Fifteen Million Merits

"Fifteen Million Merits"
Black Mirror episode
Bing (Daniel Kaluuya) awakens in his screen-covered "box" every morning.
Episode no.	Series 1 Episode 2
Directed by	Euros Lyn
Written by	Charlie Brooker Kanak Huq
Original air date	11 December 2011 (2011-12-11)
Running time	62 minutes
Guest appearances
Daniel Kaluuya – Bing Jessica Brown Findlay – Abi Rupert Everett – Judge Hope Julia Davis – Judge Charity Ashley Thomas – Judge Wraith Paul Popplewell – Dustin Isabella Laughland – Swift David Fynn – Oliver Colin Carmichael – Kai Hannah John-Kamen – Selma Telse Kerrie Hayes – Glee Eugene O'Hare – Hammond Jaimi Barbakoff - Anna Merce Ribot - Hot Shot Registration Lady Matthew Burgess - Botherguts Host Laura Power - Interviewer Matt Stokoe – Guard

"Fifteen Million Merits" is the second episode of the first series of British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and his wife Kanak Huq and directed by Euros Lyn, and first aired on Channel 4 on 11 December 2011.

In a world where most of society must cycle on exercise bikes in order to power their surroundings and earn currency called "Merits", the episode tells the story of Bing (Daniel Kaluuya), who meets Abi (Jessica Brown Findlay) and convinces her to participate in a talent game show to escape the slave-like world around them. The episode is a science-fiction dystopia which features a parallel to reality shows and figures such as The X Factor and Simon Cowell.

The episode received positive reviews. Some reviewers praised the episode's visual style and thought-provoking nature, along with the actor's performances, and believe it to be superior to previous episode "The National Anthem"; other commentators criticised the episode for being unoriginal.

Plot

A society of people live in an enclosed, automated space, with nearly every surface a video screen with personalised entertainment and frequent advertising. They earn their living by riding on stationary bikes to generate power in exchange for "merits", a form of currency used to buy food, goods, virtual items for their dopple, and for entertainment. The society shuns overweight people, who are tasked with menial, janitorial jobs.

Bingham "Bing" Madsen (Daniel Kaluuya) has recently inherited more than 15 million merits from his dead brother. He meets Abi Khan (Jessica Brown Findlay) while exercising one day, and develops a relationship with her. Later, after overhearing Abi singing in a restroom, he encourages her to enter Hot Shot, a reality contest where winners are able to move into more lavish spaces and can forgo the bike riding. However, an entry ticket costs 15 million merits. Bing, feeling there is nothing worth buying, gifts Abi the entry ticket, and joins her for her audition. Abi is required to drink a "Cuppliance" beverage from a stage hand, said to help settle her nerves, before she goes out to sing "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is" for the judges, Hope, Charity and Wraith (Rupert Everett, Julia Davis, Ashley Thomas). While they are impressed with her singing, they admit they have no more room for singers, but Wraith suggests she is better suited for his pornography show, WraithBabes. Despite Bing protesting from the wings, Abi accepts.

Bing returns to his routine listlessly. One day, while watching entertainment in his personal cell, an advert for an episode of WraithBabes featuring Abi appears. Bing does not have the merits to skip the ad, and cannot look away without the automated systems waiting for him to return to watching, and he angrily bashes one of the screens, shattering its glass. He eyes one of the larger pieces, and gets an idea. He hides the shard under his bed, along with the waste container from the Cuppliance drink Abi had. He spends the next few months aggressively earning merits on the bike and being frugal with all other purchases to re-earn the 15 million merits and buy another Hot Shot entry ticket.

Prior to his tryout, Bing hides the glass shard in his pants, and feigns to the stage hands that he has already drank his Cuppliance by showing them the empty container. For the judges, he starts with a dance number that impresses them and the audience, when he suddenly pulls out the shard and threatens to slice his neck, killing himself in front of everyone. Wraith suggests he go through with it, but the other judges hear him out. Bing angrily rants about the system, talking about the cold, heartlessness of it and how everything is artificial and unemotional. After some discussion, Hope offers Bing his own regular show on one of their channels.

Some time later, Bing is shown recording his show, consisting of him holding the shard of glass to his neck to rant before finishing with advert placements. Bing now lives in much larger quarters, and the episode ends with him looking out through the side of his room onto a green forest stretching into the distance.

Production

This episode was the first Black Mirror episode to be written, though it aired second. It was written by Charlie Brooker and Konnie Huq; Brooker described it as "sort of her idea", as she once remarked that he would "basically be happy in a room where every wall was [an iPad screen]". Additionally, it is based on the "narrative in talent shows", where "there are a lot of people who do a job they hate for little reward, and one of the main means of salvation that's held up is to become an overnight star." According to Brooker, the sets feature working screens as it was decided that using visual effects would not really be possible.

