Black Mirror : Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Would it have been a better ending if, after her appearances on the porn show, Abi redeems or cleanses herself?
There’s a lot left to viewers’ imagination by the end of the episode IMHO.
If she leaves porn behind, will the experience of taking part in ´Wraith Babes´ ever stop haunting her or Bing?

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

she was being drugged into consenting to something she didn't want to do. it's unlikely she would ever have the choice to leave or even be able to form the desire to

~~~
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

That would of been a worse ending in my opinion. This is the best Black Mirror episode for me and it captured digital escapism and empty consumerism in a way I've never seen before. That episode sat with me for a long time after, it cut deep. It's so true, and so depressing. Her redeeming herself would of wrapped it up in a pretty bow and completely took away from the emotional and intellectual effectiveness of the entire point the episode was trying to deliver.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

This was one of the most beautifully directed and written eps in TV history

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I just watched this episode (the only BM episode I saw, chose this one randomly) and I completely agree with your comment. I think it was the most depressing thing I've ever seen, I just stared at the screen for five minutes after it ended... A "happy" ending would completely ruin the message and the emotional punch of the episode.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I think at the most they'd be able to see each other at times. They're both "celebrities" so I'm assuming there is a possibility that they at the very least get to meet up sometimes. I don't think either of them "gets out" though.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

No. I doubt that the celebrities meet up. Each one is drugged and kept in their own little suite. Of course, everyone is kept in their own little suite all the time anyway.

--
What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I agree with you 110%

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Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I agree. This was not a tv episode, it was an experience. It cut deep, very deep... I can't even describe it.

I never expected to experience what I did when I started up Fifteen Million Merits.

I feel similarly about The Entire History of You. It draws you in then proceeds to rip you apart with no remorse.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Found a link to Bing's speech

http://genius.com/Charlie-brooker-bings-speech-lyrics

at least it seems to be it anyway.


QUESTION: Why didn't Bing say in his speech he liked Abi and tell everyone that they make all the contestants take a drug to make them compliant? How would every person feel if they knew that they had been watching Abi being drugged and raped?

Wish Abi could have been put out of her torment. Wonder what really happened to her because I don't believe such a society would just let her stay in a nice home all day even retiring on a pension. I bet when they have finished using her they make her go back on the bike.
_______________________________________
I'm not posh, I just like VB's clothes.

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Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

If you catch the brief shot of Abi later on in the episode it says something like "Abi Khan: Reality Special vol #47".

By that stage (47 weeks in I suppose) with Bing all sold out and probably not coming to save her, pumped full of drugs, and looking like a sex doll, I think it's game over for Abi.

Awesomely crushing.

--------------------------------
Hitler was a dog person.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Rayvio, dccheever, darshan2 and love_cats_hate_dogs Thanks for commenting your interesting insights

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

What happened to Abi had to happen...when Bing heard her voice in the bathroom, unfiltered, unprocessed and not on a screen, it was the first real thing he had heard, in a fake world. Then they took the only real thing he ever had away and turned her into just another product.

--------------------------------
Hitler was a dog person.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

That was what hurt even worse than seeing Abi's caving to the crowd under the effect of the drug--seeing that number and seeing just how much they are using Abi's body. I didn't see the number 47 as being 47 weeks in--I took it as this is how much material they've compiled of Abi--so much that they're able to have a 47th special.

For some reason seeing that number also made me flash back to the moment when Wraith tells her 'Forget about all the shame and all that. We medicate against that. You'll have pleasure forever.' That phrase --'the shame and all that' flipped me out. I read it as an implication of pain but not wanting to come out and say it.

Certainly the first we see of her after Hot Shot makes it look like the sex will be rough and harmful to her at worst, degrading and unpleasant at 'best'. If you've ever listened to an interview with a porn star who's quit, they often talk about the horrible toll porn took on their bodies, because they're sometimes asked to do things that they know will hurt them.

