The Reel Rejects - BLACK MIRROR Season 6: "Beyond The Sea" Breakdown & REVIEW!! | 6x3 | Netflix 2023

Starting point is 00:00:00 Listeners of the Reject Nation, I'm Greg. I'm John. We are going to review Beyond the Sea, the Kevin Spacey movie. Yeah. No, the episode of Black Mirror, episode three of season six. Let's talk about it. Wow. That was messed up.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Interesting. yes it was really well done because it kept going the route that you would expect it to go and then right before it crossed that line they would go and they were going to different like every single time you know right down to the whole thing with the affair with not the affair but kind of yeah with the wife with the painting and yeah getting all close you just never you're like oh he's gonna hijack his but he does it's but i did not see that coming where he would murder them in the end yeah i mean the guy's just so so try like just went too far he's he's completely traumatized and also like as detached as one could possibly become yeah

Starting point is 00:01:26 the sad is holding on to the fantasy as the one thing giving him hope yeah cracks truly truly a lesson in in hope sometimes being more cruel almost maybe now you'll appreciate everything wow that was amazing that was that was that was so transportive what an experience of a movie yeah it really was a couple is the length of a movie yeah it was a real film right there it has all like all the atmosphere and all the yeah just breath of a film i wish it had didn't have the open-ended i like an open-ended ending i like when things and have an open-ended conclusion but it doesn't i don't know i was like oh i want to know that he killed him he certainly should kill him it's probably should but it's like josh hardnett's become so dangerous he did that so fast

Starting point is 00:02:24 yeah yeah it's like he he could only have been out there for i mean it must have been a minute but it wasn't like an hour it doesn't seem like it seems like it was like 15 or 20 minutes he was out there yeah if that and yeah the acting was so amazing from everyone here superb Aaron paul playing dual roles here really able to distinguish it without our feelings doing a josh hartnett impression josh hartnett going from that all-american astronaut into this hollow man who it seemed like he's weak when he's in space and it becomes like just the monster by the end yeah um yeah i love the aesthetic the landscape i love how they chose to make it with the 60s at a time of masculinity especially for men like this where emotions were so much more

Starting point is 00:03:17 to tell like where the ability to not really identify how you're feeling can just consume you i love the the feigning of a man who really is in tune with his emotions with josh hartnett but he's really not obviously yeah you know not for real yeah oh wow that was that was wild that was that was so wild it was so it was like such a simple movie it was a simple it was simple well because it's so so complicated yeah it's it's so human and i do appreciate like you said yeah that they kind of let things just unfold in what feels like a very gradual sort of sensory sort of way and yeah it flirts with all the things you're expecting and it does a couple of them and i don't know yeah there's just such a i don't know it felt like it had this like nicely sort of sophisticated

Starting point is 00:04:13 tone because it's yeah it's like it's not pulpy but it does have just like this constant sense of dread and ominousness and just like something is wrong yeah and you're just watching in like advanced slow motion this this horrible circumstance get worse and yeah like i too i appreciate the way they draw the characters because your sympathies and your you know identifications drift and you know you obviously meet them in a way that demonstrates yeah josh hartnett is you know certainly the more gregarious social type and Aaron Paul was very closed off and then I don't know yeah it's like it didn't really ever feel cliche like there's an easily cliche version of this that they could have gone down and you know it does a lot of things that you would expect but just not in the way or with

Starting point is 00:05:06 the tone you would it doesn't ever devolve into being like a silly melodrama like it does feel like this harsh confusing situation and when he's like breaking down the David character he's like I have nothing in this world any longer. I'm basically, I'm alone up here with you on this mission. We're just continuing to drift out into oblivion and like, yeah, you

Starting point is 00:05:29 can fathom a way in which this almost could work and especially given the time and place that's in it, like it just, yeah, it seems like a complete recipe for disaster born of an attempt at altruism which is so tragic.