David Lewis of Cultbox believes that Botherguts, one of the fictional entertainment shows that makes fun of overweight people in the society, is taken from TVGoHome (a previous work by Brooker).

Scenes from "Fifteen Million Merits" were featured at a Barbican Centre exhibit entitled "Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction". The entrance contained a 6 feet (1.8 m) high installation containing extracts from the episode across multiple screens.

Analysis

The episode falls under the genres of dystopia, science fiction and drama. Lambie compares it to dystopian novels Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and We, due to the plot revolving around a "doomed relationship". Bing is a tragic hero according to Wallaston. In regards to the pacing, Sims writes that the episode is "economical [...] with the information it gives you".

Richards notes that Hot Shot is "a caustic satire on TV talent shows"; it is widely considered to be based on The X Factor, with Judge Hope in the role of Simon Cowell. Wollaston notes that "Fifteen Million Merits" premiered on the night of the 2011 X Factor final, calling it "no coincidence surely". Reviewers have also drawn comparisons to American Idol.

Sims uses the metaphor that Bing is "stuck inside a cellphone", and that his life is a game of Candy Crush. Connolly calls Bing's cell a "little tomb made out of Kinect-equipped iPads". Sims notes that the dopples each person has resemble Mii avatars. Surette comments that the episode shows a "class system", with the unfit being assigned janitor jobs – a lower position than working on the exercise bikes. He also notes that one could compare the world to that of a dull office job.

Bing can be seen as a satire of Brooker himself, as both can be described as a "bilious TV critic turned TV presenter". His character speaks very little for most of the episode before his stream of consciousness-style rant at the judges. Howard said Abi's storyline "rings chillingly true in our world of Instamodels and reality stars", giving the example of Kim Kardashian, and opines "Stardom, for women, equates to sexual objectification - it's unavoidable". Surette writes that the episode provides a "look forward into our celebrity-obsessed culture".

The forest seen from Bing's window at the end of the episode can be interpreted as real or a computer-generated landscape. Sims writes "It can't be [real], can it?"

Critical reception

The episode has received positive reviews. Many critics agree that this episode was better than the previous, "The National Anthem". Sims opines that it is a "grander work in every way", while Wollaston calls it "much better", "more artful" and "moving".

Writing for The A.V. Club, David Sims gives the episode an A, describing it as "visually seamless" and "a dazzling piece of science fiction that builds its world out slowly but perfectly over the course of an hour". He calls Bing "perhaps too inscrutable" but says the ending is "devastating and smart". Tim Surette of TV.com says that the episode is "one of the most beautiful and haunting hours of science-fiction television you'll [ever] see". Surette assesses that, "Brimming with gorgeous visuals, a moving score, and a fully realized future that might not be too far off, there's never a moment where '15 Million Merits' is anything less than gripping, scary, and thought-provoking. [...] '15 Million Merits' wants you to look in the mirror and do something about it." Sam Wollaston of The Guardian describes this episode as "original, thoughtful, thought-provoking television". Wollaston remarks that "all the performances are good" and that the world is "striking to look at and beautiful".

Ryan Lambie of Den of Geek raves that "Fifteen Million Merits" contains "some of the finest production design, music and acting [he has] seen in a genre television show all year". Criticising that "some aspects [...] are a little too shrill", referring to Dustin's abrasiveness and Hope's obvious satire of Cowell, Lambie gives an otherwise overwhelmingly positive review, critiquing that "the warmth of Bing and Abi's brief romance, contrasted against the coldness of TV screens, jeering avatars and manipulative reality show judges, is among the most moving I've seen in for a while, and the main reason why Fifteen Million Merits is such a captivating piece of genre television." Alexandra Howard of The 405 writes that the episode is the one that "stuck with [her]", due to its commentary on the objectification of women; Howard comments that Black Mirror "makes you reflect upon the world and realise that you are also part of the problem".

Sam Richards of The Telegraph gave the episode four out of five stars in a review which argued that the episode explored "familiar tropes" with "style, savvy and lashings of acerbic humour". David Lewis of Cultbox rates the episode three out of five, commenting that "the moral is more sledgehammer than subtle" but Bing and Abi holdings hands is "sweet" and the golden ticket appearing with Bing's dopple on Abi's screen is "genuinely touching"; Lewis calls the episode "profoundly depressing – highly watchable, but utterly wretched".

Brendan Connolly of Bleeding Cool was "disappointed" by the episode, as it was a "fairly prosaic story situated in an all too familiar future world, semi-fraught with overplayed dangers". The review criticises the "bit of a leap" required to accept that Abi would "choose a life of televised sex abuse over a life of menial labour". However, Connolly states that "the show really punched out through the screen and hit [him]" in its final scene, due to the ambiguity of whether the forest is real, and uncertainty of how Bing sees his situation.

External links

• "Fifteen Million Merits" at IMDb