from, but their romance feels unintentionally scripted. The show left me yearning for something deeper, but the episode only allows for the last 20 minutes (of 78) for their romance to be fully explored as themselves, not as their film characters. This pacing pushes the episode to race to its finish, not allowing viewers time to process the newly blossomed relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The episode did present intriguing questions about the nature of their relationship like the validity of their love (can you actually be in a relationship with someone who is, essentially, an avatar?) and whether Dorothy sees Brandy as herself or as the original white male lead. But these questions aren\u2019t as thought-provoking as they should be, and this isn\u2019t a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/society-50\/202212\/having-a-relationship-with-an-avatar-pros-and-cons\">new<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/atelier.net\/insights\/avatars-and-racism\">discussion<\/a>. \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d doesn\u2019t necessarily need to keep asking \u201cnew\u201d questions in every episode, it can still push our thinking in different directions without attempting to come up with yet another gimmick. With its incorporation of futuristic technology, \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d writers have an excellent opportunity to dive deeper into interesting dilemmas. By using the show\u2019s invented technology, it can be new. It\u2019s what makes the show exciting and creates a strong platform for writers to build characters and relationships off of. \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d does tie \u201cHotel Reverie\u201d into its core themes, but seeing how the show combines technological advancement with human relationships is what makes the series shine \u2014 in this regard, \u201cHotel Reverie\u201d doesn\u2019t live up to its potential.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Even though \u201cHotel Reverie\u201d presents a novel application of a familiar piece of \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d technology, the episode lacks narrative innovation and leaves viewers to continue dreaming of earlier seasons.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Contributor Eilene Koo can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/tv\/black-mirror-hotel-reverie-is-a-dream-no-more\/mailto:ekoo@umich.edu\"><em>ekoo@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Netflix\u2019s \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d has returned for its seventh season, once again exploring the dire consequences of near-dystopian technology. The show\u2019s third episode, \u201cHotel Reverie,\u201d is one of three episodes this season to feature a gadget familiar to returning fans: The Nubbin, a tiny disk that can transport the consciousness of its wearer into digital worlds. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1071,1373,1376,1372,1371,1375,1374,933],"class_list":{"0":"post-1231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-black","9":"tag-hotel","10":"tag-junipero","11":"tag-mirror","12":"tag-netfilx","13":"tag-repeats","14":"tag-reverie","15":"tag-san"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1233,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions\/1233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}