IMO, Abi never looks anything other than confused and vaguely afraid in any of the shots we see of her in her new, fabulous life. I wonder if they erase her memory with the drugs too, or just make it so she can't feel pain?

Ugh, gross. This show always makes me think about *beep* I really, really do not want to think about.

Porn stars can quit, if they want.

Abi has no escape, ever. The most horrifying episode, for me.

-------------------------
"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

At the end the camera focuses on a penguin statue on the table next to the orange juice (like the penguin Abi gave to Bing earlier). It made me wonder if Bing gets to her, and gets her out. Maybe this whole escapade was about getting to her and having the power to rescue her from the lifestyle she'd found herself in.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

So he dons his trenchcoat and dual pistols, the heavy metal soundtrack begins, he rides to the Wraithbabes HQ on his Harley, kicks down the door, mows down hundreds of anonymous henchmen, Kung Fu duels Wraith before uttering a one-liner and shooting him in the head/throwing him out the window/cutting his head off with a samurai sword, gets "the girl", and then fade to a few years later having Christmas dinner with their kids?

...or would you prefer "IT WAS ALL A DREAM"?

Can't something just be different? Isn't that better than everything being hackneyed insipid formulaic rubbish?

--------------------------------
Hitler was a dog person.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Don't be a dweeb, I'm not saying it's all kung-fu and happy endings, but maybe he shifts from some revolutionary to cynical utiliser of the system, and maybe that was the plan all along since it would give him the power and autonomy to do what he wants. Maybe the penguin means a lot, maybe it means nothing.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?


Maybe the penguin means a lot, maybe it means nothing.


Just finished watching the episode and I thought it was incredible. Regarding the penguin, I think it has dual meanings which can be related back to Bing's impassioned speech.

1) The penguin is real, not just some virtual "fake" rubbish thing you buy for a virtual avatar.

2) Ironically, it's also an "augmented and packaged" (updated, improved) version of the origami penguin that Abi gave to him, which is one of the things he was railing against.

Again, a really incredible piece of television and the ending was perfect.

So, the penguin is a symbol like the unicorn in Blade Runner?

Just saying....the unicorn was origami too and symbolized dreams.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Was I the only one who thought Bing was getting on Hot Shot to stab the Wraith judge? I thought he was going to go that to avenge Abi. The ending the writers had was more ironic than that. It is a sad satire how women are used as a product for sex, but also Bing was made as the "rebellious" poet but at least he did not have to have sex against his will or on drugs.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I was expecting the view that Bing was gazing into to be just another television screen

I hope you have an army of raisins cause I've got a major scoop!

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Hey there flimflamsam...
I saw this on Wikipedia when I was reading the synopsis of the episode...

"Under a similar pressure as the one placed on Abi earlier, he accepts, and he is shown finishing one of his streams in his penthouse, putting his shard away in a silk box. Bing stands staring out of the penthouse windows over a vast green forest stretching to the horizon. It is unclear whether this vista is real, and it is left up to the viewer to decide if by selling out all Bing has managed to do is find himself in a larger cell."

So yeah, in his bigger 'penthouse cell' Bing was most probably (well, I think so) just looking into another screen, albeit a much bigger screen and could afford the new 'view'...

Great episode... Great series... I also really enjoyed "The Entire History Of You"
as well as the whole of the second series.
The one I liked least was most probably the first episode (even though it's still a really good episode! ), nowt wrong with it, just my least favourite, very cringeworthy indeed! LOL!

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?


It is unclear whether this vista is real, and it is left up to the viewer to decide if by selling out all Bing has managed to do is find himself in a larger cell."


This is exactly what I've been wondering about the last scene, I think that Bing most definitely sold out for basically a nicer cell, but I assumed that was the depressing overall point: anything truly authentic can be packaged and sold as entertainment, the best you can hope for is a bigger cell than the one you had before.

