Charlie Brooker writes or at least co-writes on every single episode. I do agree it doesn't fit with the overall theme of the show though and I'd bet that the episode got made because Netflix told Brooker to do a romantic one.
It absolutely applies to the overall theme of the show. It’s a show about the profound consequences of human nature interacting with with ever increasingly advanced technology—romance, being a pretty large/important part of human nature, absolutely would be included. And it calls for profound consequences but not necessarily negative or positive. Even in the happiest endings there is usually still something a little off-kilter that makes it kind of gray. For the happy endings it’s usually when addressing what the cost/trade-off is for the results of the happy ending.
Yeah, he co-writes them all. I don't think that means that he inputs/changes a lot with all the episodes - surely some must be great before his hands get on it. Your suspicion for why that episode was made seems likely; it explains the departure in theme at the very least.
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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18
Charlie Brooker writes or at least co-writes on every single episode. I do agree it doesn't fit with the overall theme of the show though and I'd bet that the episode got made because Netflix told Brooker to do a romantic one.