A fifth series of
Black Mirror was commissioned by Netflix in March 2018, three months after the release of series four. Initially part of series five's production, the
interactive work
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch increased in scope to the point where it was separated from the series and released as a standalone film; it premiered on 28 December 2018. Although previous series of the programme produced under Netflix contained six episodes, series five comprises three episodes, as the series creator
Charlie Brooker viewed this as preferable to making viewers wait longer for the next series. The three episodes—"Striking Vipers", "
Smithereens" and "
Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too"—were released on Netflix simultaneously on 5 June 2019. As
Black Mirror is an
anthology series, each instalment can be watched in any order. "Striking Vipers" was filmed before
Bandersnatch.
Conception and writing The episode was written by Brooker, alongside the executive producer
Annabel Jones. The initial concept was for an office cohort to spend time in a virtual reality simulation as part of a team-building exercise, where they would prepare to perform the musical
Grease. As part of the exercise, each employee's identity within the simulation would be unknown. The idea was conceived for two of the employees to have an affair within the simulation. This story changed over time, and was informed by another source of inspiration: Brooker was reflecting on his days of playing the fighting game
Tekken with flatmates in the 1990s, and thought there was something interesting in the "homoerotic" and "weirdly primal" nature of the situation. During the writing of "Striking Vipers", a variety of fighting games were used for reference, including
Dead or Alive, a series where the characters have sexually provocative appearances. Pornography was a theme discussed by the writers. Jones said the episode relates to the question of "when porn stops being a healthy distraction and actually becomes an affair". The episode has an all-black main cast, with Anthony Mackie as Danny, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Karl and Nicole Beharie as Theo. Beharie was a big fan of the show prior to her appearance. Within
Striking Vipers X, Danny plays as Lance—portrayed by Ludi Lin—and Karl plays as Roxette—acted by Pom Klementieff. By coincidence, four of the actors played major roles in superhero films—Mackie was
Falcon, Klementieff was
Mantis, Abdul-Mateen was
Black Manta, and Lin was the
Black Ranger in
Power Rangers. Though the script originally called for a suburban England setting, it is set in America. , one of about 20
São Paulo, Brazil, locations used in the episode. Harris found it interesting that the
bromance had not been subverted often in fiction, and enjoyed the question of whether society's views on monogamy and marriage might change, like how attitudes to dating changed with the prevalence of
dating apps. Harris said that the episode had a dark humour, and one of the lines which helped him understand it was Karl's "I fucked a polar bear and I still couldn't get you out of my mind", which became oft-repeated by fans. When asked about fans, Mackie said that those who approached him would either be interested in a long conversation about the themes of the episode, or make homophobic and uninformed comments about it. Jones said of Danny and Karl's real-life kiss that both actors aimed to be clear that the excitement from
Striking Vipers X was "not being echoed in the real world", and that the characters were relieved by this. Abdul-Mateen thought the scene was important in its depiction of two black men with "a vessel to explore their sexuality and to understand who they are". Describing the filming, he said that "shooting in the rain is never easy" and estimated it took three to four hours. Harris saw the ending as "pragmatic": they considered showing more details about whether the arrangement was succeeding in practice, but chose to leave the ambiguity. Abdul-Mateen noted that Karl has a cat at the end of the episode, which means "he has something to take care of". He thought it could imply that Karl has matured, but is still lonesome. ==Analysis==