I wondered whether or not it was a screen or real forest, I kind of like that they left that up to the viewer to decide, and also the fact that he left behind Abi just shows how much he's willing to sell himself out for.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

His view on the last scene was a wall of tv screens. Everything is fake; even nature, tranquility, peace, & silence. In the future, we are all alone. Hermits. Empty.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I think it was a real forest (not screens).

I'd have to watch the episode again, but I'm fairly certain there is a reference earlier in the ep to being 'topside' or something like that, there being some way to have access to somewhere with a view, but that is only reserved for the elite.

(EDIT: I scanned the ep and the reference to 'outside' is made at the 12:30 mark, Selma the pop idol references her new lifestyle, and how she loves looking 'outside', although she wishes everyone could do it (implying that only the elite get to enjoy the view))

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

When I first watched it I too assumed it was just screens. After reading this thread I went back and watched the 12:30 reference (nice catch...apparently one of the other benefits of "making it" is choosing your own clothes).

Two things I thought I'd share:

1) The penguin seems to have a slot carved into it where you just see some cardboard. I'm assuming this is the original oragami penguin folded and stored away. Almost like he built a shrine for it. (and why wouldn't he?)

2) The window is obviously real. I say this because in the first shot we see the "reflection" of the horizon on the back side of the glass which he is being filmed through. But what clenched it is that as the camera pulled back from his view we can see the trees "moving" behind the sections...a perspective that would not be there (no reason for it to be) if it wasn't a real view of top-side.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Another clincher for me was the realism…all other virtual scenes and screens in the ep look to have comparable graphics to a Nintendo GameCube. In the final scene, the trees are photorealistic.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

You're both ignoring the fact that the "topside" comment was given in a couple of contexts. She only talks about "the view" she doesn't talk about actually walking in the world. She only talks about being able to "see it" -- which means she could easily be duped and just as we can't tell in the end whether his is just a big cell with hi-res screens, she could also be deluded into thinking the topside view is real, when it isn't. It could just be that everyone says it is, and she takes it as a given.

The second aspect to consider is that she is completely drugged out of her mind all the time like all of the other performers. Remember -- this is required. Its whole function is to make people complicit. Being drugged could easily stop someone from questioning the reality.

They are living in a world that is mostly virtually rendered -- they are consumers, and everyone is living in this world and is complicit in it. Just having a more hi-res screen of a view doesn't prove that they're seeing the real world, and having a drug addled pop star say that it's a view of topside also doesn't prove that it is.

"Jack go to the liquor store and findeth the Jack of Daniels so that ye may be sh*tfaced!"

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I'm not ignoring those facts, I just don't see them as particularly likely or relevant. Your first point is largely covered by the law of conservation of detail. It's a 1 hour episode, walking in the woods is not relevant, so why show it? I mean, she 'could' be duped, but then again, she 'could' be a lot of things. Use the razor, your drugged scenario is very convoluted, quite a stretch. Much easier if they're just trees.

It's much better to reference the actual material when considering the possibilities, not just make up convoluted reasons why something minor like trees would be some twisted plot to lie about topside.

Premises:

1. The pop star talks about topside, we see topside at the end, it looks real.
2. No other digital media in the episode looks remotely real, other than the Wraith Girls.
3. The Wraith Girls are not CGI, we know this because Abi becomes one.

Conclusions:

All digitally created media in the episode looks fake. The only instance of realistic media is achieved by filming people in reality. The trees look real. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that the trees are real.

Any other conclusion requires quite a bit of mental gymnastics to achieve.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

So Bing is suddenly living in a high-rise which appears to be situated in a rainforest?

I think the mental gymnastics required to achieve that conclusion are a lot more rigorous than 'he's looking at yet another bank of images on black mirrors'.

-------------------------
"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch

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Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Exactly right. It is a real outside -- the camera angle is the key.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I wondered if he had actually, somehow been able to keep Abi's origami and if it were there too. It's probably wishful thinking. It was empty, like everything else in that world.