Starting point is 00:05:45 and so horrible that was gratifying yeah and I like again we've said it but like hats off to the performances so much because too like I it was nice surprise to see Josh Harden it back and see him you know in a really you know juicy role like this

Starting point is 00:06:07 but also like Aaron Paul like I love Aaron Paul and for some reason I always have like this same like process when I see him in something new. I'm like, oh, yeah, you know, it's Aaron Paul. I'm going to see kind of Aaron Pauling it. When I really jump into whatever the thing is, you know, it's easy to think of like

Starting point is 00:06:24 Aaron Paul and Jesse, but like he's so good at embodying very different characters and just in going through the spectrum of emotion and what feels like such a natural, like when he's breaking down in the woods, it's like such a beautiful, unbroken take of that. And yeah, he always impresses me. And at the outset, I'm always like, I'm going to like him in it, but, you know, I'm going to be where it's him. And then, you know, he'll slip into these roles in ways I don't expect. And I think it's really impressive. And Kate Mara, too, I thought she did a really nice job kind of being in this horribly unfortunate position between the both of them.

Starting point is 00:07:01 And yeah, it's like you're, in some ways you're rooting for Cliff, but Cliff is also, like, not the best guy. So, like, you see how David is the better match in a lot of ways. And Cliff clearly does care. but yeah he just doesn't have touch or access to his emotional spectrum enough at all to really kind of make good on that and yeah it's like it's just such a tragic story from every possible angle and then finally at the very end it gets you know super twisted again and even that that whole bit with the manson the manson gang at the top was gnarly but uh yeah it's like it's it's funny because it's such a Again, such a naturalistic, such a, I know we name-checked Terrence Malick, it has that sort of like tactile life thing about it. And yet it feels like very sci-fi at the same time, even though the sci-fi, the like the physical sci-fi elements are like pretty grounded. No, it's my favorite kind of black mirror episodes when it's not really about explaining a technological thing. That they're watching the human experience and the association and how it fucks with your mind.

Starting point is 00:08:13 based off of the connection that you form with the technology so even though this is not necessary like it's a play on the on the avatar thing you know uh which i feel like one day they'll be able to develop something like that which i feel like would be really cool um but uh i i think having like the like because i call family was very much like the manson family for sure like that's exactly what they were going for there and the colkin pre it was it was severance is that the show is that it's not that cokin i don't think it's a different yeah i think it's a lot shorter yeah it's uh i don't know that i yeah it's one of the colt yeah another cokin with another very culcany name well they're smart to really let that feel insanely disturbing like the effect of that

Starting point is 00:09:01 uh just you're you're left with the impact to constantly have you sympathize for josh hardnett's character so much to the point that even when he's crossing the line you're like I you're crossing the line but you there's always a side of you that's like but dude I understand why you're your psyche has led you down this path

Starting point is 00:09:27 you got to reel it in but then when Aaron Paul starts going off on him you're like dude I get why you're so mad you got to get some slack he's got one hour a week yeah and you get to spend all this time there yeah and he's he's been through hell and back and you have no idea what he's had to do and he's just like this let's let these kind of men are constantly about having to put on a display of composure at all times even when they're in their most frail fragile states in their life they have to just maintain some level of everything's all right when it's not um and like when he's going off

Starting point is 00:10:11 at him in the end you're like damn it we were so close to just having some kind of strange resolve but then you shattered him there it's like you wanted to hurt him yeah so bad when you know it's like like no amount of break they get allows them to have any sort of reflect like reflection or understanding of what the other person is like they you lose such sight of that so i loved how the human the portrayals were of the of these men yeah That their flaws get the best of them in every way. Aaron Paul specifically, like starting off as a person who's like very understanding and and because like, yeah, Josh Hartnett takes advantage of him in every way because he literally lends him his body to be able to have an experiment. He didn't have to do and then he's going out there saying like he's not man enough for you and all that because dealing with reality.

