Stuck in a Universe of Assholes

A few years back Black Mirror, the British Twilight Zone-inspired series that was later taken over by NetflixOriginally started as a disc-by-mail service, Netflix has grown to be one of the largest media companies in the world (and one of the most valued internet companies as well). With a constant slate of new internet streaming-based programming that updates all the time, Netflix has redefined what it means to watch TV and films (as well as how to do it)., put out "USS Callister". It was a Star TrekOriginally conceived as "Wagon Train in Space", Star Trek was released during the height of the Hollywood Western film and TV boom. While the concept CBS originally asked for had a western vibe, it was the smart, intellectual stories set in a future utopia of science and exploration that proved vital to the series' long impact on popular culture. parody episode that still played well in the dystopian tone of Black Mirror. It was funny, but dark, and it did a lot to explore both its Star Trek inspirations as well as commenting on the themes of absolute power and corruption. A man gains the power to bring fear and terror to his perceived enemies (effectively those that slighted him in the real world) by bringing versions of them over into his digital universe, and the series used that concept (which, itself, feels not dissimilar to the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”) to great effect.

Despite its dark themes, “USS Callister” is actually one of the more hopeful episodes of Black Mirror. The crew of kidnapped digital clones that our mad god creates eventually band together and come up with a plan to defeat him. He’s left, stuck in his own pocket universe, where he dies, while they escape into a larger universe, free to explore the digital infinity on their stolen spaceship, and the thought is that they could go anywhere and do anything. It’s such an open ended conclusion that many fans hoped there would be some kind of follow-up. And, either years later, there was.

This is a big unusual for the series as, up until the seventh season of the series where “USS Callister” debuted, the show had never done follow-ups or sequels. The series creator, Charlie Brooker, has noted that all the episodes take place in a kind of shared universe where ideas can move back and forth between episodes, but direct sequels in any form had not been done before. Black Mirror had to break tradition for a sequel episode, but then meant that the follow-up, “USS Callister: Into Infinity” really needed to step up and match the storytelling power of the original episode. Thankfully, it does.

The sequel episode picks up three months after the events of “USS Callister”. After escaping Robert Daly’s personal, pocket universe version of the online game Infinity, the surviving crew members – Cristin Milioti as Captain Cole, Billy Magnussen as Valdack, Osy Ikhile as Helmsman Packer, Milanka Brooks as Crew Member Tulaska, Paul G. Raymond as Diagnostics Officer Dudani – have been stuck in the broader game, forced to fight their way across the universe, stealing from other players just to keep their ship fueled and running. It’s a hard existence, and by the time we check back in with them they’ve already lost one crew member, Shania Lowry, during these tough months.

On the outside, though, help might be coming. The real version of Nanette Cole (also Milioti) had been tracking the developments of the crew (known in the game only by their lack of a proper gamer tag) and suspected what really happened. She realized, from the tech on Daly’s desk the night he died, that he had digitally cloned people, and she deduced that she, and others from the office, were stuck in Infinity and needed a way out. The only way to save them, though, was to get them to a different pocket universe of Infinity where they could be safe, but to do that she would need the help of Infinity’s CEO, James Walton (Jimmi Simpson), to gain access to the core of the game’s code. Walton, though, has legal concerns about the very existence of the crew, concerns that could put their very lives in danger.

“USS Callister: Into Infinity” is a solid episode, although maybe not the one that most viewers of “USS Callister” might have expected. That episode, was dark and at times quite tragic, was a solid Star Trek parody that truly reveled in its concept. It was both a great sendup of Star Trek, poking fun at the classic, 1960s The Original Series, while also using that foundation to explore the concepts of a man gone mad with power, able to do anything he wanted. Honestly, considering how many mad god episodes The Original Series had, “USS Callister” felt like a proper homage to that series.

“USS Callister: Into Infinity” isn’t like that. Most of the Star Trek trappings are gone, replaced with the style and substance of an MMO, since that’s what Infinity is within the bounds of Black Mirror. Instead of continuing to parody Star Trek, this sequel episode is more concerned with playing in a world of MMO rules and gamer culture. The people that the crew fight and steal from are real people outside the game, and when they get screwed over, their in-game credits stolen, they understandably want revenge. This makes our heroic crew the villains to everyone else, but it also means they’re horribly outnumbered. When they die, they die for real, while the gamers stalking them can just reload over and over without consequence. It’s scary, which really ups the stakes for our protagonists.

Feeling the brunt of this the most is Captain Cole. She was thrust into the position when they escaped Daly’s pocket universe, being the one that had the idea of how to escape and the one that led them to freedom. But because she’s in charge she feels the stress of trying to keep the crew alive, and it tortures her any time she closes her eyes. The three months they’ve been on their own have been terrible for her, and it only seems to get worse for them the longer they go on.

And yet it’s also changed her in ways that shock even her real-life counterpart, Nanette. Her real-life version never would have thought she could be captain, or that she’d be the type of person that could do all the things she’s done (despite them basically being the same person). It illustrates to her that she can be better, can do better, and that’s a hopeful message for her, and her digital counterpart, as the episode plays out. This might be a trying time right now, but with the Captain’s leadership they may yet find a way to peace and true freedom.

It’s that hopeful edge that keeps the episode running. While it’s not a straight Star Trek parody anymore, the episode still has a hopeful message at its core. It also still preserves the morality play themeing that many The Original Series episodes had. Without spoiling it, there’s a solid, late game twist that recontextualizes much of what we know about Infinity and how everything works, and that leads to a solid character moment that makes us question natural vs. nurture, good vs. evil, and the inherent ability for man to be their better selves. All of that feels like Star Trek, right at its core.

Honestly, this episode illustrates that there was a lot that could be done with the “USS Callister” concept, and while “USS Callister: Into Infinity” mostly ends the storyline for its characters (again, without spoiling much) you could see how these stories could have been extended and continued for some time. Which originally was the plan. This episode was actually supposed to be part of a larger story, a full series spin-off that had been approved and put into production before 2023 Writers Strike happened. Netflix then decided just to pare it down to a single episode, and it leaves me wondering if that was the best way for it. On one hand, this episode is brilliant and I love it, almost as much as I loved the original episode. But at the same time, I really like the cast of “USS Callister” and I’m sad to think we could have had even more stories with them.

I guess it’s a case where it’s better to take what we get than lament what could have been. “USS Callister: Into Infinity” is a solid continuation of the first episode’s story that smartly extends and changes up its storytelling for a new universe with new rules. It maintains the core of what drove that first episode, though, creating another brilliant story that’s very much worth watching. I would have loved to have more with this cast and crew, but if this is all we get I think we should count ourselves lucky that the series went two-for-two with its Star Trek aspirations. Few parodies can ever keep that kind of brilliance going for long.