I disagree that the screens are showing us reality. I think 'topside' is a myth and that Bing is simply in a larger, prettier box. During his speech to the judges, he says "Show us something real and free and beautiful, you couldn't. It'd break us, we're too numb for it, our minds would choke." He was right about everything else in his speech, right? I think that might be a subtle clue that what he's seeing out his 'windows' isn't real, just pretty HD images of a world that probably doesn't exist anymore. We certainly never see it.

Anyhow, just my take on it. The tone of this episode is almost unbearably bleak for me. I think Brooker wanted the audience to feel that there is no real beauty and no real hope any longer in that world, which is why I feel like the windows are screens and the penguin he keeps to remind him of Abi is probably nothing more than an empty shell.

I really like to talk about this episode with others, so thanks for letting me write you a novel as a response, haha!

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"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

My husband thought it was fake, but I thought it was real. I don't think it changes the message either way. Even if topside is real, it's still pretty bleak. He's looking at trees he'll never touch. It's almost sadder if the view of the world is genuine and yet he's still separated from it by glass. Does it even matter if the trees are organic if he never actually touches them?

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

cleanses herself? What are you implying about the adult entertainment industry? smacks of slut-shaming

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

No, I'm not implying that. I used the word 'cleanse' because I think both characters Bing and Abi reject adult entertainment programmes in the particular situation or context they are dealing with. I don't even know much about porn industry...
It's just a figurative expression. Don't take it so literal, reisender

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I know what it feels like when I want to use a more appropriate word but can't think of what the word is that I really want. I believe you that "cleanse" is not the most appropriate for what you meant.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

sluts should be shamed azzh0le. Would yu marry one?

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

So we're only accepting people we want to marry now?

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Are you implying that a clearly drugged Abi is enjoying herself? Where do you see her expressing pleasure in any of her onscreen appearances?

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"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Not sure if trolling....you easily could be. But it's fine if someone chooses it as a career out of his/her own free will. It's not fine if someone feels pressured into it like Abi clearly was.


"The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister."

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

Pressured into it while drugged I might add, she had no free will, the drugs affected her decision making. That stage was the end to Abi's free will. She was better off on a bike. So very tragic.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I didn't like that Abi had to be "drugged" to go on the porn show. Wouldn't it have been more disturbing had she gone willingly? Bing fell in love with her because she was pretty and sung nicely without really knowing what she was like. It's not uncommon for men to fall in love with women thinking they're sweet and not like other trashy girls, only to end up brutally disappointed when the "sweet" girl turns out to be anything but.

Then again, the fact that Bing sold out without even having taken the drug could be seen as a hint that Abi didn't need the drug either.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?


Then again, the fact that Bing sold out without even having taken the drug could be seen as a hint that Abi didn't need the drug either.


Agreed. Her resistance may have been down, but she was still capable of resisting flashing her titties. What they did do, drugged or not, was surrendered what little "real" they had left (found) in their lives in order to become marketable products instead, vended out to the masses.

Of course, given the option of being a slave to the bike, in order to purchase useless crap, or having the option to abandon the bike and becoming a slave to that consumerism, which would we choose?
They are both variations of slavery. How often, throughout our lives, do we simply trade one form of slavery for another?




**WARNING: MY POSTS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**
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Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

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Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

That is an inconsistency I did not realize. She resisted lifting her top but did not resist doing erotica.

Re: Fifteen Million Merits - What happens to Abi?

I think it is more disturbing you would suggest Abi is willing to do porn. It is such a typical way to way a script, making all women tramps and heartbreakers. Abi took the drink because she thought it would calm her nerves. If she would have just took her top off from the get-go, it would have not made the sex scenes as intense. Her innocence was violated and I think that makes a stronger statement. If Abi was not innocent, Bing would not have gotten to Hot Shot himself, so how would the episode ended then?
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