Starting point is 00:11:11 is too tough you know this is a story of a man who does who cannot successfully grieve and when it's like that there's the biggest fear moments to me was when Aaron Paul like unloaded on him at the very end yeah it's like

Starting point is 00:11:27 my wife says that she makes her vomit the thought of you um because too much yeah you're like God I know what he did was like he crossed the line but one party is like understanding it all light across the line.

Starting point is 00:11:43 Put yourself in this guy's shoes. Because they do these nice nuanced touches with getting you to understand the kind of manner and Paul is with being closed off and like also the whole thing about like hitting the sun. Like you never see it. You never see him like actually hit the kid. You never see this kid once get hit.

Starting point is 00:11:58 But even when Josh Hartnett, when embodying Aaron Paul's body, you know, hits the kid, even Aaron Paul's like understanding of that. You've got to keep that kid in line. You've got to keep that kid in line. Like you get the idea of the mentality of who this man is and you'd think that Aaron Paul would be softer like we're going to move to the countryside.

Starting point is 00:12:16 We're going to isolate ourselves. And he speaks softly to his wife, you know, but you see that there is this violent guy in him. Oh, yeah, this possessive guy. And while Josh Hartnett is like the bigger guy, you know, like when Aaron Paul's like standing up to him, like that speaks to the prowess of Aaron Paul's performance where when he's getting in Josh Hartnett's face, you believe that Josh Arnett is like scared a little bit. like intimidated by him because he's in such a weak state that you wouldn't actually expect him to cross the line to such a violent path of that recreation and also punishment for being hurt so bad that he really feels like you know you're just not deserving of this and and how painful it was what k mar did but i love the way they handled the kmart situation because she easily could have been exactly the affair woman you know like like i said it just keeps going down like we both said it just keeps going down the path of where you expect it to go and then the second they start going to that line they shift course

Starting point is 00:13:18 you know the second they start actually he starts getting touchy-feely with her and like you know breathing on her neck she's tempted by it and then she walks away from the situation never gives into the situation again and she stands up to him and says like you manipulate you were being manipulative you were trying to shower me with gifts and trying to get into my my mind and heart when you are just taking advantage of a situation right now like they made her someone very mature in this versus what most things would do is exactly what i thought they were going to do yeah you know they kept saying like this is where it's going this is where it's going she's going to sleep with this guy it's going to get sexual going to have an affair and maybe josh arnett's going to take over his body

Starting point is 00:14:01 yeah you know you think it's going more that direction and the way they have her hold her ground as a strong woman like allowing her to have her flaws and you know allowing her to have her moments of weakness with temptation but then giving her giving you an understanding of where she's coming from with that scene that she has an erin paul in the barn where she is lamenting all of her emotions and he's actually finally listening to her for the first time i thought was such a nuanced scene because, you know, they establish so much that he's willing to, like, he's willing to hit someone, you know?

Starting point is 00:14:39 And, like, he's probably going to hit her. He's probably going to hit her right now. And he doesn't. Instead, he listens, you know? So in some ways, what Josh Arnett did was the path to them healing the relationship, and then he just fucked it up. You went too, way too far.

Starting point is 00:14:53 Yeah, it's like he illuminated all the things that were missing. And, yeah, I love the way he played that. Because it's almost like, yeah, the kind of guy that Aaron Paul, that character is, you kind of believe like oh i guess you would just be capable of missing what your wife is clearly expressing through her demeanor through this entire situation and uh yeah i like to as

Starting point is 00:15:18 much as you know part of you wants the satisfaction of like kill a man at the same time i like the way they draw the scenario in space because it does seem like it's a two-man mission and if you know unless both of us are going to perish we need the two-man of us up here and now it's like there's nothing else so it is kind of like a question mark of just like the human survival instinct now and they are like bonded in the worst way possible and that actually kind of tickles my imagination a little bit because I part of the end of the day they need each other they do survive yeah and part of me is like he could easily kill him and he's got nothing else to live for so they'll just both die but I could also see how

