Black Mirror premiere recap: 'U.S.S. Callister'

As with any short-story anthology, Black Mirror can oscillate between rapturous peaks (“San Junipero,” “Fifteen Million Merits”) and less-impressive valleys. This episode belongs squarely in the former category. Turning a riff on Star Trek: The Original Series into an exploration of fandom and the ways it gets twisted is one of the show’s most remarkable achievements so far. It might be the best episode the show has done.

Rather than stand up to his bullying cofounder or his catty coworkers, Daley escapes into Space Fleet, a show that greatly resembles the original Star Trek. Daley’s office is adorned with Space Fleet posters, toys, and DVDs, as he shows off to new hire Annette Cole (Cristin Milioti). When Cole notes that the female characters’ miniskirts would be slightly inappropriate for the coldness of space, Daley laughs it off with some deep-cut reference to the Space Fleet canon — just like any nerd who refuses to acknowledge the prejudices and objectifications inherent in his beloved sci-fi silliness.

Cole is actually nice to Daley, claiming that his coding work inspired her to join Callister (Daley’s company is, of course, named after the Space Fleet flagship). But he isn’t interested in her real self. He mostly just wants the lid of her coffee cup, so that he can scan her DNA into his personalized Space Fleet modification of Infinity. That’s right — not only are the U.S.S. Callister crew members based on Daley’s real-life colleagues, but they’re literal clones of them, complete with the same looks, minds, and personalities.

Chasing Valdak to the surface of a nearby planet brings us back to the Star Trek parody story that started the episode, but now it feels different. The crew is clearly exaggerating their mannerisms to please Daley, even as they constantly exchange uncomfortable glances with one another. When Daley pauses the game to go get his pizza delivery, they all exchange conversation. I particularly love this aspect of the episode, about how the people who make the things we like (even the characters themselves) might have a life and an existence outside the fan enjoying them.

Daley gives chase, of course, and almost snags his quarry when an asteroid field takes out their engine. Thus commences the episode’s single greatest Star Trek parody: a version of the beloved Wrath of Khan ending where Walton (forced into the Spock role by Daley) goes to fix the engine manually. As he does so, he makes radio contact with Daley. At first it seems like a legitimate Spock-Kirk moment, as Walton heartfully apologizes for being unfair to Daley in the real world. Based on Daley’s reactions, you get the sense that this is all he ever wanted. But then Walton adds, “But you threw my son out of an airlock so f— you to death,” and reignites the engine. The resulting blast incinerates Walton, powers the Callister through the wormhole, and leaves Daley spinning in space. Powerless and without any controls, he’s unable to exit the game, and his real-world self lies lifeless in his chair at home. Daley’s real world and Space Fleet fantasy world finally became one, but not in the way he probably expected. Maybe having honest conversations with the people in his life, instead of forcing them into his own toxic fantasy, could have been a better way of solving these problems.

But who needs a royal title when you have friends, a spaceship, and an entire internet universe to explore?