Starting point is 00:16:03 like in a twisted way maybe they just won't kill each other and will just see this mission out and just be damaged and beyond damaged forever yeah and yeah just i don't know the depth of depravity like yeah the true break within that david character is something fascinating because two it's like they both get not objectified in the in the traditional way you think like uh sexual but like the whole family is like this object because Aaron Paul is yelling like they're mine like mine like the way he yells at that one particular time really feels like you would yell about a thing you own and by the end you know the David character does the same thing he uses them as a device to communicate his perspective and it's just so sad and terrible because yeah it's like they're also just regular people you know being maimed by a robot yeah well and the other thing we haven't talked about too is how the one of the things about when you're in space is like one of the things they train like with astronauts a lot and especially these crazy missions is it's mainly a psychological game and i love how even though they have the

Starting point is 00:17:29 accessibility to go back to earth via these replicas you still get that touch and sensibility of the mind drifting and the mind losing itself and sanity, you know. Yeah, well, and it almost begs, again, it begs that question of hope because on the one hand you're like, what a beautiful advancement. This would be amazing, you know, if you could just plug back into Earth and, yeah, like have a direct link to your humanity. But then if anything goes wrong, that could be,

Starting point is 00:18:03 absolutely catastrophic and cause even greater psychological damage than if you were just under the circumstance that you're up here and you're isolated and that's life for the foreseeable future. It's like giving you the access makes it worse when it goes away and even worse

Starting point is 00:18:19 when it goes away terribly. And so it is like a fascinating question because I think anybody would be like, yeah, if we had the capability to do that, absolutely. But at the same time, I don't know, like even though it is maybe one of the more heightened parts of the episode, like, yeah, you'll have people who are like, this is an

Starting point is 00:18:37 abomination. And setting it in the 60s, I think, makes that bit work. It's like, if it had been modern day, I don't think as many people would be apt to, like, you know, manson up and go kill the abomination robot, you know, automaton. But here, you know, in the time and place, it does seem to make, you know, it rings truer of a time less demystified by crazy tech. And you have this one kind of magic element which is the replica and uh it's yeah that's the stuff to me that gets kind of at the twisted core of you know what makes a black mirror because you know this is clearly one of the more like lyrical more moody more again airy episodes i feel like they've done a couple like that even though it's not like tonally similar it kind of reminded me of

Starting point is 00:19:27 I feel like San Juanipero kind of has a similar quality even that one even though that one's more like less sad but yeah like this this core twistedness that just feels so bleak

Starting point is 00:19:41 and sad but also like human human despite how you know technological it is I guess dark depths of the human core

Starting point is 00:19:57 yeah quite an ethereal experience ladies and gentlemen that was fun yeah it's fun and all the most mess so it messed me up i'm very much uh i think it's gonna be the last one we shoot today my brains my brain's not just white from this i had we we shot the first one and then i had to edit and do the thumb and upload i was like i kind of took a window out of you know and now now we should watch this i'm like my mind just messed up now well yeah that's one of those episodes the ends and you're like i just kind of want to sit in silence yeah contemplate how terrible my soul feels right now the whole time i was like how i feel right now because i don't know how i feel i'm on this weird vortex of a situation because because there's so many it's so layered in nuance with

Starting point is 00:20:43 so many vast emotions it's such a wide array at like on every frame of this episode like oh man my i i i am watching this way at the wrong hour after a very long day yeah absolutely go hop in the pot and take an hour and go back i got to talk about this this is really hard yeah yeah the hardest time talking about it so yeah we'll look we'll look different for the next couple yeah we'll be we'll be re-energized by the next couple yeah but that was beautiful yeah that was great that was that was amazing Amazing. Beautiful and wrenching.

Starting point is 00:21:22 It was truly amazing. That's one for the books. Unforgetable. All right, guys. Well, thanks for being here, and we will talk about soon.

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The Reel Rejects - BLACK MIRROR Season 6: "Beyond The Sea" Breakdown & REVIEW!! | 6x3 | Netflix 2023

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